Review of Bandit Queen (1994) by Ralph R — 07 Apr 2008

Phoolan Devi is a household name in India. She is somewhat of an enigma -- a dacoit gang leader, female at that. The movie is a semi-biographical journey into the events that culminated to form the woman.

There is no doubt that it is a very disturbing movie. Early on, the audience is faced with discomfort at the child marriage of a 11-year old Phoolan and her subsequent rape by her husband. As she matures into a young woman, she has to endure the anguish of being born a low-caste, from the physical and sexual abuse she has t suffer to the injustice meted out by the upper-class thakurs. The movie does not shy from exposing Phoolan at her most vulnerable and painful moments.

However, I felt that the movie mainly victimized Phoolan. It did not devote much screentime on how she shaped up to be a feared dacoit. What was even less believable was the way her own gang idolized her, which did not make sense to me. The director should have shown a little of how Phoolan evoked fright/respect among her gang. The scene where she massacres all the thakurs was anticlimactic after all the buildup of that intensity.

I thought the performances were across the board excellent. Seema Biswas obviously stands strong with this role of a lifetime. But I found supporting actors like Govind Namdeo and Nirmal Pandey were very good too.

The cinematography is something that I loved about the movie. It highlighted the gritty and stark atmosphere of Central India, and went well with the harsh theme of the movie.