Multiple rapes and public humiliation are only a few of the torments she must endure, and each atrocity further hardens her heart. When it comes, Devi's revenge is indeed a dish best served cold. Making the film was an undeniable challenge for director Kapur, an upper-caste Hindu who, along with writer Mala Sen, based as much of Bandit Queen on interpretations of what Devi didn't say in her diaries as on what she did say. There is also no doubt that the movie will have a vastly different impact in its country of origin than in the West, where we bring a foreign cultural perspective to a viewing. But there's no question that this is the sort of picture capable of causing waves of world wide contention, regardless of how true or untrue particular elements are.
Fiction can often have as much impact as fact, especially if it is well-grounded in reality.
Like Schindler's List , there is no political diatribe here. Actions and events are allowed to define the social climate. The film manages to grip the audience in a way that no preachy commentary ever will. Devi, as strikingly portrayed by actress Seema Biswas, becomes real, and it doesn't take long for us to feel her seething rage at the mountain of injustices rising above her. It is uncomfortable to sympathize with someone who becomes so ruthless and uncompromising, but that is the gut-wrenching path along which director Kapur drags us.