Richie Mehta to Premiere Film 'Phoolan' at Toronto International Film Festival
2 sources · India
Who reported this
- Scroll.in
- The Indian Express
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- Right
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Director Richie Mehta has created a new film titled Phoolan, which is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival between September 10 and 20. The movie focuses on a 48 hour period in the life of Phoolan Devi, the outlaw known as the Bandit Queen. The plot centers on a stand off in a village where a gang of dacoits is surrounded by hundreds of policemen. First time actor Sneha Kumari plays the lead role, with a supporting cast that includes Vikram Pratap Singh as Vikram Mallah and Anurag Thakur as a police constable.
The film is based on Phoolan Devi: The Autobiography of India’s Bandit Queen, which was co authored with Marie Therese Cuny and Paul Rambali. While the movie primarily depicts the police siege, it includes flashbacks to the personal history of brutality, including child marriage and caste discrimination, that led Phoolan Devi to become a dacoit. Mehta, who previously directed Delhi Crime and Poacher, stated in an interview that he was initially reluctant to take on the project as a man and a non resident Indian, but was eventually moved by the accounts in the autobiography.
Phoolan Devi's life has been the subject of previous works, including Mala Sen's biography and Shekhar Kapur's 1994 film Bandit Queen. The real life figure later served as a Member of Parliament for the Samajwadi Party before she was assassinated in 2001.
How each side framed it
- Left
- The left leaning coverage provided extensive sociopolitical context regarding caste discrimination, gender violence, and the political history of Phoolan Devi.
- Centre
- The center leaning coverage focused on the film's narrow time frame and the professional credentials of the critic reviewing it.
Sources
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