Mirch Masala (1986)

Mirch Masala: Directed by Ketan Mehta. With Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Ratna Pathak Shah. In colonial India, subedars (tax collectors) went from village to village with soldiers, often demanding more than taxes. A subedar commands Sonbai, a beautiful and confident woman whose husband is away in the city, to sleep with him. She slaps him and flees for safety to a spice factory where women grind chillies into fine powder. The aged factory guard, Abu Mian, locks the door behind her, refusing to open it to the soldiers, to the cowardly village men led by the mayor, and to the subedar himself. The town’s teacher, who follows Gandhi, and a few women, led by the mayor’s wife, protest ineffectually against this village-approved rape. The stage is set for a final confrontation.

“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 doesnu0026#39;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 arenu0026#39;t in service to the British, as well as someone who is quick to anger when something happens that he doesnu0026#39;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 u0026quot;on the noseu0026quot; at times. What didnu0026#39;t always work for me was a lot of the acting, which seemed kind of stagey. I also didnu0026#39;t care for the sound mix on the DVD. I understand that a lot of films from the 1980u0026#39;s and before (especially foreign films) were post-synced, but there didnu0026#39;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 hasnu0026#39;t aged too well in my opinion.”