Movie Review: Bandit Queen

IMDB lists 'Bandit Queen' as Shekhar Kapur's third film. Seven years after 'Mr. India' and eleven years after 'Masoom' came 'Bandit Queen'. Without watching 'Masoom' I can say this film marked the jump from childhood to the realm of adults for Shekhar Kapur. How does he fare?

In my opinion, there is no other movie like this. Why?

1. Shekhar Kapur does not hold back an inch from the truth, assuming everything there is true. Most directors would not have made this into a movie. The small fraction who'd have ventured would have toned it down. Even that toned down version would still have been 'too much' for us. BUT WAS THIS NECESSARY? Yes, for without the violence, sexuality and nudity this would have been a lesser film.
2. The chemistry between Nirmal Pandey and Seema Biswas is unconventional magic. In many ways I compare this pair to 'Bonnie & Clyde' - both couples are out on the run, attracted to each other physically and both evenly matched in every possible way. I love Nirmal and Seema in this film, perhaps more than Beatty and Dunaway. WHY? The scenes that have Nirmal and Seema in the same frame are so so so real. Check them out dressed as police and looting trucks, listen to the dialog and watch them act when they do it (this scene is etched in my mind for it is so so so natural) that dirty apartment in Kanpur and finally listen and watch them again just before Nirmal is killed. Oh! Observe the pair when they visit Seema's place. Oh and when drag out Aditya Srivastav and beat him up. Almost forgot! Check Nirmal christen Seema as 'Phoolan Devi'. Is this the best couple I have seen in cinema? As I write this I can't think of any other pair.
3. The locations seem real. Apparently, nothing seems to shot on sets in this film. After I watched 'Manorama Six Feet Under' for the first time I was in the movie. I could feel the heat, smell the sweat, hear the bullet whizz past my ears........
   
4. The dialect used in this film forced me to follow the film on subtitles. Although able to follow most of the dialog I didn't want to miss out on anything.

If I were to pick one thing from this film that I will remember it for or that one thing which makes it different from any other movie I have seen - it is the first and last lines spoken by Phoolan.

RATING: 5/5