The film, which I strongly recommend that you watch, is a testament to their courageous work and the difference they have made.

Jain’s film is a deeply affecting work that reminds us of the vulnerability of women in rural India, and shines a light on the efforts of this group to protect, educate, and empower their gender against cruel husbands, corrupt politicians, and an orthodox, regressive mindset.

Gulabi Gang looks into the women’s movement, in one of the most rural parts of the country, with microscopic detail. These women are old, poor and from backward castes, who are shunned by the society and humiliated, raped and murdered by their own fathers, brothers and husbands. Born out of the atrocities is this gang, whose courage and resilience is worth documenting. Nishtha Jain deserves a standing ovation for her work but for that she first needs an audience. Go for it!

Nishtha Jain deserves a standing ovation for her work but for that she first needs an audience.

Go for it!

Gulabi Gang is a documentary that you should watch with Google at hand. It’s not comprehensive because Jain doesn’t delve into either Pal’s own history or the beginnings of Gulabi Gang. Neither does it provide a particularly in-depth understand of Bundelkhand’s social hierarchies. The villages in the documentary could have been in any part of north or central India. But Gulabi Gang does an offer a glimpse into why Pal, with her ego and her confidence, is such a hero to those who commit to the pink sari: she’s one of the few women who are committed to fighting for other women and the oppressed.

At 97 minutes the film is powerful, engrossing and completely captivating. And it’s all because the central character is so completely assured of her ability to get women to become more proactive in their own defense. It’s inspiring and truthful and even manages to question Sampat Pal’s own beliefs on testy matters that involve her family members. Sampat pal of course, comes out smelling like roses and why not? She is after all the queen of the Pink Brigade!

Jain largely focuses on the case of a teenaged woman whose in-laws and husband claim set herself on fire. But Pal, certain that the husband killed her, decides to poke around…Also, not all the women of the Gulabi Gang share Pal’s emancipatory ideals. It’s these contradictions that make the gang a fascinating, many layered phenomenon, one that a Bollywood movie would no doubt iron out into a flat piece of fiction.