NEW DELHI, June 21: Veteran actor Shabana Azmi, who recently met “Fire” director Deepa Mehta and Nandita Das, her co-star in the movie, said not many know that the film’s ending was changed after a suggestion from Farhan Akhtar.
The same sex drama, which was controversial movie at the time of its release, is now considered a seminal work in the depiction of LGBTQ stories in Indian cinema.
“The #Fire trio! 25 years later … The film continues to be a point of reference all over the world. Few know that it had a different ending. It was young @faroutakhtar who advised that the ending should be changed to what is finally kept,” Azmi wrote in the caption of her picture with Mehta and Das on Instagram.
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The film faced protests and many hurdles in its release for its depiction of a lesbian relationship between Das’ Sita and Azmi’s Radha. Both caught in loveless marriages, develop a romantic and emotional bond. The movie ends with both coming to terms with the societal disapproval to live a life of togetherness.
The 74-year-old actor said the film was initially supposed to be shot in Hindi but ended up having dialogues in English.
“Also it was originally to be shot in Hindi but the dialogue didn’t ring true. So literally 2 days before the shooting #Deepa Mehta decided to keep the original English greatly approved by producer #Bobby Bedi. Thank god the actors were bilingual and could rise to the challenge.”
“Fire” was released on November 5, 1998, in India, but faced several protests during its release and though the film wasn’t completely banned, it was withdrawn from the theatres and re-released later in February 1999.
It was the first film of Mehta’s “Elements” trilogy, which included “Earth” (1998) and “Water” (2005).
