The plot of the movie is set in Bundelkhand, India, where a revolution is in the making among the poorest of the poor, as the fiery women of the Gulabi Gang empower themselves and take up the fight against gender violence, caste oppression and widespread corruption. Led by the energetic and charismatic Sampat Pal, they travel long distances to fight for the rights of women and Dalits, a group of people traditionally regarded as untouchable. They encounter resistance, apathy and corruption, even ridicule. Sometimes whole villages connive against them to protect the perpetrators of violence. While the movie portraits Gulabi Gang members struggling against gender violence and state corruption, it also shows the flip side – members getting sucked by the trappings of their new found power. Breaking away from the deep-rooted patriarchal structure is a challenge even for the most fearless amongst them. The film pulls us into the centre of these blazing conflicts and uncovers a complex story, disturbing yet heartening. It was awarded, amongst many others, with prizes at film festivals such as the New York India Film Festival, Dubai International Film Festival or the Tri-Continental Film Festival (South Africa).

Nishtha Jain

 

The filmmaker Nishtha Jain graduated from the Jamia Mass Communication Centre in New Delhi. She worked as an editor and correspondent for video news magazines Newstrack and Eyewitness before she studied at the Film and Television Institute of India, where she specialised in film directing. From her first film City of Photos in 2004 to Gulabi Gang in 2012, she has been exploring the human condition in its myriad states. As a result, her films have dealt with a broad range of topics, such as complexities of social hierarchies and the middle-class sense of entitlement and privilege or women’s movements and social change. Also, politics of image-making and nature of memory, as well as ethical implications of documentary filmmaking have also been addressed in her work. Her films have been shown extensively in international film festivals and occasionally in art exhibitions. They have won several prestigious awards and have been broadcast on international TV networks and regularly shown in schools and colleges in India and abroad.
The film screening will be introduced by Roos Gerritsen, lecturer at the Institute of Anthropology at Heidelberg University, who will also moderate the question and answer session with Nishtha Jain following the screening. The event is financed by the HERA-project “SINGLE” and the South Asia Institute (SAI) of Heidelberg University.

Watch the film trailer on YouTube. (external link)