The seminar "Fire- ban and reality" was organised by Saad Yuvati Manch to discuss various issues including freedom of expression, Indian culture, use of organised violence for political and cultural objectives, the realities of homosexual relations with reference to Deepa Mehta's Fire.

Chairing the symposium noted film actor and director of Film and Television Insitute of India Mohan Agashe decried the ban on the film describing it a step leading to fascism.

"Fire is only cinema and not an advertisement. It belongs of the category of cinema which are works of arts and are informative," he remarked adding that understanding sexuality is a part of education.

Addressing a jampacked house at the Bharat Itihas Samshodhak Mandal Agashe dealt with the pyschological aspects of Fire and its reception by the Indian society. Referring to the depiction of relationship between two women in the film he said,``Homoxesuality is a latent thing which requires reasons to manifest.''

Even in the medical science it took a long time for homosexuality to arrive at `normality' after crossing the tags of perversion, deviation and sexual identity, he said.

Social activist Vinay Kulkarni took strong objection to the branding the film as one depicting lesbianism. Rather than classifying it, the society needs to discuss the issue more openly, he added.

``It is surprsing that even the Chief Minister has endorsed the banning of film. May be he is not aware that homosexuality has been always existing in our society or that he is not aware of it," he remarked.

Women's rights activist Manisha Gupte linked the banning of film with attempts to deny the existence of homosexuality in the Indian society.

``Denying homosexuality is as good as rewriting history or tampering with it," she remarked adding that the Indian history needed to be thoroughly researched in this context.

Sujata Patel, head of University of Pune's sociology department came down heavily on the organisations who imposed the ban on film. ``Culture cannot be a commodity of convenience," she remarked. Patel described the film as sensitive portrayal of relation of middle class life with religious institutions.