The photographs featured here belong to Susie Coelho, our interviewee, executive producer, and a personal friend of Phoolan Devi.
Susie spent an extraordinary month with Phoolan and members of her gang while they were in prison. How she managed to gain such access is a story worthy of a film in its own right. It took remarkable courage, tenacity, and more than a little luck.
These photographs offer just a glimpse into that extraordinary journey. But the real treasures go much deeper.
Susie’s private archive includes never-before-seen and heard recordings of Phoolan answering questions about her life, along with two precious handwritten booklets. In them, Phoolan recounted her life in her own words, speaking in her native tongue while one of her literate gang members transcribed her account in Hindi.
These are not interpretations of Phoolan’s life by outsiders. They are fragments of her own voice, her own memories, and her own understanding of the world she inhabited.
Susie has generously agreed to license selected materials from this remarkable collection to our documentary, giving us something extraordinarily rare: the opportunity to let Phoolan tell her story herself.
Courtesy of Susie Coelho
For press use of these images, please contact us directly.
