FIRE
August 30, 2019 · 7:30 PM · The Royal Cinema
Co-presented with Reel Asian Film Festival and co-sponsored by Pleasure Dome, Sanghum Film Series presents: Fire
Written and directed by Deepa Mehta, Fire was released in India two years after its premiere at TIFF in 1998. The first film in mainstream Bollywood to explicitly show a lesbian love relationship, it triggered massive protests and violent riots by far-right Hindu nationalists who claimed the film was, “immoral and pornographic” and feared it would “spoil Indian women.”
Defending her film, Deepa Mehta declared,“Fire is a film about loneliness. It is a film about the hypocrisy of our society today. It is a film about how women don’t have choices in a patriarchal set-up.”
Shabana Azmi, one of India’s most versatile actresses and a young Nandita Das in her first feature role, play Radha and Sita, two sister-in-laws who fall in love while living together in a joint household. Mehta provides a provocative alternative to the traditional Hindu understanding of the Radha-Sita narrative, unravelling the ingrained patriarchy that has perpetuated unrealistic portrayals of female duty and desire.
Fire is a story of love and about the freedom to choose, come join us for the second feature in our six part series focusing on portrayals of women in Hindi Cinema!
Length: 104 min
Year of release: 1996
Director: Deepa Mehta
Language: English
Actors: Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das
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