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.

MississaugaJohn I had great expectations of this film. Though it started with great promise, by the end I felt like I had thrown away 108 minutes of my life.I recently read 'The Inheritance of Loss' by Kiran Desai, and I was interested in some film perspectives on India. I had heard good things about Fire, Earth and Water, and found Fire and Earth to rent.The beginning is beautiful, with lush landscapes and interesting composition. The introductions to most characters were intriguing, and I was drawn into the story. This is perhaps the part that would qualify as 'sensitive' as described in other reviews.Then things begin to fall apart.The first clunk of a hob-nail boot on the floor comes when a character suddenly steps completely out of character - like in a Woody Allen Greek tragedy - to deliver the first Big Message from the writer/director.Things quickly go downhill from there. Like a novice train driver running behind schedule, she begins to panic, short-circuits the characterization well done to that point, and charges improbably toward the inevitable and ham-fisted conclusion. The plot turns become increasingly contrived, the foreshadowing yells out loud, and the train finally crashes into the station leaving a big mess. The only thing left are the harsh Big Messages being yelled by the writer/director over the loudspeaker.I am then left wondering why the film got such favorable reviews. I can only speculate people have awarded tons of bonus points for being daring in its subject matter. I'm surprised that is strong enough to cause people to just bump over the jarring flaws without even a comment.Given the subject matter and religious references, perhaps such a film could only be made by someone drawn from that culture. And perhaps those outside that culture are fearful of being disrespectful to that culture by pointing out that by any more objective external standard, the film - the writing, dialog and plot development in particular - is simply amateur. Promising amateur, but amateur nonetheless.My twelve year old hates writing. He dreams up all kinds of interesting stories, and begins writing with great fanfare. After a short time, he gets bored and cannot wait to finish. He chucks logic, forgets development, and just jams whatever odd events he needs to reach the conclusion of the original story. The result looks like he had to jump on the suitcase to get it shut, and even then half the clothes are still hanging out. The job is started, but never properly finished.I was so disappointed that I decided to take both back films without watching Earth, though reading through other reviews on that, perhaps it is better if there were lessons learned from Fire. Everyone needs a place to learn and grow, and perhaps the promise shown early in Fire is delivered more carefully and convincingly in Earth.But coming on the heels of The Inheritance of Loss, which is something approaching a masterpiece compared to Fire, I'm not quite ready to risk another evening just in case.In the hope that Earth and Water are better, I would suggest starting with one of those instead. Chalk this one up to inexperience.

phat_mrt This film shows what the next generation is all about. You should always follow your heart and mind and not the views and expectations of society.Society these days means that you should act and behave in a certain manner. Anything outside this is seen as shameful and a disgrace. This film shows that happiness is not always found by doing what other people expect of you...its about doing whats right for your self.The film shed a light to the film industry and films like this need to be promoted more due to its reality and what younger people have to endure and o through.i don't have a problem with homosexuals....if thats the way they choose to live there life then so be it. It is there choice.As long as no-one of the same sex as myself tries to hit on me, because i am alllll straight, (hetero).Good film.

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.