Burning Desires!. Review on Fire

I first had the pleasure of seeing this film in 1997 at a film festival in America with some of my Indian friends. We had heard about all the controversy in India, particularly Maharashta. We wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I recently watched this film again with a renewed understanding and appreciation of the message. I think being a married woman in a healthy relationship made me more sympathetic to these women.

Casting; The cast was superb. Shabana Azmi plays Radha, the sister-in-law of the newly married Sita who is played by Nandita Das. Kulbushan Kharbanda(whom I think is a superb actor no matter what film he is in)plays Ashok. He is Radha's husband and a devoted religious man. Jaaved Jaaferi plays Jatin, Sita's husband. Kushal Rekhi plays Biji, the mother of Ashok and Jatin. These actors all had an amazing chemistry and they worked well together.

Plot: The story is about 2 married couples living in the same house. Ashok and Radha have been married for more than 13 years. Sita and Jatin have been married less than a week. The story is basically about human desire. Ashok is overly religious and has taken a vow of celibacy for 13 years, which means Radha and he are not sexually intimate. He only has Radha lie next to him when he is feeling desire to make sure he can resist temptation. Radha is not able to have children. She has no eggs in her ovaries. She is stuck using her maternal instincts on Biji, who has had a stroke and cannot talk or walk.

Sita and Jatin are newlyweds due to an arranged marriage. Jatin is in love with a Chinese hairdresser named Julie (Why do all he bad girls have my name?) who refused to marry him. She likes the ''hunt'', and did not want to settle down. Jatin resents Sita because he is in love with Julie. This does not stop him from seeing Julie every night, and leaving Sita at home with Radha who is alone while Ashok is off trying to control his worldly desires.

Sita and Radha start spending more and more time together while their husbands are nowhere to be seen. They confide in one another, and are comforting one another. They share a kiss one day on the lips. It is very brief, but you see both women touch their lips minutes later in private. They both long for physical and emotional satisfaction, and they begin to get more physical as the film progresses. I will not give away the ending, because you definitely must see it for yourself.

Conclusion: This film is about pleasure and desire. We can deny it, or we can indulge. Both women have a desire for sexual and emotional satisfaction, which their husbands are not providing. Ashok is trying to curb his desires. He sees them as a thing to escape, Radha is supposed to be his life partner, but he does not consider her feelings on the matter of desire. He takes for granted that she will accept his way of life just because she is his wife. Jatin indulges in his desires. He is in love with Julie, but she refuses to marry him. He marries Sita so that he can have a family. However, he does not stop seeing Julie, and he makes that clear to Sita. He shows no regard for Sita’s feelings, and he actually thinks he is doing her a favor when he has sex with her! He tells Sita that they should try for a baby so that she can have a child to keep her occupied.

These two women both have the desire for sexual and emotional satisfaction, and they find it in one another. They are happy together. I do not see this as a film about only Indians and Hindus. I think any woman can relate to this film. We all crave satisfaction, and I can understand why these women loved one another so much. They could trust each other and they could communicate. These are two ingredients for any loving relationship.