Richie Mehta’s latest crime thriller features a massive siege in a small Indian village as authorities hunt down a violent outlaw. Phoolan thrusts audiences into a dangerous moment in the life of India’s most notorious bandit, Phoolan Devi.
Phoolan Movie Review: Richie Mehta’s Gripping Bandit Queen Thriller
Based on her own autobiography, I, Phoolan – The Autobiography of India’s Bandit Queen, the new film follows the titular character, a victim turned outlaw, whose life story was previously chronicled in Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen. Adapting the autobiography, Phoolan focuses on a pivotal 48 hours in her life that showcases just how prolific the woman was. And why was she such a threat to those in power at the time.
Phoolan premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, directed by Canadian filmmaker Richie Mehta, who previously created the true-crime series, Delhi Crime, which was also based on a real-life incident. With Phoolan, Mehta crafts a taut thriller that chronicles the origin story of the real-life Phoolan Devi, while set during one of the most significant moments of her life as a criminal on the run.
Who Was The Real-Life Phoolan Devi?
The story focuses on Phoolan Devi, an infamous outlaw turned politician in India. It’s a period piece set in a small village in India, where a police siege almost saw the capture of Devi and her associates. Mehta, along with his co-writer Anu Singh, adapts Devi’s own autobiography during on specific moment, while telling her origin story through flashbacks. Thus filling out the backstory of her life, as the present day story focuses more on the impending manhunt by the government, with orders to shoot her on sight.
Phoolan Devi became a threat to India’s patriarchal political system by becoming a symbol of resistance; a rebel fighting for women’s rights against a culture of oppression. Condemned for leaving an abusive marriage, Devi experienced widespread sexual abuse and assault at a young age. When a group of bandits were hired to kill her, her ferocity made them accept her as their own, teaching her skills with firearms and tactics to fight back with more than just words.
How A Young Woman Became A Huge Threat To The Government
As a teenager, Devi quickly became a violent activist, literally fighting and killing in the name of women’s rights and freedoms. Essentially a vigilante in rural villages, punishing those who commit injustices against the oppressed and downtrodden in just as violent and heinous ways as the oppressors themselves. Devi became a freedom fighter for those who saw her as a saviour. This made her a long-sought-after target by the government, given that her rhetoric was inspiring the country. Phoolan depicts one such manhunt where she was almost captured for her crimes.
The pacing is confident and controlled for a film built around an explosive manhunt. The moments of action and spectacle serve to create more tension in the story and increase the stakes. Switching back and forth from the present day to flashbacks keeps audiences engaged, while providing a narrative break from the tightly wound main story. This type of grounded realism is a Mehta trademark, where he favours a more sombre tone over flashy performances.
An Impressive Debut From Sneha Kumari
The titular character is portrayed by newcomer Sneha Kumari in her feature film debut. Kumari is brilliant as Phoolan Devi in a performance that, while raw and unpolished, works for the character. Kumari’s earnest performance creates an emotional connection with the audience that makes it easier to stomach the character’s more questionable tactics later on.
She is depicted as an emotional and impulsive young woman who is brutal in her approach to life, given all that she’s suffered. Devi is aggressive in every aspect because the alternative is to have her voice suppressed. Kumari’s inexperience as an actress reads less like a flaw than like the character herself, a brash, outspoken young woman clawing back the dignity that she’s been constantly stripped of.
A Different Character’s Viewpoint Deepens the Phoolan Review
Mehta also crafts a subplot through the eyes of another character, one of the police officers hunting Devi. The officer provides a different angle into the story as someone who witnesses the corruption of the police and their attitudes towards those of lower caste. He slowly connects the dots, leading audiences to understand why the villagers see Devi as their saviour. This provides another narrative viewpoint into the story, showcasing the complex nature of Devi’s perceived crimes by those whose agendas are threatened by her attacks against the system.
One of my criticisms of Phoolan is that the story isn’t entirely accessible to all audiences. While the choice to focus the story on one specific incident keeps it more insular, some audiences may lose the real-world impact that Phoolan Devi had in India’s society. And, in turn, what made her such a threat. A key scene features a Minister, played by Rajesh Tailang, that sheds some light but mostly comes across as a villainous monologue than the context the scene required. So without prior real-world knowledge of who Phoolan Devi was, it all comes off more like just a random crime-story, instead of a bio-pic about one of India’s most influential figures.
Final Verdict: Why This Phoolan Review Calls It A Worthy Biopic
It’s a deliberate choice by Mehta and Singh, but the scope of Devi’s story is so vast that Phoolan never quite captures it. This also feels intentional, given that a more comprehensive biopic of Devi’s life already exists in Shekhar Kapur’s 1994 hit Bandit Queen. Which I’m sure the filmmakers wouldn’t have wanted to retread.
Phoolan is a quiet, well-crafted story, deliberately narrow in scope and insular by design, focused on one specific event in Devi’s life. While it may not be for everyone, it’s still a worthy biopic that introduces a new generation to a woman who pushed the boundaries of women’s rights; not just as an outlaw, but later in life as a politician as well. With powerhouse performances from all involved, namely Sneha Kumari in an impressive debut.
Phoolan premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival on September 16.
How did you feel about the approach Phoolan took to Devi’s story? Let me know in the comments below. And for more reviews like this one, follow me on X at @theshahshahid.
