“The film should be called a work of imagination and not my real life story,” Devi told The Times.ĭevi’s opposition to the film, Bedi suggests, stems from the fact that she may be running for political office and is fearful of negative publicity.
In 1981, Devi was charged with the murder of 22 members of that caste-an allegation she denied before being imprisoned without trial for 11 years. After repeated rapes and the murder of her lover, she picks up a gun and takes revenge on the higher-class Thakurs.
The $1.4-million “Bandit Queen"-which Kushwant Singh, India’s best-known newspaper columnist, called the best Indian movie he had ever seen-relates the tale of a member of the lowly Mallah caste who, at age 11, is sold into marriage in exchange for a cow and a bicycle. The controversy has been fed by a breach of privacy suit by Phoolan Devi, whose life it purports to portray. The ban-after the overwhelmingly positive reviews at film festivals in Toronto, Montreal, Tokyo and Edinburgh-has made the movie a cause celebre at home and abroad.” “Though they might decide to oppose the film because the government did, I’m optimistic. “Getting them to nominate the film is the only hurdle left to cross,” observed the 38-year-old Bedi. When the producer returns from the London Film Festival, where “Bandit Queen” is being screened today, he intends to make the federation his next target. The group had written to request more time in light of the country’s cholera plague. 31 submission deadline to the Indian Film Federation, the body responsible for selecting the country’s official entry. Bedi contends that the censors’ objections are based on the film’s critical portrayal of caste injustice.īedi also benefited from the fact that the academy had granted an extension of the Oct. The board wants to eliminate profanity, rape sequences and references to the landowning Thakurs, who are portrayed as villains. India’s Censor Board sought the ban and is demanding cuts before the film can be shown. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences informed him last Friday that, unlike domestic movies that must have a seven-day run in order to qualify for Oscar consideration, films in the foreign language category must only have had a single public screening in their country of origin-a standard met by “Bandit Queen,” which played for a day before the Delhi High Court issued a nationwide stay against screening the film in public or in private. (Bobby) Bedi has won assurances that it had qualified for entry all along. She still faces possible trial on 48 criminal charges, including murder.After traveling from India to Hollywood to appeal for Academy Award eligibility for his controversial film, “The Bandit Queen,” producer S. She led a gang of thieves who often robbed upper-caste people and gave some of the money to lower-caste Indians.ĭevi surrendered to authorities in 1983 and spent 11 years in jail before being freed last year on bail. The film depicts Devi, a lower-caste woman, who was married at the age of 11 in rural northern India, abandoned by her husband, raped and kidnapped by bandits. ``So, how can she claim that her right to privacy has been vitiated by the film?″ Ashok Desai asked. The film, ``Bandit Queen,″ has already been screened at 15 international film festivals, including last year’s Cannes festival.Īn attorney for filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor told the court Thursday that a French book describing Devi’s life in graphic detail has sold 8 million copies, The Times of India newspaper reported. NEW DELHI, India (AP) _ A filmmaker has asked a court not to ban his movie on Phoolan Devi _ India’s notorious ``Bandit Queen″ _ saying it does not violate her privacy because the events it portrays already were depicted in a best-selling book.ĭevi recently asked the New Delhi High Court to ban the film saying it presents a distorted picture of her life and violates her right to privacy.