Bandit Queen

Bandit Queen movie poster for sale.

Featured here is an actual surviving original Bollywood poster of the 1994 cult Hindi drama directed by Shekhar Kapur that starred Seema Biswas in the titular role.

Written by Mala Sen, the story of Bandit Queen (1994) was based on a book written by her in 1993 titled, “India’s Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi.” The film recounted the real life story of Phoolan Devi, a notorious female bandit who went on to become a Member of Parliament.

Produced by Bobby Bedi, Bandit Queen (1994) also featured a stellar supporting star cast comprising Nirmal Pandey, Manoj Bajpayee, Raghubir Yadav, Saurabh Shukla, Govind Namdeo and Gajraj Rao. Shekhar Kapur made a cameo appearance in the film.

Bandit Queen (1994) won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie and Best Direction. The film premiered in the Director’s Fortnight section of the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and was also screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival.

The film was selected as India’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 67th Academy Awards, making this original Bandit Queen movie poster, highly collectible!

Printed and circulated after the film won a National Film award and was declared tax free by the government (somewhere in the mid 1990s), this old Bollywood poster was designed and printed for publicity of the film in north Indian theaters but never ended up being used.

This Bandit Queen movie poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by an art studio in Delhi. The printed signature of artist Laxman is seen on the bottom left. Lead actress Seema Biswas is seen holding a rifle in a stunning hand painted avatar prominently in the poster. A key mass murder scene from the film is seen at the bottom of this Bandit Queen movie poster.

This Bollywood poster features stunning typography in Devanagari Hindi. The title is seen striking yellow font at the bottom set against a black background that gives it an eye catching appearance. The tax free status of the film is announced on the top in yellow against a red background.

The soundtrack album of Bandit Queen (1994) was composed by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who also lent his voice to tracks such as the cult song, “Sajna Tere Bina.”

Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur was accused of exploiting Phoolan Devi’s life story and faced stiff opposition leading up to the film’s release. Phoolan Devi threatened to immolate herself if the film was allowed to release, a claim she later withdrew on reportedly being paid £40,000 as settlement.