English title – “Pink Saris” / Hindi language title – “Gulābī Sāṛī” (“गुलाबी साड़ी”)
The setting of this documentary, “Pink Saris”, is a rural area of Uttar Pradesh, North India where one woman, Sampat Pal Devi, leads a group of women, known as the Gulābī Gang (Pink Gang) in creating change in the lives of India’s lower caste women. In this place females are forced into marriages when they are still children, suffer physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their husbands and in-laws, and have few recourses for justice. Enter Sampat and the women in pink.
Even if it is just one woman at a time, Sampat works to change their plight in life. For example, marriage for a pregnant untouchable woman (who would have been put to death) to her higher caste lover; justice for a woman raped by her father-in-law; and protection for a runaway wife beaten by her husband. These and several other women’s stories are put forth in the film. Direct confrontation with the offender and the legal system (i.e. police) is the style of this group of courageous women who fight (sometimes with the lathi) for the improvement of women in India.
We learn that Sampat was a child wife, who eventually left her husband and who now lives with a man from the highest caste. In addition to her social movement environment, we see Sampat in her domestic environment - sweeping the floor and comforting a violence refugee in her home. As part of her quest, Sampat does try to negotiate better conditions for the women who return to their husbands’ family. Success on this front is limited. But Sampat and the gang keep trying to bring a new way of being for women throughout India. Sampat may not be perfect (she returns the runaway the wife of one of her husband’s relatives in order to keep peace with her husband’s family), she is a strong voice for change in India and, with many others in pink, will have a definite impact as time progresses.
Film Facts: Director/Cinematogrpher: Kim Longinotto, Editor: Ollie Huddleston, Musician: Midival Punditz, Producers: Amber Latiff, Girjashanker Vohra, Production Company: Women Make Movies
Film Type: Documentary, Drama, Cast: Renu Devi, Sampat Pal Devi, Niranjan Pal, Rekha Paswan, Shiv Devi Patel, Rampataree Yadav, Length: 96’, Language: Hindi, Country: United Kingdom, Year: 2010
Film Trailer
No United States release date set as of this post.
Images:
Left: Sampat Pal Devi and members of the Gulābī Gang from the website blog.afi.com
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Pink Saris” created by Adrean Darce Brent
Right: Sampat Pal Devi from the website viceland.com
The setting of this documentary, “Pink Saris”, is a rural area of Uttar Pradesh, North India where one woman, Sampat Pal Devi, leads a group of women, known as the Gulābī Gang (Pink Gang) in creating change in the lives of India’s lower caste women. In this place females are forced into marriages when they are still children, suffer physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their husbands and in-laws, and have few recourses for justice. Enter Sampat and the women in pink.
Even if it is just one woman at a time, Sampat works to change their plight in life. For example, marriage for a pregnant untouchable woman (who would have been put to death) to her higher caste lover; justice for a woman raped by her father-in-law; and protection for a runaway wife beaten by her husband. These and several other women’s stories are put forth in the film. Direct confrontation with the offender and the legal system (i.e. police) is the style of this group of courageous women who fight (sometimes with the lathi) for the improvement of women in India.
We learn that Sampat was a child wife, who eventually left her husband and who now lives with a man from the highest caste. In addition to her social movement environment, we see Sampat in her domestic environment - sweeping the floor and comforting a violence refugee in her home. As part of her quest, Sampat does try to negotiate better conditions for the women who return to their husbands’ family. Success on this front is limited. But Sampat and the gang keep trying to bring a new way of being for women throughout India. Sampat may not be perfect (she returns the runaway the wife of one of her husband’s relatives in order to keep peace with her husband’s family), she is a strong voice for change in India and, with many others in pink, will have a definite impact as time progresses.
Film Facts: Director/Cinematogrpher: Kim Longinotto, Editor: Ollie Huddleston, Musician: Midival Punditz, Producers: Amber Latiff, Girjashanker Vohra, Production Company: Women Make Movies
Film Type: Documentary, Drama, Cast: Renu Devi, Sampat Pal Devi, Niranjan Pal, Rekha Paswan, Shiv Devi Patel, Rampataree Yadav, Length: 96’, Language: Hindi, Country: United Kingdom, Year: 2010
Film Trailer
No United States release date set as of this post.
Images:
Left: Sampat Pal Devi and members of the Gulābī Gang from the website blog.afi.com
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Pink Saris” created by Adrean Darce Brent
Right: Sampat Pal Devi from the website viceland.com
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