Fire Alarm

Fire by deepa mehta is an excellent movie..and the reactions it has incited in india were to be expected....though as deepa mehta points out in several interviews that this film is not about lesbianism, most viewers see it as one. But i would want to applaud for deepa mehta to have made

a film addressing some very pertinent issues which

havent been shown many times. To those of you who

liked Fire...i suggest to watch ``My Beautiful

Laundrette,`` and ``The Buddha of Suburbia.``

Fire is the first part in a trilogy which includes

``Earth`` (staring Amir Khan and others), and ``Water.`` Earth is based on a Bapsi Sidwa novel ( i can`t recall the name, does anyone know ?), and its showed at the Toronto Film Fest, and is due to release in select theatres very soon.

If anyone wants to know more about the film, check out the www.zeitgeist.com who are releasing the film and have a lot of info on deepa mehta. Also ``rediff on the net`` (type this on the yahoo search engine), has an interview of deepa mehta.

Additionally, a ``not so well known`` but an excellent director in Pakistan, Mehreen Jabbar has made a short film titled: ``Beauty Parlor,`` which deals with female sexuality, the gay issue in pakistan, among other ``taboo`` topics. This short film played in England and got great responses. For more info on this particular film check out the web site on Tasveer Productions.

An interesting comment about an excellent film. For all readers especially those who can handle seeing it, it is a must-see. We`ve probably all seen western films that deal with adultery, desire, and possible even homosexuality, but it is especially affecting when you see this in the desi context. In some ways it could be considered liberating for women, although in some ways it is also depressing to see how mistreated women are.

``it doesn`t have any scenes that substantiate the charges of obscenity brought against it``

This is obviously a matter of opinion. [For those of you haven`t seen the film and don`t wish to have a great scene ruined, skip the following few lines] -- especially when you consider the scene where the servant masturbates in front of the old woman. Regardless, it`s a powerful scene that has an important place in the film.

If this film dealt with male homosexuality (i.e. My Beautiful Landrette by Hanif Kureshi) it most definitely would not elicit such a response as it has. For centuries women have been shoved into a nether place, and the recent turn of events is a continuation of that effort.

Well thought out. Short and precise, exactly the way it should be. Women are simply going to have to learn to TAKE their own since no one is willing to give it to them on a platter. I have not seen the movie but I will look for it now more than I cared to do before. However, rest assured women are not the only losers in a theocracy. In a theocracy, historically, the upper class gets to make the rules and everybody else gets the ``priviledge`` to play by them. This upper class constitutes of men and women. It is as clear as day, to me, that the real struggle is between the haves and the have nots. Until we realize that, there will always be a segment of the population that will keep the battle fires between sexes, races and ethnicities, enrage by any and all means necessary. The commonality of goals is what is needed at large. Hope you can see my point. Just to enunciate this as clearly as possible, I agree wholeheartedly with your point of view. Just felt like complementing it with my spice.