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 doesn'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 aren't in service to the British, as well as someone who is quick to anger when something happens that he doesn'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 "on the nose" at times. What didn't always work for me was a lot of the acting, which seemed kind of stagey. I also didn't care for the sound mix on the DVD. I understand that a lot of films from the 1980's and before (especially foreign films) were post-synced, but there didn'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 hasn't aged too well in my opinion.

The film is set in an India before independence. "Baap Gee" (Nasseruddin Shah) is a tax collector (subedar) of a village. Sonbai (Smita Patil) is a village belle who is married to Raj Babbar. They are a childless couple.Babbar goes to the city for employment.

Shah sees Patil at the village lake and begins to lust for her. There are unseen and horrendous consequences for all the protagonists.

The movie was produced by National Film Development Corporation was it seems they did not give more than a couple of hundred bucks for the same. It looks badly dated at many places.

The side characters get meaty roles and do justice to them. Suresh Oberoi plays the village head Mukhi (short for Mukhia) who is hand in gloves with the subedar. He spends nights with another woman and neglects his wife played superbly by the excellent Deepti Naval.

Benjamin Gilani plays the village teacher who emphasizes on the education for the girl child. There is Paresh Rawal in one of his earliest roles as a village wise ass. He gets a few lines but impresses in his part.

The music is nothing to write home about. The movie is lifted out of its mediocre production values by stellar performance by Om Puri, Smita Patil and Shah. Ketan Mehta, who is both the writer and the director, does a commendable job with the obviously limited amount of funding he must have had at his disposal.

This can be seen by movie buffs who want to see great acting. It has its heart in the right place but sometimes, like in life, it is not enough.

I first saw this movie bits & pieces when I was five yrs old , recently I saw full movie when it was being shown on Doordarshan parliament channel. The story is superb .Characters are developed properly.you get the feeling of a Gujarati village ( someone wrote rajputana /MP) very authentically.

Metaphor of Mirch is very powerful. Apart from Smita Patil ( Most of time she expresses her disgust & indignation through her eyes) other characters also play their role well. Om Puri as good old chowkidar. Dina PAthak As old lady with horrible memories of past which keeps on repeating it again & again. Sudesh Oberai as corrupt Mukhi. But words of Praise for Dipti NAval .She represents Gandhi's ideal of passive resistance & an awakened woman perfectly. Specially the scene where she gets the women to thump plates against cowardice of village males is superb. Mohan GOkhale represents typical lover of those days who could not stand against families. Overall a must watch for everyone & specially students of history & sociology to understand how revenue system worked in India.