| Seema Biswas | ... | Phoolan Devi | |
| Aditya Srivastava | ... | Puttilal | |
| Agesh Markam | ... | Mad Woman | |
| Ajai Rohilla | ... | Behmai Man | |
| Anirudh Agarwal | ... | Babu Gujjar | |
| Anil Sahu | ... | Vikram Gang Member | |
| Anupam Shyam | ... | Ganshyam | |
| Aseem Bajaj | ... | Poolan / Man Singh Gang | |
| Ashok Bulani | ... | D.S.P | |
| Ashok Sharma | ... | Ashokchand Servant | |
| Avinash Nemade | ... | Doctor | |
| Basant Rawat | ... | Poolan / Man Singh Gang | |
| Chotelal Siraswal | ... | Vikram Gang Member | |
| Deepak Chibber | ... | S.P. Bhind | |
| Deepak Soni | ... | Miandad | |
| Dhawal Gwaliori | ... | Poolan / Man Singh Gang | |
| Dilip Raghuvanshi | ... | Commander Yadav | |
| Gajraj Rao | ... | Ashokchand | |
| G.B. Dixit | ... | Ala Singer | |
| Girish Solanki | ... | Tarika's Partner | |
| Govind Namdeo | ... | SriRam | |
| Guddi | ... | Munni | |
| Gyan Shivpuri | ... | Phool Singh | |
| Harish | ... | Tarika | |
| Hemant Mishra | ... | Policeman | |
| Hemant Pandey | ... | Ashokchand's Friend | |
| Jeetendra Shastri | ... | Bharat | |
| Kamia Bhatt | ... | Rukhmani, age 11 | |
| K.D. Segan | ... | A.D.C | |
| Khunni Lal Maina | ... | Pundit | |
| Lakshmi | ... | Poolan / Man Singh Gang (as Lakshmi Narayan) | |
| Mahesh Chandra | ... | Chief Minister | |
| Malabai Sonwani | ... | Mother-in-law | |
| Mandakini Goswami | ... | Kailash's Wife | |
| Manoj Bajpayee | ... | Man Singh (as Manoj Bajpai) | |
| Nazim Hussain | ... | Vikram Gang Member | |
| Nazim Patel | ... | Vikram Gang Member | |
| Nirmal Pandey | ... | Vikram Mallah | |
| Pallavi Bharti | ... | Little Girl | |
| Paritosh Sand | ... | Devendra Singh | |
| Pawan Gupta | ... | Vikram Gang Member | |
| Pradeep Gupta | ... | Vikram Gang Member | |
| Puran Bhatt | ... | Poolan / Man Singh Gang | |
| Raghuvir Yadav | ... | Madho | |
| Rajesh Vivek | ... | Mustaquim | |
| Raj Kumar Kamie | ... | Thakur Gang | |
| Rakesh Raekwar | ... | Poolan / Man Singh Gang | |
| Ram Charan Nirmalker | ... | Devideen | |
| Ranjit Chowdhry | ... | Shiv Narain (as Ranjit Chaudhry) | |
| Ravi Sangde | ... | Messenger | |
| Sanjeev Kumar | ... | Poolan / Man Singh Gang | |
| Saurabh Shukla | ... | Kailash | |
| Savitri Raekwar | ... | Moola | |
| Sitaram Panchal | ... | Lalaram | |
| Sunil Gaekwad | ... | Rattan Chand | |
| Sunita Bhatt | ... | Little Phoolan | |
| Surendra Kora | ... | Behmai Man | |
| Uma Yaish | ... | Rukhmani | |
| Vibanshu Vaibhav | ... | Vikram Gang Member | |
| Vijay Shukla | ... | Ashokchand's Friend | |
| Vinod Tiwari | ... | Vikram Gang Member | |
| Yogesh Gupta | ... | Poolan / Man Singh Gang |
Directed by | |||
| Shekhar Kapur | |||
Writing credits(in alphabetical order) | ||
| Ranjit Kapoor | dialogue | |
| Mala Sen | book "India's Bandit Queen" | |
| Mala Sen | screenplay | |
Produced by | |||
| Bobby Bedi | .... | producer | |
| Varsha Bedi | .... | associate producer | |
Original Music by | |||
| Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan | |||
| Roger White | |||
Cinematography by | |||
| Ashok Mehta | |||
Film Editing by | |||
| Renu Saluja | |||
Casting by | |||
| Tigmanshu Dhulia | |||
Production Design by | |||
| Eve Mavrakis | |||
Art Direction by | |||
| Ashok Bhagat | |||
Costume Design by | |||
| Dolly Ahluwalia | |||
Makeup Department | |||
| Edwin Williams | .... | makeup artist | |
Production Management | |||
| Stephen Barker | .... | post-production supervisor | |
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director | |||
| Mike Higgins | .... | first assistant director | |
| Alok Kapur | .... | third assistant director | |
| Rajiv Maikhuri | .... | second assistant director | |
Sound Department | |||
| Richard King | .... | sound re-recording mixer | |
| Dileep Subramanian | .... | boom operator | |
| Robert Taylor | .... | production sound recordist | |
Camera and Electrical Department | |||
| Aseem Bajaj | .... | assistant camera | |
| Mulchand Dedhia | .... | gaffer | |
| Vinod Narayanan | .... | focus puller | |
| Giles Nuttgens | .... | additional photographer | |
Music Department | |||
| M. Arshad | .... | musical director | |
Other crew | |||
| Mike Higgins | .... | associate director | |
| Pauline Hume | .... | title designer | |
| Kannan Iyer | .... | assistant to director | |
| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
|---|---|
| Don't take this movie as truth. | infy_leo |
| how violent? | emover |
| Nude Scene | hawkeye_09 |
| Where can I find the DVD (NTSC - USA)? | frenchwindows |
| Socio-economic realities | anshul2001anshul |
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| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| News articles | IMDb Biography section | IMDb India section |
I saw Bandit Queen in 2005, over a decade after it was made amidst widespread controversy in India. The language, the stark treatment and the natural acting (by a relatively unknown cast for that time) might have been even more shocking at that time for an Indian populace more familiar with fantasy cinema. The film, the cast, and Shekhar Kapoor, deserve accolades for the breakthrough effort.
The plot is not very different from a typical revenge drama made in various forms in India. In fact, there have been several fictional accounts of this particular story itself. The reason why this stands out is that it's supposed to be a first person account of someone who actually went through all this, and a lot else that doesn't find place on the screen, and survived to tell the tale. Survived long enough to see her story made into a movie at least. Phoolan Devi didn't live very long after being released from prison in 1994.
The film scores on several counts. The cinematography is brilliant. The music is apt. The cast, many of whom became more familiar names later, is very good. But the screenplay is patchy. Things move too fast and in jerks at times. It's understandable though, because there are just too many strands that need to be tied together to make it all cohesive. Or maybe I felt that because I have read Mala Sen's book, which is a more detailed and better, though obviously not as shocking as the visual, account of Phoolan Devi's travails, and which is purported to be one of the main sources for the film.
There are some factual ambiguities too. According to Phoolan Devi, she wasn't present when the Behmai massacre took place, and despite claiming to be the dictated account of Phoolan herself, she is shown to participate, and in fact initiate, the massacre. Then the final scene where Phoolan surrenders shows her touching the feet of the Chief Minister, while in reality she had surrendered to a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. Symbolic value only, but shows that Phoolan didn't want to show servitude to a living, ordinary person. It would have been nice to show the Chief Minister to have some resemblance to Arjun Singh, who many remember was the CM of Madhya Pradesh then.
But these are small chinks in this eminently well-made movie, a rare gem to come out from the mainstream Indian film industry, made by a man who before this was known best for the ultimate masala movie of the late 80s - Mr India.