Deepa Mehta's _Fire_

[Partha Banerjee]

Hello.

I am delighted that INDOLOGY has decided to talk about this film and the
important issues brought forth in the film. Women's issues in
ultrapatriarchal South Asian context have not been dealt with in the Indian
film world except for some sporadic instances (here I would mention
Satyajit Ray's Mahanagar and Devi, Mrinal Sen's Bhuban Shome, Ketan Mehta's
Spices, and Shyam Benegal's Nishant and Ankur). Regardless of its
cinematographic merits, FIRE is extremely noteworthy for its bold approach
toward Indian women's (and men's) sexual issues -- a subject that has so
far been viewed as a taboo in the conservative Indian media dominated by
social and religious patriarchy. And the less we talk about the so-called
Bollywood films, the better.

A lot has been discussed on this film specially after the recent barbaric
vandalism at cinema halls by Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal goons (the latter
being Vishwa Hindu Parishad's direct offshoot) disrupting and eventually
stalling the show of the film, and one could look up the various websites
to get a glimpse of some of these discussions.

It is heartwarming though to see that at least some INDOLOGY scholars have
seen relevance of its mention on the list.

Regards,

Partha Banerjee


p.s. -- I would give the film a 3.0 on its cinematography and a 3.5 on
social relavance. Nandita Das deserves a 4.0 for her acting.
_________________
>>
>> I'll reserve further comment until others indicate an interest in
>> discussing it.  If anyone gets an opportunity  to see the film I urge them
>> to do so for I applaud its sensitive and balanced treatment of a number of
>> issues worth discussing here,  and give it 3.5 stars on a 4 point scale.
>>
>> Michael Rabe
>> School of the Art Institue of Chicago
>> and Saint Xavier University
>>
>>