SEEMA BISWAS (Bandit Queen)JAISE DHAKAD ADADAKARA SHAYAD HI KABHI HINDI FILMO MEI AAYI HO.... BY ALI PETER JOHN

I first met Shekar Kapur when his uncle Dev Anand has sent him to me at my office in ‘Screen' at the Express Tower. Dev Sahab had asked Shekar to come back to Bombay to try his luck in films or as a model and he wanted me to encourage Shekar not to give up and to keep trying till he made it - Ali Peter John

Of the 30 minutes that I spoke to Shekar, he kept looking out of the window from where he could look at the sea and the only thing he told me was that he was only interested in swimming.

We parted ways, only to meet when he had turned an actor and was shooting for a film called “Pal Do Pal Ke Saath" which was being directed by B.R Ishara and had Shyaamlee, a Maharastrian girl as the heroine.

I was amused to see Shekar who was a CA in a leading firm in London based in a ‘dhoti' and a ‘kurta' and running around with his heroine. I asked him if he was happy doing what he was doing and he smiled and said,“this ‘dhoti' is perhaps a sign of my end as an actor".

Shekar acted in a few more small films, but he came into the limelight when he modeled for some suiting material and was declared the highest paid model in India and was also declared as the most handsome man by an international women organization.

And then he was moving in the fast track. He had turned director without being trained by anyone with a film called “Masoom". And after an innocent film like “Masoom" he became a director of a cult film like “Mr India".

And then he shocked his uncle Dev Anand, me and the whole of India when he made “Bandit Queen" which was the biography of India's most fearful woman bandit called Phoolan Devi.

After auditioning the several actresses, he casted Seema Biswas, a student of the National School Of Drama as Phoolan Devi.

Shekar invited celebrities and me who had become his close friend to watch the first trial of the film.

I must frankly say that I was absolutely and madly embarrassed to watch the scenes of brutal rape, of mass murder, the assault and molestation of young women and the parading of Phoolan Devi (Seema Biswas) through the lanes of a village absolutely nude.

The men in the film seemed like beasts and monsters for whom murder, molestation of their own kin and rape were like everyday life. The film ending with the credit titles saying that Phoolan Devi was acquitted of all charges of brutal murders.

For me, a film was so scary that I didn't even wait for dinner or meet Shekar or Seema and literally ran from the theater to the nearest railway station at 2:00 am and even missed my last train.

Shekar and his film went on to win several awards, but for me “Bandit Queen" and Seema Biswas will always be two of the most brutal memories of my life.

For Seema “Bandit Queen" proved to be a blockage which she could never cross. She still acts, but has never found the recognition her talent deserves. And Shekar is now the head of the Film And Television Institute Of India in Pune.

KUCH LOG KAHA SE KAHA POHUCH JAATE HAI AUR UNKE SAATH KYA KYA HO JAATA HAI.