Phoolan Devi was born into poverty in rural India, married off at eleven, and survived ten days of gang rape at the hands of upper-caste men. She went on to become India’s most wanted fugitive, served eleven years in prison, and won a seat in Parliament — the first low-caste woman ever elected. Decades before movements against sexual violence, caste discrimination, and gender inequality had names, Phoolan Devi was already living the answer to one question: why?

Why Now?

Because something is happening.

A new generation is losing patience with the world it inherited. From the streets of New York to Delhi, from campuses to villages, young people are questioning old hierarchies, inherited privilege, violence against women, and the idea that the circumstances of your birth should determine the boundaries of your life.

Phoolan asked those same questions long before they became hashtags.

A poor, lower-caste village girl with almost no education looked at the world around her and asked a dangerous question: Why?

Why should some people have power and others none? Why should a woman accept violence because society tells her to? Why should caste, poverty, or gender decide the size of a human life?

Nearly thirty years after her assassination, the world has caught up with Phoolan’s questions.

That is why now.

Phoolan’s questions about caste, poverty, and violence against women are the same questions this film explores in depth — alongside the political exclusion and poverty that shaped her life from the start. Support the film bringing her story — and these questions — to a new generation.

Films like PHOOLAN are not meant to be easy to make. In many ways, every documentary begins to resemble the character of the person it portrays. That has certainly been true for us.

Phoolan Devi was a Baghi — a rebel. Somewhere along the road of making this film, we became rebels too. Facing resistance. Confronting setbacks. Refusing to disappear.

At times it has felt like a Greek tragedy set in India — heroes battling demons.

And yet, here we are.

Still standing.
Still moving forward.

Here are just some of the challenges we have faced over the years while making this film:

1. It took 18 months just to get permission to film in India — a process that normally takes two or three months. Somewhere in the system, there were people who clearly preferred that this story remain buried.

2. Then came the real blow. In 2017, our Canadian broadcaster Super Channel went bankrupt. Overnight we lost more than 30% of our budget.

   Many films die right there.

   This one didn’t.

   Because some stories refuse to disappear.
   And Phoolan Devi’s story is one of them.

3. We were deep in negotiations with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), one of the largest talent agencies in the world. Then — boom — COVID hit, and everything collapsed.

And now we are back in the game again.

Setbacks cannot stop us.
As a matter of fact, nothing can.

The film exists.
And we are in the final stretch.

If you’re reading this, you are already part of the journey.

From now on we will be writing here regularly — speaking directly to those who believe in this film and want to see it reach and impact the world.

Let’s continue together.

— Hossein Martin Fazeli
Director, PHOOLAN