"Bandit Queen" tells the story of Phoolan Devi, a lower-caste woman who achieved notoriety when she fought back against sexism and India's abusive caste system.
At just 11 years old, Phoolan was forcibly wed to a man who purchased her from her family (cost: a bicycle and a cow). When her new husband beats and rapes her, the traumatized Phoolan runs away. Once she steps off the narrow path that poor women must follow, however, she becomes easy prey for the upper-class and powerful Thakurs. One of their clan, enraged when Phoolan fights off his advances, arranges to have her abducted and raped by a cruel band of outlaws. When the sympathetic bandit Vikram rescues her, the two form their own gang and Phoolan sets out to revenge herself... in the process becoming a heroine to many of her people.
