Producer: Vinod Doshi 
Director: Jagmohan Mundhra 
Cast: Raghuvir Yadav, Gulshan Grover, Lilett Dubey, Nandita Das, Rahul Khanna
Music: Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Lyrics: Hariram Acharya

Dr.Jagmohan Mundhra had to go through hell and beyond till he could finally get his film released. First it was the censors who were acting as the cultural police scrutinizing every frame and every sound the film comprised of. Once the censor had passed the film it was Bhanwari Devi’s turn to complain, like in the case of Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen so in the case of Bawander, the principle character on whom the story is based complained that the film was not made with her consent. If this was not enough, more came in the form of the co-producers, Vinod Doshi and his son. The father-son duo claimed that Jagmohan owned them a certain sum and that he had been playing hookey. The duo had approached the court to stop Jagmohan from releasing the film, however the differences were solved out of court and the film was finally relased.

You see the film and you know that all the hardship that Jagmohan incurred due to this film was all worth it. The film is one of its kind and it would have be an injustice to viewers if such a film had to have its fate slammed in the cans. Dr Mundhra claims that he was struck with the idea for the film at London airport and we pray that this happens often. According to Jagmohan, the seeds for the film were sown by Suzanne Goldenberg, the journalist from The Guardian newspaper. So moved was Dr Mundhra by her account of the courage of an Indian villager that he knew it would be his next film. Bavandar -- or The Sandstorm -- is thus based on the true story of Bhanwari Devi -- a community worker in rural Rajasthan -- who was raped by three members of a family because she protested against a child marriage in their family.

Thus Bhanwari Devi changes to Saavri, which is enacted by Nandita Das, while Raghuvir Yadav plays her husband, a rickshaw-puller. Saavri's quiet crusade is particularly against child marriage, for which she incurs the wrath of the upper caste Gujjars and is raped by three of them in front of her husband. From here the film then shows the crude ways of the upper caste men in rural India and focuses on the impotent system. After raping, the men curl their moustaches as a show of manly pride; the eager doctor who wants to put his fingers into Savri’s privates; the cop telling Saavri to take her clothes off as evidence of rape and later masturbating in it; the local MLA apprehending the accused to only later ask them if it was an enjoyable experience and the lady police who tells Saavri that she should concider herself lucky to have had three different men besides her husband. These are the scenes in the film that are crude, very disturbing, never the less facts that one cannot deny. Saavri's case has the ingredients to lure opulent, but insensitive, social workers from New Delhi. Clad in expensive saris and tasteful jewellery, they arrive with their bottles of mineral water to lend support. Just as rural India, Jagmohan has also done complete justice in capturing the urban elite very well -- particularly when the ladies want their pictures taken with Saavri, ensuring that the sand dunes in the background are not missed in the frame.

The story, a narrative flashback by Amy (Laila Rouass), a Western researcher, who is assisted in her task by an old classmate Ravi (Rahul Khanna), a resident of Jaipur, then takes you through the struggle that Saavri incurred in her process to get justice. The film is infested with selfish characters who have their ulterior motives with the exception of Gulshan Grover who plays the Gujjar lawyer who takes on Saavri's case, Deepti Naval the lady NGO who Saavri looks to as an idol and Raghuveer Yadav, her husband. Gulshan, the bad man of Bollywood is worth a watch in this film where he plays a good man for change. Deepti Naval makes a quite comeback in this film after years being in a self-imposed retirement. As for Raghuveer Yadav, words fail to describe the tremendous potentials that this pint-sized actor processes.

Needless to say, Govind Namdeo as the wily MLA seems to have mastered such roles after playing them for years on the big and small screens. Laila Rouass as Amy is a justified role, but the character has been badly written in the script. The character is not convincing - the ease with which she gets her info makes research work look like child’s job. A lot of research people may loose their jobs if they take this character and the work seriously.

However the movie Bavandar is engaging though disturbing. The film helps in bringing to life the injustices done to an illiterate woman who not only had the courage to speak out, but the conviction to fight for that right. Jagmohan who has usually delved more into erotism and erotic fantasy in the past has done a an exceptionally good job of this film.