[Reader-list] Book Release by Nandita Das of the book Fire

[rohitrellan at aol.in]

You are cordially invited to a Culture Cafe PresentationCentre for 
Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences


Book Release by Nandita Das of the book Fire

(Author: Shohini Ghosh, November 2010, Arsenal Pulp Press, 
Canada,Consortium/Perseus distribution)



Followed by Shohini Ghosh in conversation with Shilpa Phadke and 
Shalini Mahajan
And a reading from the bookon Jan 6, 2011 at 5 pm in Room 5, TISS Main 
Campus

The discussion will be preceded by a screening of the film Fire 
(104mins) at 3 pm

Fire, one of three new QUEER FILM CLASSICS this fall, delves into 
thecontroversial 1996 lesbian love story by Indian-born director 
DeepaMehta. Set in a contemporary middle-class Hindu household in the 
heartof Delhi, Fire is the story of Radha and Sita, the wives of 
twobrothers, who fall in love with one another. Crisis overtakes 
theextended family when a servant discovers the relationship and 
tellsone of the husbands; overcoming both a literal and allegorical 
“trialby fire,” the two women leave their marriages to make a life 
together.The film premiered to great acclaim in 1996, and travelled 
theinternational circuit before being finally released in India in 
1999.The consequences of the film’s Indian premiere were both profound 
andprovocative: outraged by the film’s explicit depiction of a 
lesbianrelationship, protestors went on a rampage, tearing down 
posters,vandalizing cinemas showing the film, and disrupting screenings 
in theDelhi and Bombay, setting off a maelstrom of public discourse 
onissues such as homosexuality and freedom of speech in India. 
DirectorDeepa Mehta and the two leading actresses were targeted for 
attack andharassment by extremists of the Hindu Right.This book 
examines the controversy that divided a nation, but whichultimately led 
to counterprotests among the film’s supporters,resulting in its 
successful and uninterrupted run in Indian theaters.The book also 
considers Fire’s scathing attack on both heterosexismand Hindu 
practices in India that oppress and marginalize women, aswell as its 
revolutionary treatment of female characters, whosetraditional duties 
are imbued with an unprecedented sensuality.The QUEER FILM CLASSICS 
series, begun in 2009, consists of criticalyet populist monographs on 
classic films of interest to LGBT audienceswritten by esteemed film 
scholars and critics. The series is edited byauthors Thomas Waugh 
(Out/Lines, Lust Unearthed) and Matthew Hays (TheView from Here).


Nandita Das is known to world audiences for her critically 
acclaimedperformances as an actor in films like Fire, Earth, Bawander, 
Beforethe Rains and many other films. She has acted in over 30 
featurefilms, in ten different languages, with directors of 
internationalrepute like, Deepa Mehta, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mrinal 
Sen, ShyamBenegal, Mani Ratnam, and others. She is known never to shy 
away fromcontroversial issues and unconventional roles and has chosen 
to bepart of stories which she believes in, and, in her words, that 
need tobe told. Firaaq was her directorial debut feature film, which 
had itsworld premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 
2008 andthen went on to many other festivals across the world. It was 
releasedin India in March 2009 to critical acclaim and an 
overwhelmingaudience response.


Shohini Ghosh is Professor at the AJK Mass Communication 
ResearchCentre, Jamia Millia Islamia, a university in New Delhi. Tales 
of theNight Fairies, her documentary on the sex workers’ rights 
movement,made a strong intervention in debates on sex work. She writes 
oncontemporary media practices and sexuality. She will be Scholar 
inResidence at The Centre for Media and Cultural Studies in January2011.


Shilpa Phadke is a sociologist and an Assistant Professor at theCentre 
for Media and Cultural Studies at the Tata Institute of SocialSciences, 
Mumbai. Her areas of concern include pedagogy; middle classsexuality 
and the new spaces of consumption; feminist politics amongyoung women; 
and urban transformations.


Shalini Mahajan is a writer and a queer feminist activist based 
inBombay. Her academic training has been in Aesthetics, Literature 
andWriting and she has worked severally as a writer, a teacher, 
atrainer, an editor, a researcher, and more often than not as 
anactivist with both funded and non-funded groups and organisations 
forthe past fifteen years. She is a founder member of the queer 
feministcollective Lesbians and Bisexuals in Action (LABIA, formerly 
StreeSangam) which started in 1995 and a member of Forum Against 
Oppressionof Women, a feminist women’s group in Bombay.--

________________________________________________________________
Anjali Monteiro, Ph.D., Professor and Chair
Centre for Media and Cultural Studies
Tata Institute of Social Sciences,  Deonar, Bombay 400 088, India
Phone: +91 22 2552 5661(Work)
Fax:      +91 22 2552  5050   e-mail: cmcs.tiss at gmail.com
URL:   www.cmcs.tiss.edu          
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