Days ago, I watched the movie Fire as part of the Flora Rose Film Night. As I’m back at home, this movie got me thinking about the structure of arranged Indian marriages and how they work long-term. In the case of my parents, an arranged Indian marriage has worked really well for them. However, as seen in this movie where two wives are neglected by their husbands, that is not always the case. I think this movie brings to issue a common issue that many societies in India face, where people get married just for the sake of their families, but aren’t truly happy. In the case of my parents, their arranged marriage works well since they did meet many times before their wedding. But many times in arranged marriages in India, the wife and husband don’t get enough time to meet each other which leads to unhappiness of one or the other in the pair. Nowadays in India, there is a lot more transparency about getting to know people before marrying them, but it is still not a common practice. Many people in India still get married because their families force them to, not due to their own will.

This movie was able to bring across this issue to demonstrate the lying and cheating there is in arranged marriages where partners don’t get to know each other well before. I believe that this movie aims to show men or women who are having an arranged marriage without knowing their partner that this type of marriage isn’t easy and perfect just because the horoscopes match up. I think this movie aimed to be a turning point in which Indian men and women realized the challenges they could face with arranged marriages, and prepare them for what their life after marriage could potentially be. I believe the movie additionally conveys the imperfection of arranged marriages not to denounce them, but as a way to alert people who are getting an arranged marriage of the risks involved. I think the target audience of this movie expands not only to men and women considering arranged marriages but also to the parents of the families that force their children to get arranged marriages. This is because if parents of these families are able to see the unhappiness the spouses feel towards each other as well as the cheating and deceit that can occurs through these marriages, then they would be less likely to encourage them. Change occurs once the elders change their opinions, since they pass on these ideas to the rest of the future generations.