Fire and Mother India : Hina Anwar

                The movies Mother India and Fire had to very distinct ways of show women of the Indian culture.  Mother India was more based on “girl power” with the main character working the fields, raising her children alone, fighting off a debt collector, and the finally killing her son to keep the village’s honor as she was a women first and then a mother. This was a strange portrayal because usually, no matter which culture, women rejoice in their motherhood. I don’t think honor comes before that. Fire on the other hand depicted women as having a “knowing what they want” attitude and not a submissive good wife role. The two female leads are at first deal with the lives they lead without complaining, that is until they realize they’re mutual attraction for one another. They went against all that they knew to be together and stopped listening to the husbands that demanded so much of them. The film was about more than just a gay couple, it was about two people who went against cultural norms to be happy.

                The irony of Fire was that the two characters were named after two prominent goddesses in the Hindu religion. I wasn't really sure if this was to make the film more controversial by almost questioning the faith or just a coincidence. The title itself is ironic, with the trial by fire and if the woman turns to ash she has sinned, but if she survives she has not. This was my favorite part of the movie when Radha’s husband sets her on fire because she is leaving him for a woman and that in the end she does not burn to ash implying that she is not sinning. It is not a sin to chase after happiness.

                Although the film Fire made me uncomfortable with all its bluntness towards sexuality, in the end I felt had some really interesting messages. The reading refers to sexuality in India and how it was a male dominant country. So it was interesting to see two women embrace their sexuality and deny their husbands. The men portrayed in this movie were over sexualized in a sense. With Sita’s husband having an affair and only taking an interest in her when she fights back. Radha’s husband tries to prove he can control his sexuality, by keeping his desires to himself but occasionally practicing to show that he still had control. This whole thing was just weird, like he was abstaining and yet still asking for his wife to prove he wasn't out of practice. It just seemed like he wasn't in control at all. The reading also referred to the freedom of women in India. The country was male dominant, so I feel like part of the reason people were so upset with the film was because they didn't like how two Indian women were acting out and not behaving like they were “supposed to”.  The film hit on many different things besides sexuality and that made it more controversial. It commented on feminism and maybe because of this people didn't like it.