Rated among the best ever made movies from India and having won many national and intenational accolades, "Mirch Masala" is one of those movies which made Smita Patil an unforgettable name in the Indian Cine history. The movie is based during the times of colonial India where a remote small village is haunted repeatedly by a Subedar (govt tax collector) whose visit along with his gunmen to the village is always dotted with fear. But this particular visit sends the whole village into turmoil when the Subedar (Naseeruddin Shah) puts his lustful eyes on Sonbai (Smita Patil) a young woman from the village whose husband has gone to the city for work. Having escaped from the Subedar, Sonbai hides in the village spice factory which is guarded by the old gatekeeper Abu Mian (Om Puri). The men in the village, led by the Mukhiya (village head) readily agree to handover Sonbai to the Subedar who otherwise threatens to smash the village if he doesn't get her. Abu Mian locks the door of the factory against the collective approval of the hapless woman's rape.
A movie which casts three such amazing actors certainly is an acting feast but apart from that I think this movie though made more than 2 decades back is all the more contemporary today. Smita Patil was probably the most feminist actress in the Indian Cinema and Mirch Masala was one among the few more pieces of work based on serious issues she created before her untimely death.
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