By Prachi Pinglay
BBC News, Mumbai

After drinking pesticide out of sheer desperation, poverty-stricken farmer Nandu collapsed.

He did this on screen in front of an audience at a packed multiplex cinema, which issued a collective gasp.

Nandu is just a character in a recent Indian film about farmer suicides.

But his tragic fate has been a reality for thousands of farmers across India. For the first time, this dark aspect of Indian rural life has made it to the big screen.