Bandit Queen (1994)

The movie tells the story of the bandit queen Phoolan Devi who was sent to prison in 1983 and got free in 1994. For five years she was prosecuted by the Indian police and turned into a ... See full summary »

Director:

Shekhar Kapur

Writers:

Ranjit Kapoor (dialogue), Mala Sen (book)

Stars:

Seema Biswas, Nirmal Pandey, Rajesh Vivek

4 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Seema Biswas	...	Phoolan Devi
Nirmal Pandey	...	Vikram Mallah (as Nirmal Panday)
Rajesh Vivek	...	Mustaquim
Raghuvir Yadav	...	Madho
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anirudh Agarwal	...	Babu Gujjar
Aseem Bajaj	...	Poolan / Man Singh Gang
Manoj Bajpayee	...	Man Singh (as Manoj Bajpai)
Pallavi Bharti	...	Little Girl
Kamia Bhatt	...	Rukhmani, Age 11
Puran Bhatt	...	Poolan / Man Singh Gang
Sunita Bhatt	...	Little Phoolan
Ashok Bulani	...	D.S.P
Mahesh Chandra	...	Chief Minister
Deepak Chibber	...	S.P. Bhind
Ranjit Chowdhry	...	Shiv Narain (as Ranjit Chaudhry)

Storyline

The movie tells the story of the bandit queen Phoolan Devi who was sent to prison in 1983 and got free in 1994. For five years she was prosecuted by the Indian police and turned into a legend (like a modern Robin Hood) by the Indian press. Although the press tended to make her the optimal hero with blue eyes, dark hair, being tall and beautiful she was in reality an average Indian which makes it hard for the movie to fulfill the expectations of the audience and tell the truth at the same time. Later in her life, she entered into politics and was assassinated in 2001.

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Plot Keywords:

nudity | female nudity | public nudity | f rated | india | 

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Taglines:

One woman dared to fight back

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Saurabh Shukla saw a stranger roaming on the sets and was confused how is he allowed to roam freely.He later saw him meeting director Shekar Kapur.After the pack he saw that same man sitting in his car which was taking him to hotel.To the shock of Saurabh Shukla the stranger was non other then once Wanted Daku (Dacoit) Maan Singh who had given up life of a Dacoit and was helping Shekar Kapur for the film.

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Quotes

Puttilal: [Tied to a pole and beaten with rifle-butt] Forgive me.
Phoolan Devi: Forgive you?
Phoolan Devi: Write this to the police.
Vikram Mallah: What?
Phoolan Devi: Any man that marries a little girl... I'll kill him.

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Connections

Featured in Chintu Ji (2009)

User Reviews

Does anyone realise how controversial this film was?

It may interest people to know that this film was made without any recourse to Phoolan Devi herself and, when she did finally see parts of it, was so enraged that she announced that the film was not to be shown in India or she would cover herself in petrol and set fire to herself. I do not know whether it was shown at all or not, but given her standing at the time as a rising politician, I doubt it. Since then, I saw a report that she has been ousted from office and charged with further crimes from her Dacoit days, and has gone into hiding as a result.

Her own concerns aside, this is an excellent film, made all the more so by its refreshingly brutal approach; none of the rose-tinted melodrama one might expect from a typical indian film. It should be stressed that concerns about how feminist the film's messages really are and the like are essentially irrelevant: it's a true story. Her misgivings are, it seems, not with what is depicted but with the way in which the film depicts her.

Details

Country:

UK India

Language:

Hindi Assamese

Release Date:

30 June 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bandit Queen

Filming Locations:

India

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$34,728, 2 July 1995

Gross USA:

$399,748

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$399,748

Company Credits

Production Co:

Channel Four Films, NH Studioz

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby SR

Color:

Color