Sunday Screening – Pink Saris

Pink Saris follows the struggles of the Gulabi Gang, a group of women vigilantes in Northern India, who refuse to submit to socially accepted forms of injustice and domestic abuse. Spearheaded by the indomitable Sampat Pal, the Gulabi Gang fight for equality even in their own homes; often, the victims of abuse are targeted by their husbands’ and their extended families, with whom they are forced to live.

Throughout Uttar Pradesh, women seek out Sampat Pal for support and she eagerly takes up arms to help them, often inserting herself directly in the conflict. Despite her formidable strength, Pal too most cope with ubiquitous prejudice and abuse at the hands of a society that seems to have forgotten her.

Pink Saris explores Pal’s struggles in order to question the position of feminism and women’s equality in a society that seems stacked against her at every moment.

2010
Directed by Kim Longinotto
96 mins