::: Of Love and Lesbianism :::. Review on Fire

Sita: Isn't it amazing? We're so bound by customs and rituals. Somebody just has to press my button, this button marked Tradition, and I start responding like a trained monkey. Do I shock you?

Radha: Yes.

Sita: You're lovely.

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Fire is about Radha and Sita, two sister-in-laws neglected by their respective husbands who end up finding solace in each other?s ?. well I can?t find the right word. Maybe I should quote what Sita once said to Radha, There is no word in our language that can describe us. How we feel for each other.

Ideally that word would have been L-O-V-E, had a guy felt the same thing for a girl or vice versa. But what if a girl feels the same for another girl or a guy feels the same for another guy? Would it still be called love? In Indian society probably no, they would be labeled as abnormal and looked down at. They would be mocked at and treated like sinners. Or at best to find an easy way out they would be termed ?close friends?. But love between the same sexes won?t be accepted at any cost what so ever.

How fair is that? It?s all about choices. India is a free country. If we have the choice to choose between Thumbs Up and Pepsi, or to choose whether to wear a Saree or Jeans, why on earth to restrict a person if he/she falls in love with someone of the same sex.

Fire is not just about lesbianism. It?s more about the bond of love which Radha (Shabana Azmi) and Sita (Nandita Dad) share. Radha?s husband (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) has become abstinent towards sex, devoting himself to a Swamiji who believes ?sex is a sin in the eyes of God?. Whoa! What a theory? Maybe he should have sued his parents for having sex and brining him to the planet earth. Sita?s husband (Javed Jaffrey) is more interested in his Chinese mistress who gets utmost pleasure in getting her toes licked by him.

An average Indian housewife, would have surrendered to her fate, but not these two. They understand the fact that they deserve to be happy and they deserve to be loved. They make love. They share jokes. They provide each other emotional support. Big deal? Would you prefer to live with a hostile person of the opposite sex or a caring person of the same sex?

They weren?t lesbians. They were just hungry for love, a hunger which prevails in almost all of us. A hunger to be loved and cared for. When their husbands failed to satisfy this hunger of theirs, they decided to become each other?s soul mate.

Hats off to Deepa Mehta for making a film with such a bold theme, real life characters and brilliant cinematography. It?s a beautiful-looking movie, rich with bright colors and silhouetted eroticism.