A film by Deepa Mehta
Starring: Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das, Kulbooshan Karbanda , Jaaved
Jafferi
Rating: 
out of 
Reviewed by: Srilakshmi Sitaraman
Srilakshmi.Sitaraman@eng.sun.com
After being tired of regular masala films, I coerced my husband and some of my friends to try this movie called "FIRE" by Deepa Mehta. Though the experience was definitely different and memorable, I had mixed emotions about the movie, not with respect to the issues of lesbianism but the circumstances which lead to it.
The movie is about two women married into a traditional family, settled in Delhi, fighting to survive and find their identity in the male dominated household. The elder brother Ashok (Kulbooshan Karbanda) is married to a devoted wife Radha (Shabana Azmi) who has vowed to a life of celibacy claming their childless marriage to be the cause. The younger brother Jatin (Jaaved Jaferi) marries Sita, exceptionally played by Nandita Das and brings her into the family. Jatin is unable to breakup with his Chinese girlfriend after the wedding and is totally disinterested in his wife.
Young and tomboyish Sita and the demure Radha trapped in loveless marriages turn to each other for support, companionship and other emotions they never imagined . The servant, Mundu, plays a role in their realization. On the whole, the movie deals with issues wonderfully but the events leading to the realization could have been portrayed more tastefully and some serious scenes made the mostly American audience laugh. I also felt if the movie were in Hindi and had English subtitles would have seemed more realistic.
Would you like to contribute? Please contact assteditor@indolink.com to send in a review.