Editing Phoolan Devi (section)

== ''Bandit Queen'' film==
[[File:Seema_in_streer_patra.JPG|Actress [[Seema Biswas]], who played Phoolan Devi in the ''[[Bandit Queen]]''|alt=Photograph of Indian woman, who is acting in a red and yellow dress|thumb]]
 
The 1994 film ''[[Bandit Queen]]'' was loosely based on Mala Sen's biography; it was directed by [[Shekhar Kapur]] and starred [[Seema Biswas]] as Phoolan Devi.<ref name="RK" /> After it received acclaim at [[Cannes Film Festival]], Kapur asked for permission from the [[Central Board of Film Certification]] to screen the film at cinemas in India. Phoolan Devi attempted to block the release, commenting "It's simply not the story of my life".<ref name="Sen" />{{rp|254}}<ref name="Atlantic" /> She was supported by the feminist and novelist [[Arundhati Roy]], who wrote a critique of the film (entitled "The great Indian rape trick"), arguing that whilst Sen's book presented a complex story with different perspectives, Kapur portrayed Phoolan Devi as a victim without having met her.<ref name="RK" /> In his 2021 autobiography [[Farrukh Dhondy]], the former commissioning editor at [[Channel 4]], described how he rushed to Delhi in order to enlist Umed Singh's aid in persuading Phoolan Devi to drop her complaint.<ref name="Bhatia">{{cite news |last1=Bhatia |first1=Sidharth |title=The amusing, the outrageous and the pensive: Farrukh Dhondy's memoir has it all |url=https://thewire.in/books/the-amusing-the-outrageous-and-the-pensive-farrukh-dhondys-memoir-has-it-all |access-date=20 December 2022 |work=The Wire (India)|date=18 October 2021 |archive-date=20 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220172807/https://thewire.in/books/the-amusing-the-outrageous-and-the-pensive-farrukh-dhondys-memoir-has-it-all |url-status=live }}</ref> When Phoolan Devi discovered this, the couple became estranged, before later reconciling.<ref name="Moxham-Chapter4" /> A court case was brought against screening the film by lawyer Indira Singh and Arundhati Roy at the [[Delhi High Court]].<ref name="Butalia" /> Ultimately, Phoolan Devi received £40,000 from Channel 4 and dropped the complaint.<ref name="Telegraph-obit" /> Later in 1994, she dictated her autobiography ''I, Phoolan Devi'' which was published first in French in 1996 and then in other languages, including English, Japanese and Malay. The income from book sales supported Phoolan Devi and enabled her to pay her legal fees.<ref name="Moxham-Chapter6"/><ref name="Preface">{{cite book |last1=Rambali |first1=Paul |editor1-last=Cuny |editor1-first=Marie-Thérèse |editor2-last=Rambali |editor2-first=Paul |editor3-last=Devi |editor3-first=Phoolan |title=The Bandit Queen of India: An Indian woman's amazing journey from peasant to international legend |date=2003 |publisher=Lyons Press |location=Guilford, Connecticut, US |isbn=1-59228-038-2 |pages=xii-xiii |chapter=Introduction}}</ref>