Fire

Two women who are abandoned by their husbands, find love and solace in each other. Fire was highly controversial in India because it depicted a lesbian relationship between it’s two leads. The controversy later ushered in more conversation about lgbtq activism in India.  Fire is labeled as an erotic romance but it’s so much more. The romantic relationship between the main characters, Sita and Radha is the focus of the film but what it does with it is a whole lotta things. The film talks about freedom, desire, cultural and religious restraints, feminism, homophobia, ageism and most prominently patriarchy.  In fact for an Indian film released in 1996, when being gay was illegal, this film was a pathbreaker. The romance between the women blossoms out of loneliness. They each find solace in themselves. Small conversations lead to bigger discoveries both about each other and themselves.  The director of the film, Deepa Mehta, says She never intended to make a lesbian film- she was simply telling a story which happened to have two women fall in love. Loosely Based on a short story from 1942, Mehta wasn’t even aware she was creating a film so important and so groundbreaking. The leads of the film Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, both are extraordinary in it. They’re both heterosexual but the chemistry between them is palpable. Every scene oozes with sexual appeal and tension. Even the simple act of putting oil on each other’s hair is so sexually vibrant that you could cut the tension with wire. Two performances that are so melancholic and so liberating.  There’s a hindu festival where married women fast for a day for their husband’s long life. They don’t eat or drink. Sita and Radha, are bound by the shackles of custom so they have to do this as well. The husband, usually breaks his wife’s fast but both Sita and Radha’s husbands are nowhere to be seen so the women break each other’s fast. Interlocking eyes, feeding each other… a beautiful and evocative scene.  Fire is hard to find. There’s DVDS on amazon and a kinda low quality print on YouTube. The story is confined in a house so the picture quality doesn’t matter much so I hope you guys give it a watch. It’s a learning experience. You’ll understand what love might look like seven seas away when you’re bound by chains of religion and culture and patriarchy.  Also once you watch the film… you’ll understand why the film is called Fire.