Deepa Mehta’s first title under her elemental series was the film ‘Fire’ led by Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das. The film was the first to open a discourse around the topic of homosexuality and encourage dialogue. Filmed from a female gaze, the title explores the homosexual relationship between two women bound by the shackles of gender norms and patriarchy. Mehta explores the sensitive subject with nuance and portrays it within the confines of the domestic space. While the film received backlash from netizens for its subject, it was lauded by critics for the same reason. Now, several years after, cinephiles consider ‘Fire’ as one of the quintessential titles featuring the LGBTQIA community. Recently, Shabana Azmi revealed in an interview that she was apprehensive about doing the film. However, she decided to go ahead to strike up a conversation around homosexuality.

During her conversation with India Today, the veteran actress delved into her hesitation over starring in ‘Fire.’ The actress revealed that even though she liked the film, she was hostile towards starring in it. Shabana thought that people would use it against her as she was working in the slums. “I felt that this would be used very heavily against me because as it is, the husbands of the women that I was working with used to think that I was a very bad influence on them. I would ask them to make their own decisions and stuff like that.”

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However, Shabana Azmi added that her family encouraged her to take the plunge. “My whole family came out in support. Javed said, ‘See, it’s not as if this will not bring you brickbats. It will. But, if you think that you will be able to defend that, if you feel that this will not be an exploitative film, if you feel that this will start a conversation, then do it.’”

 

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She added, “Zoya was so young. I think she was not even 18 years old. I told her, ‘We were offered this, and I don’t know what to do.’ She asked, ‘Do you like the script or not?’. And I said, ‘I like the script very much.’ She said, ‘Then?’ So I said, ‘But this is a subject.’ She said, ‘So?’ At 18, she said this! So I thought, look at the way the young think and look at how we think. I felt moved, and I felt that this would be done sensitively, which it was done.”

Talking about it further, the star added, “I also figured that India is not a monolith. Not everybody would react the same way. It’s impossible. Everybody wouldn’t, but some would be outraged and feel overwhelmed. Some would be angry – all kinds of things. But, a conversation would start. And finally, that’s what cinema can do. That’s what it can do. If it can start conversations rather than just brush it under the carpet as if it doesn’t exist, it becomes a cult film.”

During the conversation, the actress also talked about the difference between the female and the male gaze in cinema. Moreover, she revealed which titles of hers would she like to re-release. The actress expressed that she would like ‘Arth’ (1982), ‘Masoom’ (1983), Mandi’ (1983) and ‘Makdee’ (2002) to re-release.