By IPS Correspondents
LONDON, Dec 10 1996 (IPS)

‘Fire’, the debut film of Indian director Deepa Mehta, a somewhat controversial portrayal of modern Indian women forced to confront difficult relationships, offers further evidence that cinema is alive and well on the sub-continent.

Fears about the impending demise of Indian cinema had followed in the death earlier in the decade of Satyajit Ray, considered the Father of Indian cinema. Based in Calcutta, Ray’s stark neo- realist films concentrated on the lives of the poor and dispossed. ‘The World of Arpu’, the first of his Arpu trilogy, is considered a benchmark of Indian cinema.

Concerns that Indian cinema would never recapture international audiences and glittering success it once had commanded after his death, were erased in the wake of recent movies like ‘Saleem Bombay’ and the 1995 box office hit ‘The Bandit Queen’.

Directed by Mira Nair, Saleem Bombay was released in 1988. The influence of Ray was evident in the film’s heroic depiction of Bombay street children. It went on to receive considerable international commercial release.

‘Bandit Queen’ concentrated on the exploits of Phooran Devi, a poor woman who after years of physical and sexual abuse turns the table on her tormentors and becomes head of one of India’s most notorious gangs and champion for the underclass.

Now ‘Fire’ is following in those footsteps in its quesat to achieve worldwide recognition. At its screening recently, before a packed audience in London, director Mehta said: “I wanted to do a picture about the lives of women, women who have found themselves in unbearable relationships but who have found some way of surviving.”

Mehta said her focus was on women who had refused to buckle under the weight of problems, but had instead found the strength to overcome them. “This idea interested me, a woman who because of the hardships has found a way through and is stronger at the end,” she said.

Set in a middle class household in New Delhi, ‘Fire’ focuses on the life of Radha, a middle-aged woman married to a man who has never truly loved her. Working both in her husband’s restaurant and fulltime support for an invalid mother, Radha spends her entire life putting the needs of others before her own.

Into her life comes Sita, the young liberated bride of her husband’s brother. Sita in many ways represents the new Indian woman: she believes in her right to happiness. A strong bond between the two rapidly grows into a passionate love affair despite India’s traditional taboos against lesbian relationships.

Mehta wrote the original screenplay in April 1995. All the dialogue was written in English. “I think it was a result of my Indian upbringing; all my education was in English, therefore I think in English,” she explains.

“When we started rehearsals we tried working in Hindi but we felt that perhaps something was missing. It seemed impossible to translate words in English which did not seem to have the same meaning in Hindi. So the day before we started we made the decision to go back to the original English and I am very pleased that we did.”

After Mehta had completed the script she was able to enlist the talents of English cinematographer Giles Nuttgens who read the script and immediately wanted to work on the picture.

“I feel his contribution from the beginning was indispensable. His lighting is to die for and he also contributed very much to the final product.”

Mehta was also able to enlist Bobby Bedi as the film’s Indian producer. “After the controversy of ‘The Bandit Queen’ I felt that he could deal with anything. We were very confident about Bedi being the right choice for this subject.”

The story of the conflicts that arises within this middle class Indian family is very much a metaphor for the major transitions taking place across the entire sub-continent today. Rapid material progress has created an immense tension between the continuity of the extended family and the desire on the part of a younger generation for greater freedom and independence.

It has also given a powerful impetus to the reconsideration of the role traditionally prescribed for Indian women — that of self- sacrifice and denial. It is a role very much out of step with the new world into which the country has been dragged.

‘Fire’ has also been viewed by some as an attack on Hindu culture. But Shabana Azmi, the film’s star, strongly denies this. “I feel the film is more about tolerance, the ability to accept someone else’s sexual preference, or religious choice. That to me is what Hinduism is about after all. Tolerance is about loving those who may be different from yourself.”

‘Fire’ has not yet received a certificate for it to be shown in India and Mehta is unsure what the censors there will make of this most controversial love story. “If anyone has friends who work there, please let me know. We may need all the help we can get,” she said laughingly.

‘Fire’ will shock audiences. But it is a work of great commitment and dignity. Its depiction of Indian women trapped by tradition will strike a cord and perhaps help to give women of all nationalities the hope that they too can take control and change their lives. Tradition need not necessarily tie them to an unhappy existence.

Excerpt: