Mirch Masala

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.

A Very good narrative on Pre-Independent India where Oppression of Tax Collectors on Villagers is depicted very well.

While I do not want to summarize the Story, I would like to highlight excellent Direction by Ketan Mehta & acting by Smita Patil, Suresh Oberoi & Om Puri. The vulnerability of the villagers is exposed & very few people stand up against the Naseeruddin Shah who is the Subedar.

The astonishment of the villagers on seeing the Gramophone for the first time is also very impressive

I managed to watch it online & was thoroughly impressed. It certainly deserves a 9/10

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.

Absolutely excellent. The hubris of petty officers, the crisis and tension coming from lust and gratuitous violence, the horrifying banality of colonialism, the abuse and victimization of women: all these elements combine to create a tragedy which the Greeks would not have disavowed. We are the transfixed witnesses of a horrendous, and at the same time, magnificent process: the price of a woman's virtue depends on how much it costs for the community. Even feminine solidarity crumbles when submitted to enough masculine pressure… And yet, does it? The fantastic last scene of the film, when everything seemed lost, shows that women have stupendous resources that make one realize the strength of a resistance in which women take part, and I am reminded of the British resistance to Germany during World War 2, when the wives and mothers of soldiers took part in the war effort, and replaced them in the factories and mills of the besieged island. Hurray for women's valor!

It is a deeply moving, crisply logical (even as the peppers dried in the sun would be), beautifully thought out film. The range of Son Bai's character from the early playfulness, the innocent chanchalta of a happy, hard working village wife, the tender moments with her husband, her loneliness when the husband is gone to his job in the railways, and her fiercely effective rage towards her greedy attacker: the Subedar. Yet, there is no Mother India like (a film alluded to, in a complimentary way, throughout parts of the film's plot line) high drama in her rage; it is very authentic, sincere, not filmy, and the silent alliance between Abu Mian and Son Bai, their clear understanding of what is at stake is depicted powerfully -- with very few spoken words, only Ketan Mehta's brilliant cinematography and Om Puri's and Smita's excellent chemistry. Others, including such stars as my most favorite Indian actress, Dina Pathak (whose mother roles are as profoundly moving as Daisy Irani's, though fewer, child roles), Deepti Naval, Supriya Pathak, and of course, Naseerudhin Shah (only he could have acted the Subedar in just that precise, perfect way to make all other elements of the film work so extremely well), also Ratna Pathak is very good, nearly everyone who acts in this film has done excellently well. One of the world's ten most important films, a timeless classic and firmly grounded in historical time.