A sequel to Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen is coming.
Honey Trehan is directing the follow-up that focuses on Phoolan Devi's latter years.
Richie Mehta recently premiered also a film on Phoolan at the Toronto Film Festival 2026.
Thirty years after Shekhar Kapur’s 1994 biographical drama Bandit Queen depicted the life of Indian dacoit Phoolan Devi, a follow-up feature is officially in the works to explore the next phase of her journey. Helmed by Satluj director Honey Trehan, who boarded the project last month, the upcoming installment will reportedly trace her 1983 surrender to authorities, her post-prison years following an 11-year incarceration, and the circumstances wrapping in her 2001 assassination.
Speaking with Mid-Day, Trehan mused on the weight of taking over the franchise, calling the opportunity unique given how deeply the 1994 original influenced directors of his era. Outlining the narrative direction of the follow-up, he said, "This film begins where Shekhar sir’s Bandit Queen left off. It’s a great responsibility to honour what the original film represented. I am engrossed in the script and going through the amount of research Bobby (Bedi) sir has already done."
Producer Bobby Bedi contrasted the two projects by noting that while Kapur’s original focused on sexual violence and vengeance, the sequel will shift its gaze to Devi's existence once she walked free from prison. “It’s about a woman who has survived an extraordinary life and what she chooses to do thereafter,” he stated. A central plank of the script will be her relationship with her future husband, Umed Singh. "Her love story with Umed Singh is an important part of this film. Her personal life, her fight for women’s rights, and becoming a member of Parliament twice are all part of this journey. There is so much more to her life than what people have seen in Bandit Queen," Bedi noted.
Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen
Released on January 26, 1994, Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen, written by Mala Sen and starring Seema Biswas and Nirmal Pandey, was inspired by the life of Phoolan Devi. Produced by Kaleidoscope Entertainment and Film Four International and distributed by Amitabh Bachchan Corporation, the film premiered at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight and screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Although it failed to secure a nomination as India's Best Foreign Language Film entry at the 67th Oscars, the drama earned Biswas a National Award for Best Actress.
In 2019, Kapur confessed on his social media, "I think its my best film because it was shot completely intuitively. And hope I can make another film like that."
Meanwhile, Honey's latest venture, the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Satluj, was pulled from ZEE5 just hours after its direct-to-digital premiere. The film was locked in a certification battle for years.
Delhi Crime creator Richie Mehta's new film, Phoolan, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September. The Prime Video original circles a 48-hour siege in which she is surrounded by an army of 2,000 armed men, ordered to kill her, in the Chambal region.
