Gulabi Gang

The iron lady Sampat Pal, first made an appearance in the infamous reality show BIGG BOSS, yet her exact work and motive remained unclear to many until another news came that a film is being made on Sampat Pal and her 'Gulabi Gang' featuring Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla in the lead. The phrase indicating towards hundreds of women wearing Pink sarees with sticks in hands got some instant fame and now just before this Bollywood project we get to see an inspiring documentary titled "Gulabi Gang" released with a perfect timing.

However, it remains the second documentary made on the subject after British documentarian Kim Longinotto came with her 96 minutes version called "Pink Saris" in 2010. But the fact doesn't take away anything from the honest attempt made by the director Nishtha Jain in her Indian take on the theme and the film rightly won few deserving awards in the recent film festivals too. Taking the viewer into the Northern India interiors of Bundelkhand (Uttar Pradesh) it actually opens on a lighter note wherein all the village ladies dressed in pink sarees are trying to learn the defense, fighting with lathis (strong, long sticks). Later it is told that the group was founded by Sampat Pal in the year 2006 as her fight to get the justice served to the victims.

The first long sequence of a so called kitchen accident killing a recently married girl pulls the viewers in and the stage is set to see something highly moving, shocking and disturbing too. But honestly I found the film quite less than the expected and it didn't come out to be that impressive or hard hitting as I was assuming.

Stating its worth mentioning bright points, the film once again makes you ashamed of the "Man Ruled" society in our rural areas, where a women is still treated as a means of cooking food, looking after your home, taking care of your kids and giving you the bodily pleasure at nights without thinking anything else beyond these four things. It shows you the exact way how most of the villagers are simply used to such brutal rapes, killings and physical torture of their own women like nothing new happening in their daily lives. Further it also boldly reveals how the corrupt politicians and local government officials truly rule over these people like the regional autocratic kings owning them all. To provide some relief moments. the director rightly incorporates the element of humor in few early sequences of this otherwise tense documentary. And then she also balances the script showcasing the rebels of the 'Gulabi Gang' too in its concluding half an hour.

In fact the inclusion of this long interview of a revolting lady clearly indicates that most of the times, a woman herself takes this suffering in the name of tradition or fate, which eventually doesn't let her break the ugly vicious circle of suppression as desired. And probably this remains the basic reason, that despite having a 'Gulabi Gang' operational in their own region, the people still vote for the corrupt politician and deliberately choose to be on the suffering end willfully.

Therefore, watching the film you not only feel helpless and annoyed but also have a great amount of admiration and respect for their fiery leader Sampat Pal fighting for them with an honest & focused vision. The documentary does make you emotional in its few scenes but questionably doesn't bring in this essential element often in its less than two hours of narration.

Mentioning its weaker points, I somehow couldn't get the way it was conceived by the director as a documentary. Because most of the times, its scenes looked like all staged or explained in advance to the participants before commencing the shoot. In other words, Sampat Pal always looked like doing it for the camera in a deliberate mode and after so much media attention; it seems that the lady has fast learned how to play with the lens like a professional actor. Also, the execution raised a major doubt that would she behave exactly in the same manner when there is no camera or crew around?

Secondly, though the film keeps the viewer engaged with some interesting case investigations by the group leaders but it actually doesn't reveal the outcome of the same.

Thirdly, when you are watching an intense documentary called "Gulaabi Gang" then the most obvious question coming to your mind is that "Why the colour Pink or Gulaabi?". But sadly there is no answer to this query in Nishtha's thoughtful attempt, which should have been there like the first requisite of such a project, ideally.

Anyway, though Nishtha Jain's GULAABI GANG has its own technical shortcomings. But still it rises much above the usual pattern of uninteresting documentaries and brings forward a sick, embarrassing and ages old truth of our traditional system, for which a lady alone is fighting wearing a Pink Saree.

Ending on an introspective note, in the last scene of the film, a passerby on the railway station asks one of the members of "Gulaabi Gang" waiting for their train to come that, "Do you get anything from all this in return?". The less educated member nods in negative but I would personally like to give an answer to the worldly question that, "The most important things in this world are available to you free of cost and the most important tasks in a life also have to be done without asking anything in return.....!"

In all, as a gesture of respect towards this remarkable woman Sampat Pal, the documentary deserves to be seen in the theaters and Nishtha Jain's soulful attempt also needs to be applauded by 'we the viewers' unanimously. More so because, we would like to see the documentaries on our own people to be made by our Indian film-makers only and not the foreigners!

It was fulfilling to see Gulabi Gang. I did not read any reviews or ratings etc. I went along with my sister and mother but was initially apprehensive as it was a documentary film and unfortunately in country like ours people think film as entertainment, with a hero, a heroine and villain with some song songs and dance numbers. Fortunately everyone liked. I was the first person to clap in the theatre in the end and then every one clapped. It was satisfying to see this film and i must thank Nishtha Jain, the maker for taking all the pain and roam around in Banda district villages and shoot this stuff, especially it must be quiet painful to shoot the charred body of that girl. I thought the film will end when Ramrati's (murdered girl, i hope this was the name) parents filed the case. But it was revealing to see how Husna was biased for her family. It was very layered documentary. In one hand Ramprasad Tiwary kind of demons, who will instil so much of fear in people that people did not vote against him and on the other hand people like Husna who are so deeply treaded under the norms that she will leave the Gulabi Gang but not go against wrongs. I can not blame Husna for it. Its the men who have made this kind of society and its pompous norms. Girls fall in love, kill her, boy rapes someone, save her. WTF.

Both the director and Sampat Pal are to be congratulated for showing and inspiring the change in society.

Thanks.

This is a documentary well worth seeing because it is not an easy subject to film. The main subject of the film,

Sampat Lal, is a difficult character to portray because you cannot think about her in simple black and white terms. Yet, she and her group of women have done something that is truly remarkable.

Nishtha Jain has done a nuanced job and brought out the pluses and minuses of the work that is being done by the Gulabi Gang.

The difficult conditions in which they work has also been brought out.

It is also beautifully shot. The film captures the region in which the Gulabi Gang operates very well, helping us to understand the background.

gulabi gang is an excellent film. it brings out all the complexities of a group of women, a group represented in the media as a militant group taking on the status quo. nishtha gets into the group and displays all that she finds. without unnecessary comments. without judgement.

she keeps her distance and it is the distance that lends perspective to a very complex phenomenon. there is no 'smart' camera work, no long winded interviews, no breast beating, no sloganeering.

the film captures all the varied hues of reality and tells a chronological tale in a very accessible way, till the romance is worn off and what remains is life, real and throbbing.

it does not lose pace or its power, not even once. leaves you screaming for more. excellent. must watch.

Just when you thought you knew that human rights, womens liberation and even corruption was things that was on the right way even in India, comes this Norwegian documentary about the gulabi (pink) gang. A spontaneous womens rights organization organizing the women of the lowest rang in the Indian cast system. It started off after the killing of Sampat Pals daughter, and nows she's organized 150.000 women in standing up for themselves and the ancient believes in faith.

We really can't imagine the courage they have, the women starting to opposing to the violence, the killings and the no-value-treatment of police, husbands, law and government. Several times I had to shed my tears. The people are so poor, they simply don't understand basics in how things are working. The corrupt chiefs and men in the rural villages arrange murders as suicide with so many obvious faults and flaws it's ridiculous. And the police don't lift a finger, because it's just a woman!

The film is exciting, shocking and very sincere. It's depressing and uplifting, and has quite a lot of humor. It will not leave you unmarked. The problems are there. Translasting sentences which obviously are badly spoken in many situations, and there's also some technical faults, but then again this film doesn't have to be perfect, since the content is so strong.

I don't really see how they are going to get out of this if their not helped, not only by this film, but also by the government and the rest of the world. The things happening in India now, concerning woman's rights has to mean something. Still the fear and believes of faith will be so stubborn.

The pity is that they are so poor that none of these even know what a TV is. Some have a mobile phone, and in some years, this will bring them internet. It's so appalling that the world is so ineffective in dealing with human rights that they can't do something about this situation.

I saw this in a quite full cinema on the womens liberation day 8th of March, and the film got a spontaneous and long applause when the credits were shown. What a perfect film to screen on a day like this. I can say that as a man, and supporter of womens liberation. What I can't comprehend is that the cast system can have so many supporters in 2013!

This film is more than any a proof that ignorance is our worst enemy in making the world go forward. Watching the lazy and stupid men here sitting around protecting their rights to do nothing while they torture the 11 year old girls married into their families because of money... I got no word for it! It's pre-medieval, stone age, unbelievably depressing.

An important film. Go see it! Make sure to use this on womens liberation's themed days and arrangements It's perfect as an eye-opener.