Editing Deepa Mehta (section)

===Elements trilogy===
{{Main|Elements trilogy}}

Mehta is best known for her [[Elements Trilogy]] — [[Fire (1996 film)|''Fire'']] (1996), ''[[Earth (1998 film)|Earth]]'' (1998) (released in India as ''1947: Earth''), and ''[[Water (2005 film)|Water]]'' (2005) — which won her much critical acclaim.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2006/04/28/movies/28wate.html|title=Movie Review: Water (2005): NYT Critics' Pick|last=Catsoulis|first=Jeannette|date=28 April 2006|work=New York Times}}</ref> Some notable actors who have worked in this trilogy are [[Aamir Khan]], [[Seema Biswas]], [[Shabana Azmi]], [[Kulbhushan Kharbanda]], [[John Abraham (actor)|John Abraham]], [[Rahul Khanna]], [[Lisa Ray]], and [[Nandita Das]]. These films are also notable for Mehta's collaborative work with author [[Bapsi Sidhwa]]. Sidhwa's novel ''[[Cracking India]]'' (1991, U.S.; 1992, India; originally published as ''Ice Candy Man'', 1988, England) is the basis for Mehta's 1998 film ''Earth''.

Mehta describes the conception of the idea for the ''Elements'' films to be extremely organic. She first conceived of the idea for ''[[Water (2005 film)|Water]]'' while shooting in Varanasi, stating "You know, you read about widows — my grandmother is a widow — but I had never seen such institutionalization of widows until I went to Varanasi. There was a widow there called Gyanvati who was about 80 years old, and through her I got to know about ashrams and found it very moving. I thought that if I make a film, it would be about something surrounding widows; then I forgot about it. Then I wrote ''[[Fire (1996 film)|Fire]]''."<ref name="Khorana 4">{{Cite journal|last=Khorana|first=Sukhmani|date=1 January 2009|title=Maps and movies: talking with Deepa Mehta|url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/asdpapers/388|journal=Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers|pages=4}}</ref>

After completing the filming process for ''Fire'', Mehta told [[Shabana Azmi]] that her next film would be an adaptation of Bapsi Sidwha's ''[[Cracking India]]''; when Azmi asked what it would be called, Mehta replied: "Earth".<ref name="Khorana 4"/> Mehta maintains that each film centers on politics of a certain phenomenon.<ref name="Khorana 4"/>

''Fire'' follows the love affair between two sisters-in-law whose own sexless marriages bring them together in a passionate romance. It caused controversy upon its release as several Hindutva groups took issue with its central lesbian romance, one that was seen to break traditional family and religious value within society, as there were protests in cities across India.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Burton|first=David F.|title=Fire, Water and The Goddess: The Films of Deepa Mehta and Satyajit Ray as Critiques of Hindu Patriarchy|journal=Journal of Religion and Film|volume=17|pages=1–22}}</ref> Internationally, the film was critically acclaimed and would go on to win the Most Popular Canadian Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival.<ref name=":1" /> This was also the first feature length dramatic film which Mehta both wrote and directed, a practice which she would continue throughout the rest of her career.<ref name=":0" />

''Earth'' focuses on the time before and during the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 and how the life of one family was uprooted by this historical event. The central focus for ''Earth'' was intended to be about "the division of the earth, but it is also metaphoric- what does our matrubhoomi (motherland) mean to us?"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Khorana|first=Sukhmani|date=1 January 2009|title=Maps and movies: talking with Deepa Mehta|url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/asdpapers/388|journal=Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers}}</ref> The film resembled Mehta's own family history as her parents fled the newly created Pakistan in 1947 whilst Mehta herself was born in Punjab, not far from the Indian/Pakistan border.<ref name=":0" />

''Water'' is about is an eight-year-old girl who is suddenly widowed. In keeping with traditions of widowhood, she is left in an [[ashram]], where she is to live from then on. The film, meant to be shot in India, was attacked by Hindu fundamentalists who saw the film as disrespectful and who took issues with Mehta's earlier films and their portrayal of Hindu culture.<ref name=":2" /> The regional government overruled the permission given from the central government to the production which allowed them to film in the holy city of Varanasi.<ref name=":2" /> Eventually the production moved to Sri Lanka.<ref>{{cite news|title=Deepa Mehta: A director in deep water – all over again|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/deepa-mehta-a-director-in-deep-water--all-over-again-478731.html|newspaper=The Independent|date=19 May 2006}}</ref> ''Water'' opened the 2005 [[Toronto International Film Festival]] and was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]] in 2006.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://tiff.net/CANADIANFILMENCYCLOPEDIA/content/films/water |title=Canadian Film Encyclopedia - Water |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130222070029/http://tiff.net/CANADIANFILMENCYCLOPEDIA/content/films/water |archive-date=22 February 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>