Fire, produced by Deepa Mehta, with the principal actresses Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das had made a sensation in the film world and had raised a lot of controversies. I had seen this film in Calcutta with my wife and her cousin and sister- in-law. The main attraction for me was to see upcoming Nandita, affectionately Nitu to us. She is the daughter of artist Jatin Das and our dear friend Varsha Das, now working for the National Book Trust, Delhi. Jatin is Oriya and Varsha is Gujarati. We know Nitu since her school days, when she was staying with Varsha, who was our neighbour in Malviya Nagar, New Delhi. Nitu holds an MA degree in Anthropology. She was very active in Street Drama. Nitu is simple looking, but possesses an uncommon beauty. Her eyes speak volumes. Only the other day I saw her superb acting in a Tamil film. Nitu had a brief stint as a teacher at the Rishi Valley School of the Krishnamurti Foundation. No wonder, she brings the totality of her experience in life to be reflected in her superb realistic acting.
Fire has no story as such. I do not understand what Deepa Mehta wants to show in the film. Perhaps her long absence from India has uprooted her from Indian values and Indian culture. The film, while showing the bedroom scene in which Shabana and Nandita make love, has crossed the limits of decency. It is a vulgar scene. Another sequence when Kharbanda tells Nadita that she should not be afraid of first night’s bleeding, after seeing blood stains in her saree, is equally vulgar. Does the film tell the audience to be uninhibited in sex ? Sex is a purely personal matter, and even here there is room for being artistic and esthetic. Depa Mehta has failed and totally failed. I do not know whether she is sensitive to the audience feedback, which she must have got in abundance. She wanted to make a similar film about the young widows of Varanasi, and thank God, she was not allowed to shoot the film. Good for the Varanasi people, and people of India.