Fire

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.

The film opens with young Radha sitting in a mustard field with her parents. The film flashes forward to Sita, a newly married woman on honeymoon with her husband Jatin. Jatin is in a typical joint-family arrangement - he lives with his older brother Ashok, his sister-in-law Radha, his paralysed mother Biji and the family servant Mundu. One evening, shunned by their husbands and driven to desperation by their unfulfilled longings, Radha and Sita seek solace in each other and become lovers. Overjoyed at finding satisfaction in this manner, they