Fire: A Queer Film Classic

Fire, part of the QUEER FILM CLASSICS series, delves into the controversial film by Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, the first on lesbian love to have a commercial release in India. Set in a contemporary middle-class Hindu household in the heart of Delhi, Fire is the story of Radha and Sita, the wives of two brothers, who fall in love with one another. The film premiered to critical acclaim in 1996, traveled the international circuit, and was finally distributed in India in 1998. But a few weeks after the film's release there, activists of the Hindu Right unleased their fury upon the film; rampaging mobs vandalized theaters and attacked the film for promoting "perversion" and insulting Hindu religion. The protests were resisted with equal vigor, resulting in post-independent India's first public debate on homosexuality.