For 16 long years, Manipur’s ‘Iron Lady’ survived on oral hydrating fluids, baby food supplements and perhaps the least glamorous “liquid diet”. In the last two decades, she hasn’t eaten a bite of solid food, visited the cinema, or done anything that many leading a normal life take for granted. She had vowed to meet her mother only when AFSPA in Manipur had been repealed.

On 9 August 2016, Sharmila broke her fast – the world’s longest-running. Sharmila, however, is wary of a biopic on her life. She calls it a “violation of her rights and an infringement of privacy”. She responded to buzz generated online about the possibility of a movie on her.