A fire in the mountains that no one can put out

"Fire in the Mountains" is a powerful film by Ajitpal Singh that tells the story of Chandra, a homestay owner in Uttarakhand's Munsiyari, and her struggles with patriarchy, religion, and alcoholism..

The performances are earnest and felt, and the film is crisply written and beautifully shot..

I headed into it with zero expectations, oddly despite the inescapable awareness that its director was Ajitpal Singh, a filmmaker who earlier gave us the excellent Tabbar, probably the most underrated web series ever made for Indian audiences..

The arrangement of shots in the narrative of Chandra toiling carrying bales of grass, cans and buckets of water and also her wheelchair-bound son up and down the hill, chopping up vegetables and rustling up meals, carrying out room service for clients, making endless visits to the village headman adds up visually and sensorily and creates the tension and resentment that drives the narrative forward..

Through the central problem of the plot the road, which promises to bring Chandras labours to fruition Singh exposes the faultlines of a family whose story you otherwise wouldnt be in the least interested in.ut..

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