Bandit Queen
I went to see supposedly Bollywood movie. I was looking forward to finally see some dancing and singing in Indian style... :o))... but I was to be disappointed and shocked by a true story of Phoolan Devi...
Early life
She was born into a family of the shudra sub-caste of boatmen called mallahs in the small village of Gorha Ka Purwa, Uttar Pradesh, India. At 11 years of age she was married to a widower 20 years her elder. He already had six children.
Beaten by her husband, the high-spirited and intelligent girl defended her father in a court case over a land dispute. She won, was arrested by police on questionable charges and raped in detention.
Bandit Queen
Devi ran away to the deep jungle of her native region south of Agra and became the mistress of a bandit leader. A rival gang from the powerful land-owner caste caught them, killed her lover and dragged her to their village. She was publicly raped for days. She would never bear children. After three days she escaped, went back to the jungle and gathered a gang. A year later, 20 of her tormentors were dead.
Pursued by the law enforcement authorities, for over two years, she proved difficult to capture. The government of Indira Gahdhi and the police finally made a deal with her that she and members of her gang would not face the death penalty. As a part of this arrangement, in 1983 she surrendered on a stage before a crowd of 10,000 people.
Death
On July 25, 2001, she was shot in front of her house in New Delhi, allegedly by one Sher Singh Rana, which he claims was retribution for the Behmai massacre. The police, however, are sceptical of his claims.
She is survived by her husband, Ummed Singh.
Film
The 1994 Indian film Bandit Queen, by the director Shekhar Kapur is about her life up through her 1983 surrender. Although Devi is a heroine in the film, she fiercely disputed its accuracy and fought to get it banned in India.
Early life
She was born into a family of the shudra sub-caste of boatmen called mallahs in the small village of Gorha Ka Purwa, Uttar Pradesh, India. At 11 years of age she was married to a widower 20 years her elder. He already had six children.
Beaten by her husband, the high-spirited and intelligent girl defended her father in a court case over a land dispute. She won, was arrested by police on questionable charges and raped in detention.
Bandit Queen
Devi ran away to the deep jungle of her native region south of Agra and became the mistress of a bandit leader. A rival gang from the powerful land-owner caste caught them, killed her lover and dragged her to their village. She was publicly raped for days. She would never bear children. After three days she escaped, went back to the jungle and gathered a gang. A year later, 20 of her tormentors were dead.
Pursued by the law enforcement authorities, for over two years, she proved difficult to capture. The government of Indira Gahdhi and the police finally made a deal with her that she and members of her gang would not face the death penalty. As a part of this arrangement, in 1983 she surrendered on a stage before a crowd of 10,000 people.
Death
On July 25, 2001, she was shot in front of her house in New Delhi, allegedly by one Sher Singh Rana, which he claims was retribution for the Behmai massacre. The police, however, are sceptical of his claims.
She is survived by her husband, Ummed Singh.
Film
The 1994 Indian film Bandit Queen, by the director Shekhar Kapur is about her life up through her 1983 surrender. Although Devi is a heroine in the film, she fiercely disputed its accuracy and fought to get it banned in India.
Labels: Informative
posted by Mart'a at 9:26 PM
4 Comments:
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Carissa, dont worry at all. How do you think I was feeling after I left the movie?! Exactly the same way... The best part was the behaviour of the men when they raped her, all of them big and strong... and when she came with guns for revenge, they would beg ... small and weak... the true nature of theirs has shown up.
I agree with the opinion, that men got so used to the dominance for the past several centuries that they simply stopped to grow and develop themselves, they just started to stagnate... thus now, there are so many women that are so much stronger than they are...
And lucky woman who finds a man that is truly worth it...
btw, it says that Phoolan Devi disagreed with the accuracy of this movie... well, maybe it was not exactly true story... but the movie does make an impact once you see it, and so it is good it is not banned, as there are definitely other women who are treated similarly...
LOL I just noticed that I had removed my comment before you had answered....at any rate: Yes, I agree. I'm sure the movie will still have an impact, no matter if it's 100% accurate or not. Because there are women who have been treated even worse than the caracter of this movie :-(
You know, now, with my research for my thesis, it just becomes more and more clear and painful that the problems women are facing are of structural nature. The patriarchal system still in place, male dominance, abuse of power...and why doesn't anybody question that? I mean, the best laws won't help if societies don't adapt/change and implement the changes. Like equal salaries: It's written in our constitution in Switzerland for example, but women still earn much less for the same job! And it's like that in most countries! Why isn't there more public outcry? Why are we accepting this? Why do we always say "it's cultural", we have to accept it? Is it really so? I question that! And why aren't men trying to help solve these problems? Women should take the lead, yes, but men are the problem. So they should actively contribute to solving it, I'd say...society is made up of men and women. It's not acceptable that women are still treated inferiorly to men. It is not acceptable that men can get away when they commit crimes against women. It is not acceptable that women can't even say what happens to their own bodies etc.
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