Water

One of the more common and logical ways of putting out fire is using water. Well, that’s exactly what Deepa Mehta (affluent Indian born Canadian film director) did for her next movie. After receiving endless accolades for her last two movies (Fire and Earth) she took up the task of completing the elements of her trilogy by directing Water. Set in 1938 when India was under the rule of the British Raj, the story throws light on a group of widows condemned to spend their entire lives in seclusion and reclusion due to the rigid system of the Hindu Law. Shot on the banks of the holy river, the Ganges, the movie incorporates themes that are relevant even to this day as India finds herself torn between conflicting ideas of Hindu traditions and modern attitudes. The director divulges the atrocities widows are subjected to due to the age old Hindu ideologies that decent from the Holy texts.

Mehta’s movie constantly refers back to the rules of widowhood during the pre-independence era that mostly revolves around economic, social and cultural deprivation: restrictive dress codes, detachment from worldly pleasures (materialistic things, fried food, music and dance) and sexual exploitation. India’s reaction to Water wasn’t that different from their reaction to her former movie Fire.

The film was beautiful, shot by the cinematographer Giles Nuttgens, who has worked with Mehta on "Fire," "Earth," and also on an episode of "Indiana Jones chronicle." Canadian composer Mychael Danna ("Monsoon Wedding") provides the background score, while Bollywood’s top musician A.R. Rahman composed the songs for the film. Unlike most Bollywood films, the songs in "Water" are not jarring; instead, they help in the progression of the story.

The movie had been sold in 57 countries and released in 25, with close to $14 million in worldwide ticket sales. It was finally scheduled to open theatrically in India on March 9 2007. Mehta had originally intended to direct Water in February, 2000, however, just two days into the shooting the movie, rioting Hindu nationalists in India shut down her set by destroying and burning the main film set and throwing the remnants into the Ganges. According to an article in the New York Times published a day after the riots, Rick McCallum, co-producer of Star Wars was quoted saying, "This is a problem of people acting fanatically – not sitting back, taking a deep breath and trying to figure out what the real issues are and what the film is about." Finally, the director was able to resume making the movie but to avoid any additional problems; she used an entirely different cast and a false title (River Moon) taking her a total of 11 years to direct the movie and weathering an endless barrage of death threats and lawsuits.

All in the movie did well worldwide receiving awards such as Golden Kinnaree Award at the Bangkok International Film Festival for best film and the Silver Mirror Award at Festival Films from the South in Oslo for best film. Additionally it was nominated for best foreign language film, making it Canada's first non-French Canadian film to receive a nomination in that category and an NBR (national board of review) for freedom of expression.