Bandit Queen

unposted thoughts

Bandit queen songs -
Shekhar Kapur's bandit queen in the first place mixed up some cultural signifiers. They used a rajasthani folk song for a film based on a character from uttar pradesh. I wonder if it was just a mistake, force-fitting or i am wrong (which seems unlikely since the language of the folk song definitely uses marwari words and intonations). Seems he tried to give it proper indian feel for a completely foreign audience...in contrast he makes his characters extremely localised Bhojpuri language which much people wouldn't understand. Again indicates his probable reliance on the subtitles - completely for a foreign audience. So it would not be completely incorrect if i started to look at this work of art as a piece that represents some aspects of India to a foreign audience. How is the notion if india brought out? Child marriage, family structure, political structure of the village and the city....all of it.

So what was the central issue? How Phoolan devi became a bandit queen - a question which could be answered in 10 minutes of the the film. Then what is the film about? I guess two things - feminism and revenge as a societal act. A woman disgusted with pain due to a sexual abuse at a very young age by her husband decides not to succumb to it. She grows up with a hatered towards child marriage and abuse of the female body. Interesting aspect of the film is that phoolan at the right time in her life feels sexually active. She is not against it. She has consensual encounters with a man of his age at an age where she feels comfortable, when she feels love for someone in her life.