Mirch Masala

A complex and beautifully filmed work. The tale is full of pathos, but the experience is completely enriching! Though it's described in some movie guides as a "feminist" film, do not let that categorization deter you from seeing it.

MIRCH MASALA is a film that I watched for my World Cinema class this semester and it certainly is a good one. It tells the story of a woman, Sonbai (Smita Patil), who is sought after by a subedar (tax collector). She continually resists his advances and ends up hiding in a spice factory as the subedar doesn't intend to take her rejection of him. Thematically, the film deals with resistance to (colonial) oppression, with the subedar serving as the symbol of British colonialism and Sonbai representing the ordinary Indian citizen. And since the story largely focuses on women, it could be thought of as a feminist film to a certain degree. What the film does well is develop its characters in terms of personality and motivation. The most attention is paid to the tax collector, but with the intention of having you hate him. There was a particularly well-done scene in which he overreacts to someone who accidentally breaks one of his phonograph records. In this one scene you get a sense of this man as someone who looks down on his fellow countrymen who aren't in service to the British, as well as someone who is quick to anger when something happens that he doesn't like. There is also his singular motive to sexually claim Sonbai, a married woman, and which provides the main narrative thrust (no pun intended). Generally speaking, I thought that the themes were handled well, if a little broadly and "on the nose" at times. What didn't always work for me was a lot of the acting, which seemed kind of stagey. I also didn't care for the sound mix on the DVD. I understand that a lot of films from the 1980's and before (especially foreign films) were post-synced, but there didn't seem to be a good balance between various sound elements. Also, for all of the build-up to the finale, I thought it went by a little too quickly. Overall, MIRCH MASALA has a good, socially conscious message, but it hasn't aged too well in my opinion.

I had seen this movie as a kid, but all I remembered was the climax scene, because it was so powerful. I saw it recently and enjoyed every moment of it.

The story is set in colonial India, when the British have disarmed the people, and continue to oppress villagers, through tax collectors called "subedars". These subedars in turn lust for more than the tax.

The movie is about one such subedar, who while on his routine tax-collecting tour to a small village, gets attracted to one of the women. The woman, Sonbai, is married, but her husband has just left for the city in search of a better job. Sonbai(played excellently by Smita Patil) refuses to give in, and while escaping the subedars men, takes shelter in a spices factory.

The gate-keeper refuses to allow the subedars men in, and is determined to protect the honour of Sonbai. Here the cowardice of the fellow villagers surfaces, who decide that it is better to give in to the demands of the subedar, than to face his wrath. The movie successfully conveys the cowardice of oppressed men who cannot even think of rebellion, and even beat up their wives when they protest against their decision.

A brilliant film.

Very well done movie. Good writing executed by top level actors. The film attempts to capture the spirit of Rajasthan and the society quite nicely. The cinematography does justice to the Desert state. Struggle of the females at various levels and the triumph of the brave makes up for this fabulous movie.

Year 2003. Quentin Tarantino directed Kill Bill Vol.1 which had a climax scene of sword action between Uma Thurman & Lucy Liu. There is a beautiful sequence of shots wherein the two duelist are photographed in close-ups & simultaneously, a long shot where, the two actors are placed on the right corner of the screen while, a pivoted water tap moving up and down is placed on the left part of the screen. Year 1985. Ketan Mehta, India's acclaimed director and in his best cinematic achievement, had directed a similar shot wherein one of cinema's most memorable & immortal villain character played by Naseeruddin Shah counts-down from 10 to 1 alarming the lead actress to come out of her hideout simultaneously photographed with a Water Tap on the Extreme Left of the 70 mm screen, creating a magnificent scene.

And since then, there has been no such cinematography ever induced in any other Indian Movies. For those foreign audience, be noted, that this Movie is not a conventional Hindi movie loaded with songs. This Movie is a serious cinema of high degree of art.

Only 4 words can make a review of this movie: "Watch it on Priority" !