Fire

The first in the trilogy, Fire is Mehta’s tender, passionate, and controversial story of two women torn between their devotion to duty and their desire for love and companionship. Radha has been a consummate wife for 15 years, but her husband is seeking spiritual enlightenment through celibacy. Her sister-in-law, Sita, is similarly frustrated by her new spouse, who spends his nights with his mistress. Deprived of their husbands’ affections, the women draw closer in ways neither ever imagined. 1996, India/Canada, color, 35mm, in Hindi/Urdu/Gujarati/Punjabi with English subtitles, 101 minutes.