The Torch Review: Manipur's Women With Torches

The film dives into the Meira Paibi, a movement of women in Manipur who emerged in response to the climate of fear created by the enforcement of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958. If that act sounds like bureaucratic alphabet soup, the documentary makes clear what it actually meant on the ground - a pervasive unease that seeped into daily life and left communities feeling like they had no one watching their backs. So the women decided to watch each other's backs themselves. Torch in hand, literally and figuratively, they transformed from neighbors into vigilant custodians of their communities, patrolling streets, bearing witness, and refusing to look away. Rajkumar doesn't treat this as a standalone curiosity. The film situates the movement within a much longer genealogy of women-led resistance in Manipur, tracing a thread that runs through generations. It's less a single story than a family tree of defiance.

Let's get one thing straight upfront: this is a documentary in Hindi from Bollywood, and it's not here to hold your hand through a snappy three-act structure. Rajkumar takes his time. The pacing is deliberate - some might say glacial - and there are stretches where the film seems more interested in letting a moment breathe than in propelling you toward the next beat. But that patience pays off. There's real power in watching how these women narrate their own history without any narrator swooping in to explain the obvious.

The smartest move the film makes is refusing to treat the Meira Paibi as some sudden miracle. By rooting them in a longer tradition of women organizing in Manipur, The Torch argues that courage is less a lightning strike than a habit passed down like a recipe. The torch imagery could have been heavy-handed - a lesser filmmaker would have leaned on it until it smoked - but Rajkumar uses it sparingly, letting the metaphor glow rather than blaze.

What's missing, honestly, is texture. For a film about women patrolling at night, we rarely feel the tension of the night itself. The documentary leans cerebral when it could occasionally stand to be visceral - a bit more grit, a bit less genealogy chart. And without a listed runtime to brace for, viewers should know they're in for a marathon of a sit, not a sprint. Still, the cumulative effect is undeniable. By the final stretch, you feel like you've been given access to something private and hard-won, and you leave with a better understanding of why a torch matters more than a badge. It won't be for everyone - your action-loving friends will be climbing the walls - but for anyone who believes history is made in kitchens and on street corners as much as in parliaments, it's essential viewing.

Pros

• Genuinely illuminating history, delivered without a lecture-hall tone
• The Meira Paibi's story is powerful and rarely told this accessibly
• Strong use of the torch metaphor without overselling it
• Carefully situates the movement in a longer tradition of women-led resistance

Cons

• Deliberate pacing will test the patience of casual viewers
• Rarely captures the visceral tension of the night patrols it describes
• Leans heavily cerebral; could use more raw, present-tense immediacy

The Torch won't light up the box office, but it lights up something more useful: your understanding of a movement most audiences have never heard of. It's a patient, respectful, occasionally sluggish documentary that rewards the viewer who leans in rather than the one checking their watch. If you've got the attention span to spare, let this one burn.