Phoolan Devi: Beyond the Bandit Queen - How Her Hometown Remembers Her
Phoolan Devi died 23 years ago. Like many survivors of sexual assault, reduced to epithets or hashtags, she too was defined by the most heinous incident in her life. But unlike most, she was much more: a bandit in her teens, a convict in her twenties, an MP in her thirties. Besides the multiple narratives binding her life, she told its different versions to different writers. They produced competing profiles across films, articles, and books—each presenting a different Phoolan. But how do the natives of Sheikhpur Gudha remember her: as a survivor, a baaghi, a leader or someone else?
Reporter: Tanul Thakur
Camera: Vikram Sharma
Producer: Divya Tiwari
Editor: Ehraz Zaman
#PhoolanDevi #BanditQueen #JusticeForWomen #EndRapeCulture #WomenSafety #GenderJustice #HumanRights #ViolenceAgainstWomen #StandWithSurvivors #India
Reporter: Tanul Thakur
Camera: Vikram Sharma
Producer: Divya Tiwari
Editor: Ehraz Zaman
#PhoolanDevi #BanditQueen #JusticeForWomen #EndRapeCulture #WomenSafety #GenderJustice #HumanRights #ViolenceAgainstWomen #StandWithSurvivors #India
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NewsTranscript
00:00When Jamuna ji used to go to Phoolan, what song would she sing?
00:06Do you understand?
00:30In Sheikhpura Guda, time moves slowly like the winding noon river that flows nearby.
00:47This village, forgotten by the world, holds the memory of a woman who defied it, Phoolan Devi.
00:54Phoolan, a bandit, a rebel, an icon.
00:58In life, she was many things.
01:00In death, she is almost a deity here.
01:05Phoolan was a great dharma.
01:07She was not scared of anyone.
01:09She used to climb the hill and when there was a protest, she used to say,
01:14SP sir, wear bangles and come to the ground.
01:19I remember that she raised her voice against the atrocities.
01:23And she did this for every girl.
01:26Only after hearing her name, no one can look at the village with evil eyes.
01:33And when she became an MP, everyone respects her.
01:42To the villagers, she is more than a memory.
01:45She is a promise that lingers in every corner of this place.
01:49But that promise was never fulfilled.
01:53Phoolan's legacy is woven with contradictions.
01:56Some say she made them feel safer, stronger.
01:59Yet others feel the weight of unchanging times.
02:04She wanted to do a lot for the Dalit community.
02:11In today's world, people have been looking down on us for generations.
02:20They have been making us slaves.
02:22That mentality is still there.
02:24Although they can't say it in front of us.
02:27They look at us with evil eyes.
02:32They don't want us to grow.
02:35They don't want us to be educated.
02:37When we grow up, we will ask for our rights.
02:41We can fight.
02:43This is what they wanted.
02:46This is their mentality.
02:49Phoolan was more than a protector.
02:51She was a fire that burned against oppression.
02:55Oppression from caste, feudalism, patriarchy.
03:01She taught her people to resist, to claim their dignity.
03:04That flame sparked by her still flickers in the heart of many.
03:09Yet not far from here, in Bhaimai, her name is a shadow that looms large.
03:14A village haunted by the past, where her legacy is carved in pain and loss.
03:23But amidst the shadow, there is light.
03:26In the dreams of girls like Srishti and Tejal.
03:30Dreams of becoming police officers, soldiers and something more than what their mothers could be.
03:35In their hearts, Phoolan's spirit lives on.
03:39Pushing them towards a future that she could only imagine.
03:45Phoolan Devi, who was she?
03:47A rebel with a cause.
03:49A woman of many faces.
03:53In every story told here, in every word whispered, Phoolan endures.
03:58Forever part of this land, and forever beyond it.
04:16The disease of caste and feudalism should be eradicated.
04:23The disease of poverty and wealth should also be eradicated.
04:29Phoolan Devi, a woman of the heart.
04:34Lala dosa manne maare, baane Phoolan maare gaane.
04:42Lala dosa manne maare, baane Phoolan maare gaane.
04:50My mother was sitting in the courtyard and I was sitting in the courtyard.
05:02My mother was sitting in the courtyard and I was sitting in the courtyard.
05:07My mother was sitting in the courtyard and I was sitting in the courtyard.
05:17My brother was sitting in the courtyard and I was sitting in the courtyard.
05:26My Rakhi fell and the flower died.
05:34My enemy killed me and the flower died.