Will Aamir Khan's latest gamble pay off?

As all entertainment journalists in India come to learn, if it's an Aamir Khan event, it has to be different!

And it was surely different at the Hotel Intercontinental in suburban Mumbai, when Aamir Khan called a press conference to showcase a promo for his latest film, Peepli Live.

The film, produced by Aamir, will be released on August 13. Aside from Raghuvir Yadav, the film stars only theatre actors.

Asked what prompted him to produce a film on the issue of farmer suicide, Aamir said, "The film is not about farmer suicide. It is a satirical film, which I can say is close to Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro."

So how did he become interested in this topic?

Aamir said, "It was director Anusha Rizvi. She was a journalist at that time, and approached me with this subject, which I connected with immediately. I felt, 'This is the film that I must produce!"

Speaking further on the film, Aamir said, "Peepli Live does not speak about farmer suicide, but it talks about migration problem and the divide between urban and rural India. Many of us in cities don't know about the village life. Peepli Live highlights all these issues."

Asked why he did not take any stars in the film, Aamir said, "This film is not about stars. The only star character in the film is the media. The media plays a very important role in the film, which you will find out about after you watch the film."

When pointed out that the film did not have any commercial value, Aamir said, "I don't do films for commercial value or commerce. I do a film only if I like it. I did Taare Zameen Par, which was about a dyslexic patient. Everybody discouraged me in 2007, saying I should not do that film because such films don't run at the box office. On the contrary, TZP was a big success."

"The same was the case with Lagaan, a period film on cricket. Everybody told me that I should not do a period film on cricket, but it too worked. So, I always follow my instinct," added Aamir.

Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar