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| Name | Bawandar |
|---|---|
| Director | Jag Mundhra |
| Producer | Gaurang Joshi Jag Mundhra |
| Writer | Screenplay: Ashok Mishra, Sudha Arora Dialogue: Hariram Acharya, Deepak Purohit Jag Mundhra (written by) |
| Starring | Deepti Naval, Nandita Das |
| Music | Vishwa Mohan Bhatt |
| Cinematography | Ashok Kumar |
| Editing | Jag Mundhra |
| Released | 2000 --> |
| Runtime | 125 min |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi, Rajasthani, English |
The story is introduced through first-part narration by a foreign reporter called Amy (Laila Rouass), who has read about Sanwari's case in a newspaper. Amy and her friend-cum-interpreter Ravi (Rahul Khanna) visit Sanwari's village to investigate the matter, five years after the gang rape incident. On their arrival in Rajasthan, they encounter an old man Sohan (Raghuvir Yadav), who helps them on their way to a village where they encounter Sanwari's rapists. Sohan turns out to be Sanwari's husband, and tells the tale of Sanwari's rape case.
Shobha (Deepti Naval) is a social worker who works for the Government of India. Her job involves create awareness against child-marriage and other social evils. In Dhabri, she recruits Sanwari (Nandita Das) as a saathin, a grassroots worker employed as part of the Women's Development Project run by the Government of Rajasthan. Sanwari is a low-caste potter; her husband Sohan is a rickshaw-puller, and the couple has a young girl called Kamli.
As part of her job, Sanwari educates the womenfolk in the village against child marriages, and invites ire of the conservative village elders. Most of these villagers belong to the Gurjar community, which is slightly upper in the caste hierarchy. Five men decide to teach Sanwari a lesson, when she informs the police about a child marriage happening in the Gurjar community. They beat up her husband and gang-rape her.
Sanwari and Sohan go to the police station, but the inspector (Ravi Jhankal) refuses to lodge a First Information Report in absence of a medical report. The doctor won't issue a medical report in absence of a court order. With Shobha's help, the couple finally manages to get a court order. With the court order, they get a medical certificate in Jaipur, and a complaint is lodged two days after the incident.
However, the rapists are not arrested and roam around freely, boasting about their experience with Sanwari. Sanwari's case gets nation-wide attention and the Prime Minister of India himself entrusts the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation. A women's NGO in Delhi also tries to help Sanwari.
The accused are arrested and tried in the court, but they are backed by the local MLA Dhanraj Meena (Govind Namdeo). Meena hires a lawyer called Purohit to defend the accused. A Gurjar lawyer (Gulshan Grover) defends Saanwari, but faces pressure from his community to favor the accuse. The judges handling the case are transferred multiple times, and the final judgement goes against her.
Bhanwari refuses to give up her fight for justice, in spite of unhelpful villagers and relatives, an incompetent police force, and a corrupt judicial system.
Some women's organizations opposed the film due to concerns about Bhanwari Devi being exposed to hostile public scrutiny. The police also felt that the film "falsifies their role inexcusably". The first cut was Bhanwari Devi and her husband being held down by men, as she is raped by an uncle-nephew pair. The censors found inappropriate the forcing apart of the woman's legs. The second cut was the "visuals of suggestive masturbation by a police officer".
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