Mamta Kalia

ack insulted & a loser . She was
socially boycotted, her rapists went scot
free, and were even garlanded on stage
in front of a crowd of seven thousand
people amidst slogan shouting. Phoolan
extracted twenty lakhs from the film
makers by objecting to the film’s entry
in the Oscars. Bhanwari on the other
hand has not got even a single penny
for her film. All she could claim was
a token 101 rupee which the film’s
producer-director placed on her palm
after she tied ‘rakhi’ to him. This moment
was captured in a photo and was well
publicized in the promos of the film.
The film ‘Bawandar’ was released on
21 st November,2001.The film director
Jagmohan Mundra, gave several
interviews in the newspapers claiming
that he had given three thousand pounds
to Bhanwari and would give two and
a half thousand dollars more to buy
land for her. It might seem unbelievable
but nothing has reached Bhanwari till
now. So much so, the cheque of three
thousand pounds given by a women’s
group in London after the film screening
has been deposited in a Jaipur bank
in an account held jointly by Bhanwari
and a Mumbai-based friend of the
director. The pass book and cheque book
are with him and according to him the
money is in safe hands. Now that friend
refuses to forego that money. I called
him up and introduced myself before
going to Jaipur. The moment I talked
of the bank account, he was livid, “I
will go to Jaipur after Diwali, tell her
to meet me then. I cannot be at her
beck and call. And I don’t want you
journalists to trouble me. I have spoken
to Jagmohan, he does not know anybody
by the name of Sudha.”
I recalled his earlier statement, “
I want to return to my roots. I belong
to Rajasthan and I want to make
meaningful cinema. I have made many
films ; earned a lot of money, but now
I want to work for my own satisfaction.
I am taking a big risk. It is possible
that the film may incur heavy losses,
but I want that people should see it
and give justice to Bhanwari.” This
double-faced attitude of Jagmohan
Mundhra disturbed me . But I learnt
the lesson that cinema of any kind-mainstream,
or low budget parallel--is
at bottom pure business and lies and
deceit are often used as stepping stones
to money and fame.
This incident happened in January
1999.Jagmohan Mundra had procured
all the documents regarding Bhanwari’s
case from the Jaipur session court. He
also collected clippings from Hindi,
English and regional newspapers. I had
also written about Bhanwari in Mahanagar,
Jansatta and other newspapers, especially
after the November 1995 decision against
her. The opposition was very active in
defaming her. The local MLAs exploited
this opportunity to the hilt to create
a Gujjar vote bank. They staged a rally
of seven thousand people in Jaipur where
Bhanwari and other women activists were
liberally abused. Renowned activist from
Jaipur — Kavita Shrivastava’s reports
on Bhanwari were forwarded to Pramila
tai (Pramila Dandvate).All women’s
organisation under the banner of ‘Mahila
Atyachaar Virodhi Kriti Samiti’ took out
a rally in Azad Maidan....but all in vain.
When Nikhil Wagle wrote strongly against
the judgement, Judge Jagpal Singh filed
a case of defamation against him. For
four years Wagle had to appear in the
Jaipur court until the case was finally
dismissed without any hearing.
April-June 2010 :: 139