Deepa Mehta's _Fire_ (fwd)

[Dominik Wujastyk]

> From Michael Rabe:

> Dear fellow-indologists,
>
> Luxuriating in the mid-year break  between semesters I've taken the time to
> rent a video tape of Deepa Mehta's _Fire_ [the New Yorker Films release in
> the U.S. preceded the Bal Thackery induced demonstrations of recent weeks].
> And for what it's worth, I'd like to publically commend her on this forum
> for a masterful work of fiction.  What impressed me most about this film,
> apart from the grave circumspection with which potentially titillating
> episodes were uniformly treated--no soft porn voyeurism offered here,
> unlike Mira Nair's travesty called _Kamasutra_ last year--is the sympathetic
> humanity with which ALL the principals are characterized--yes, even the
> less-than-loving husbands.  For me at least, everything rang true--even the
> genesis of lesbianism between long-suffering Radha and newly disillusioned
> Sita.  Not, I hasten to add, because of any opinion of my own I have to
> offer on the subject of the plausibility or frequency of such a turn in
> real life--rather, only in terms the actions arising logically out of given
> plot and character elements set forth, again as telling fiction.
>
> So...what I'd like to know, first off, is whether any others of you have
> seen the film and would like to discuss its merits as an indological text.
> Can anyone share any URLs for published reviews in the Indian press?  Here,
> for starters are some I found via States-side search engines:
>
> AN INTERVIEW WITH DEEPA MEHTA
> http://www.industech.com/infusion/current/mehta.html
>
> IN THE FIRING LINE by Brandon Judell
> http://www.filmmag.com/community/cyberlinc/interviews/mehta.html
>
> A Film Review by James Berardinelli
> http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/f/fire.html
>
> & http://www.zeitgeistfilm.com/current/fire/fire.html
>                       for       _FIRE_ A FILM BY DEEPA MEHTA
>                          starring
>                                              SHABANA AZMI as RADHA
>                                                NANDITA DAS as SITA
>                                        KULBUSHAN KHARBANDA as ASHOK
>                                              JAAVED JAAFERI as JATIN
>                                           RANJIT CHOWDHRY as MUNDU
>                                                    and introducing
>                                               KUSHAL REKHI as BIJI [and
> Alice Poon as Julie]
>
> 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
>
>