Fire

Duration: 108 mi

Year Published: 1996

Creator: Zeitgeist Films/Trial by Fire Films

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: The first part of Mehta's Fire/Earth/Water trilogy is an unflinching study of a lesbian love affair that interweaves sexual repression, repressed desire, crumbling patriarchy and cultural transformation in contemporary India. The tensions between traditional structures and contemporary values reflects social changes occuring across the sub-continent. Radha, the driving force behind husband Ashok's New Dehli restaurant, cohabits peacefully, if at times uneasily, with her in-laws upstairs. Their barren 15 year old marriage is rent asunder by the arrival of sister-in-law Sita, a confident modern young wife who poses questions Radha would rather not face. Their husbands' complacency and neglect draws the women into a tender relationship which detonates into tragedy. Language English and Bengali dialogue with English subtitles.