NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

babu_smart A melodramatic tale about the journey of two women towards Self-actualisation. This movie from the award-winning filmmaker Deepa Mehta perfectly depicts the illiberal ideas entrenched in our bigoted society. Mehta's Elements trilogy, Fire, Earth, and Water distinctly personify her visions and her elegance in filmmaking.Sita(Nandita Das) is entering a new family after her wedding. The family consists of her spouse Jatin(Javed Jaffrey), her brother in law Ashok and his wife Radha(Shabana Azmi) and the matriarch of the family is Biji. Biji is taken cared by the servant Mundu but often infuriates the old lady.Sita is a soul which dares to dream. She is bound by no shackles. But the married life has been quite tough on her after she found her husband to be cheating on her. During a conversation Radha tells Sita that she is infertile,"No eggs in ovaries " were the exact words to be precise and for that reason, her husband has vowed to celibacy under the influence of a Swamiji who has preached him that desire was the root of all evil. These two women gradually embrace each other and rediscover their sexuality and in the process rediscover their will to live a life that they wished to live in a cloudland.Mehta's effort to intricately design the characters has a positive impact on screen as it wasn't judgemental rather each character's reflections of their opinions.Azhagi fame Nandita Das has flabbergasted us with her role. Takeshi's Castle fame Javed Jaffrey has made his role look so easy. The entire team has done just to their roles, making this a movie that every movie maniac will savour.In 1998 Fire was screened in India.For its content of displaying Homosexuality as a non-evil custom, the movie garnered immense controversy. There were riots in various parts the country. Shiv sanaiks and Bajrang Dal invaded and vandalized the theatres. Even now, After two decades from this film's release, the Section 377 is still a matter of debate. With many countries legalizing homosexuality, India has failed miserably and it nowhere near to making the right verdict. Releasing a movie that is against the prejudices in the 90's was gutsy and they deserve to be applauded but all they received was criticism.A movie that everyone should watch and a movie that everyone can relate to. Fire beautifully portrays so many human qualities like self-acceptance, self-actualization, Love, ion, Sexuality. The movie deserves to be celebrated.

Terence Frederick watching this movie young, but I paid no attention to the story or screenplay and watched it purely of its pornographic content, as it was the first Indian movie that shows lesbianism. Seeing this after 20 years, I feel, the movie projects the concept of "desire" in Indian Women. Indian women are mostly sub-servants and many believe that desire brings ruin for them. Deepa Mehta written and made a bold and awesome movie that was cleared twice by the Censor board and released after a huge opposition by the Shiv-Seniks in Maharashtra. All the actors in this movie gelled so well to the characters and my favourite is Shabana Azmis. ARR BGM from his previous movies esp. BOMBAY THEME adds spice to the screen.The mention of Women on FIRE in the title refers not just to the feelings of Radha and Sita in the movie but the directors' because of her flaming script and screenplay.

Srinivas G Phani Congratulations to the makers of Fire, specially Deepa Mehta and Giles Nuttgens – they have succeeded in entertaining us. Fire is a wonderful film and is a landmark in the Indian History of Cinema. 1996 is the time when we were used to watching blockbusters with not much story, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) et al. It was the time when the song 'Sexy Sexy' from Khuddar (1994) was censored to 'Baby Baby' (it sounds funny now though). It was also the time when people enjoyed family dramas or even violent drama films, Ghatak (1996) for instance. To make such a movie in India in that period was a courageous effort from the complete crew of Fire.Story is nothing new to talk of; everybody knows it – two women (Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das), ignored by husbands, come together, find solace. Cinematography by Giles Nuttgens is fabulous. There is not much space in the set of the house to move the camera around (and that is evident in the film as Mehta wanted to make the set look real) but still, Nuttgens manages to give some wonderful cinematography. Observe the movements in the beginning of the film, in the huge field and later in Taj Mahal – that itself proves his abilities. There is a dusky brown tint throughout and many sequences are shot in a single go. He has planned the movement very well.Shabana Azmi as Radha is superb in the film. She is remarkable towards the final sequences where she is confused whether she is doing the right thing or not. Her outburst with Khulbhushan Kharbanda (who plays Ashok) is the highlight of the film, which is accompanied by wonderful background music by A. R. Rahman. Khulbhushan has got nothing to do throughout except in the end and he utilizes the opportunity well. I was surprised to see Javed Jafferi as Jatin in the movie. I never knew this famous comedian-dancer has acted in this masterpiece. He proves that not only is he good at comedy and dance, but also at acting.I was a bit perplexed to see Ranjit Chowdhary as Mundu masturbating. I wondered long why Mehta has induced this into the film, why not any other mischief by him, and this is answered towards the end and becomes the root cause of Radha's confusion. Every scene in the film has some meaning, be it Jatin's humiliation by his Chinese girlfriend Julie's parents, or the continual use of the scene from Ramayan where Sita plunges into the pyre to prove her purity, or even Radha's dream sequence. Amidst the fast paced drama, we get some relief in the form of 'Mundu's Fantasy.' For example, he imagines the story Radha narrates in the movie in which he is the king, Radha his wife, Sita (played by Nandita Das) his mistress and Jatin his servant. Also, the sex scene in the end is aesthetically filmed and doesn't go above what was required.Such a film can never be imagined to come out of India, even today, 15 years after its release. It is only now that we are witnessing gay characters in Hindi Movies – Dostana (2008), I Am (2011) – implied masturbation – Ek Chotisi Love Story (2002) – but not as explicit as in this film. Not only from the theme and content point of view, also from the presentation point of view, the film is different. The scenes are moving along with the camera and the drama develops at a fast pace and maintains the speed throughout. Some jokes drop by but the story is continuously moving within the small house. The dialogs of the film are witty and at times humorous (e.g. Sita – Are you coming home tonight? Jatin – Maybe! ; Radha – Where is Jatin? Sita – He is away to meet his girlfriend). You cherish them and at the same time get involved in them and feel the character's pain. The production design is completely different from other films then.A marvelous effort by Deepa Mehta (though didn't gain recognition in India due to the explicit homosexuality in the film) and the rest of the crew. Kudos to them. And I must appreciate the censor board of India that they released this film without any cuts and an A certificate.

Haroon Riaz The thing which makes "Fire" even more appealing to watch apart from its magical artistry, is its touch of femininism and rebellion. To my mind, the very character played by Shabana Azmi is a symbol of the Indian feminine protest against the Indian society. The name of the movie and the scene when Radha walks through flames in her kitchen are symbloic of Hindu Mythology's Lord Rama's wife Sita's walking through fire for the proof of her immaculacy, as per the same narrative which appears in the film too. The film could be a great inspiration for women, particularly those in the subcontinent, to search for their liberties and to attain control of their lives.