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Fire
- Director: Deepa Mehta
- Writer: Deepa Mehta
- Producer: Bobby Bedi; Varsha Bedi
CGiii Comment
Part 1 of the Elements Trilogy...
First and foremost...this is NOT an Indian film...made by an Indian Canadian about India for an English-speaking international audience...
This film has been lavished with politically correct, fraudulent praise...simply because it addresses a subject that is considered taboo! Lesbianism in Indian patriarchal society.
What it actually boils down to is a man-hating extravaganza - further enhanced by the acting abilities of the male leads...they have no discernible talent whatsoever. Wood could not be stiffer.
The English dialogue is infantile, akin to the content (and delivery) of a 3rd Grade Nativity play...it really is that bad.
The Chinese mistress, the bell-ringing old hag, the masturbatory care-giver, the spiritual flashbacks, the Bollywood references, the soft focus, the cacophonous soundtrack, the train-wreck ending...just a few things that help bring this film to its knees...with this kind of evidence, Mehta is a director with much to learn.
An unchallenging, ham-acted, mis-managed, over-simplification of a complex subject.
Critical praise should not be based upon race and gender alone...surely, talent is what it's all about!?!
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Ashok runs a family business that sells takeout food that also has a video rental store at the side. Ashok's extended family includes his wife Radha, his brother Jatin, their ailing mother Biji and their manservant Mundu, all living under the same roof. Jatin, at the insistence of Ashok and their mother, Biji, agrees to marry the beautiful Sita in an arranged marriage, although he is actually in love with Julie, a Chinese-Indian. At first glance, you see a happy middle-class family going through the normal paces of everyday life. However, as the layers are slowly peeled back, we find a simmering cauldron of discontent within the family, with almost every family member living a lie. Both marriages in the family turn out to be emotionally empty, without love or passion. While Ashok is an ascetic who has taken a vow of celibacy, Jatin is a handsome ladies' man who is still openly seeing Julie even after his marriage to Sita.
Cast & Characters
Karishma Jhalani as Young Radha;
Ramanjeet Kaur as Young Radha's mother;
Dilip Mehta as Young Radha's father;
Javed Jaffrey as Jatin;
Nandita Das as Sita;
Vinay Pathak as Guide at Taj Mahal;
Kushal Rekhi as Biji;
Shabana Azmi as Radha;
Ranjit Chowdhry as Mundu;
Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Ashok;
Alice Poon as Julie;
Ram Gopal Bajaj as Swamiji;
Ravinder Happy as Oily man in video shop;
Devyani Saltzman as Girl in video shop;
Sunil Chabra as Milkman on bicycle