Why Peepli Live for me is a horror movie?

I saw the movie Peepli Live yesterday and it scared me.

Do not mis-understand me, I liked the the movie. It is a well made movie. The first time director Anusha Rizvi has done an admirable job she has her heart in the right place. It has a good script, well supported by actors rather than stars. It was good to see Raghubir Yadav again. For the thinking person Peepli Live is a movie which makes you think. Kudos to Aamir Khan for producing such a movie.

The reason Peepli Live scare me was because it was so real. For me journalism is one of the main pillars of a functioning democracy. It is a profession as noble as that of a doctor or a teacher and carries as much responsibility.  A good and conscientious press will lead to  a mature democratic society.

The way the movie has depicted the state of journalism in our society today is dis-comfortingly close to reality.

We are now living in an age of sponsored news,  where personalities are created and destroyed by the media. News items are created , real issues thrown aside. Viewership and readership numbers are mantras of the new age media Gods.

The common man is being bombarded with deluge after deluge of useless information, often misleading and filled with half truths or worse devoid of truths.

I fervently hope it did prick some consciences in the world of Indian journalism.

The other thought that struck me was the divide between the two Indias.

More on this later