Geeta’s life is governed by thoughts of Phoolan Devi––a young woman who came to be known as the ‘Bandit Queen’ after she killed 20 men in the Behmai massacre, for which she was awarded an 11-year-long sentence. Following her release, she served as a Member of Parliament, before being assassinated at the age of 37. It is Phoolan Devi’s never-say-die attitude that Parini Shroff channels into the major players of her debut novel, titled The Bandit Queens.
Set in a fictional village, the book revolves around a group of feisty women led by the protagonist Geeta, who are determined to teach their no-good husbands the ultimate lesson; in short, kill them. And along the way in this gritty, twisted and poignant tale, the author attempts to address social concerns such as poverty, domestic violence, sexual assault, as well as caste discrimination and hierarchy.
The feminist revenge thriller has much going for it. To begin with, its women are written with a clear, sharp objective in mind. They are flawed but relatable. In a way, each of them has the potential to be the heroes of their lives. The wry sense of humour adds to the readability of the narrative that is founded on a palpable sense of sisterhood.
The novel is aspirational, no doubt. So is the author’s intent to give voice to the marginalised. But, that she is an outsider––based out of the US—is evident in her oversimplified portrayal of Indian society. That is where Shroff loses the plot. For instance, the milieu, at times, can seem a bit confusing. It doesn’t seem plausible for women in a remote village surviving on microloans to say, “Well, hindsight is almost a bigger bitch than you,” or “We are what is known on (TV crime drama) CID as ‘collateral damage’. Basically, we’re fucked.”References to the celebrity chat show, Koffee with Karan, seem equally out of place.
Also, as inspiring as the story of Phoolan Devi is, Shroff returns to it a tad bit too often, making the novel seem repetitive and, ironically, unoriginal. Perhaps some more on-ground research would have helped. The needlessly heavy dependence on pop culture, especially Bollywood, prevents the story from exploring in depth the more serious issue of caste domination in India, and prevalence of hierarchy within the
Dalit community.
Even the ending is quite anti-climactic. What could have been a nail-biting finale, loses steam as it descends into a series of inane conversations, with villains pausing midway into their gruesome acts to explain their nicknames.For a debut novel, The Bandit Queens is certainly an engaging piece of literature, where the author’s heart is in the right place. It, however, falls short of being a gripping thriller because
of its idling prose.