Bawandar

If you don't like the message...Don't kill the messenger!

This is a true story with nothing in the way of changes or embellishments. The producers of the film are modern, forward-looking Indian Nationals, who are appalled by many of the barbaric and inhumane traditions that are still prevalent in many rural areas of India.

"Bawandar" decries just about everything that is wrong with India. None of those hypnotic ditsy Bollywood tunes here! Nor the slick, stylized India shown to us in "Slumdog". It is a festering, oozing sore of excruciatingly brutal (but not graphic) gang rape, perpetrated by the village elders, no less; and one woman's courageous and determined quest for justice; an openly misogynist society, where instutionalized fratricide of female babies and marrying off girls as young as 8 years old by arranged marriages is an everyday occurrence; Practices that most people think were abandoned centuries ago, still thriving in India! "Bawandar" is a scathing indictment of issues such as the "Caste System" ...where those on the lowest rung are considered "untouchables".

A sensation of numbness overtook me, as one injustice after another cascaded before me! Yet, the dogged and unflinching determination demonstrated by rape victim, Saanvri, serves as a beacon of hope and is definitely the one bright spot of the film! This is a true story that MUST be told, just as its producers intended. Rating this film 9*, as I have, is by no means an endorsement of the vile crimes committed in this film, but instead, a show of solidarity with both the victim and the producers whose goal it was to make people aware of the dark side of India's tradition, culture and customs!