Black is the colour of strength, power, courage, etc. etc. imagine every inspiring and uplifting word to interpret the colour. That is what director Sanjay Leela Bhansali tries to convey with his latest offering ‘Black’, and, we don’t question his sincerity. But when you make an operatic mess out of it, one’s heart is bound to bleed.
A king sized story of a deaf-mute-blind girl inspired by her teacher to achieve the impossible sounds good in the head when read, but when you are having an over-the-top experience of it in a darkened auditorium you just wish to curl up in your seat or even better vanish into the thin air to avoid further suffering. If you introspect on your anger against the movie for while; you understand that it is because the story somehow exposes you, your anguish, your thrills and your sufferings (maybe underscored with a bit more melodrama than you can take).
The fault lies in the director’s approach to the story. He has just used one point of view to tell the story, as if trying to say that you can make a disabled person achieve unimaginable goals if you strive sternly and stubbornly, without even once acknowledging the will, grit or the determination of the disabled person.
Bhansali seems to be overwhelmed by the prospect of directing the Amitabh Bachchan thereby forgetting to tell the story in a holistic manner. Debraj Sahai (Amitabh Bachchan) is a special teacher obsessed with the idea of bettering the lives of the less advantaged with prospect of being thrown into asylum because of their disability. He is assigned to tackle a difficult case of a deaf-mute-blind girl Michelle McNally (Ayesha Kapur/Rani Mukerji).
The premise looks promising upto this point; but what it proceeds to shatters the build-up. The first task that the teacher takes upon himself is to teach the stubborn girl some table manners. What ensues is a violent game of one-upmanship, which ultimately the teacher wins. There are a couple of such long drawn sequences signifying that you need to be cruel and stubborn to discipline a disabled child, as if you are trying to tame a wild animal.
The film then goes on take a sober tone as the unruly girl grows up to become a well-mannered and beautiful young lady, well adjusted into the family aspiring to be educated in a college. But you find it difficult to get out of the initial shock to truly appreciate the more nuanced and subdued points, which the story tries to throw up later on. Like the jealousy of the younger sibling played by Nandana Sen, because every mundane thing her sister succeeds in doing becomes a moment to rejoice for their parents.
‘Black’ belongs to Amitabh Bachchan the actor; he relishes the role tailor-made for him. Here he surpasses the superstar image, by making himself look old and fragile. Again the director is at fault for not letting us forget who he is, by making him self proclaimed magician who is total control of his surroundings.
Ayesha Kapur and Rani Mukerji are credible as the young and the older Michelle respectively. They both have worked hard to imbibe the physicality of the character and they have been successful in doing so great extent.
On the whole, one is bound feel that Bhansali has not got over his ‘Devdas’ hangover, as the same lavish theatrical quality of manipulating the audience is evident here also. And, we should not forget that he is same fellow who gave us ‘Khamoshi – The Musical’, a bit more natural story concerning the disabled. So, if put to vote ‘Khamoshi’ will always stay a few points above ‘Black’.
(Published in Jan-Mar 2005 issue of ‘Success & Ability’ with minor changes.)
A king sized story of a deaf-mute-blind girl inspired by her teacher to achieve the impossible sounds good in the head when read, but when you are having an over-the-top experience of it in a darkened auditorium you just wish to curl up in your seat or even better vanish into the thin air to avoid further suffering. If you introspect on your anger against the movie for while; you understand that it is because the story somehow exposes you, your anguish, your thrills and your sufferings (maybe underscored with a bit more melodrama than you can take).
The fault lies in the director’s approach to the story. He has just used one point of view to tell the story, as if trying to say that you can make a disabled person achieve unimaginable goals if you strive sternly and stubbornly, without even once acknowledging the will, grit or the determination of the disabled person.
Bhansali seems to be overwhelmed by the prospect of directing the Amitabh Bachchan thereby forgetting to tell the story in a holistic manner. Debraj Sahai (Amitabh Bachchan) is a special teacher obsessed with the idea of bettering the lives of the less advantaged with prospect of being thrown into asylum because of their disability. He is assigned to tackle a difficult case of a deaf-mute-blind girl Michelle McNally (Ayesha Kapur/Rani Mukerji).
The premise looks promising upto this point; but what it proceeds to shatters the build-up. The first task that the teacher takes upon himself is to teach the stubborn girl some table manners. What ensues is a violent game of one-upmanship, which ultimately the teacher wins. There are a couple of such long drawn sequences signifying that you need to be cruel and stubborn to discipline a disabled child, as if you are trying to tame a wild animal.
The film then goes on take a sober tone as the unruly girl grows up to become a well-mannered and beautiful young lady, well adjusted into the family aspiring to be educated in a college. But you find it difficult to get out of the initial shock to truly appreciate the more nuanced and subdued points, which the story tries to throw up later on. Like the jealousy of the younger sibling played by Nandana Sen, because every mundane thing her sister succeeds in doing becomes a moment to rejoice for their parents.
‘Black’ belongs to Amitabh Bachchan the actor; he relishes the role tailor-made for him. Here he surpasses the superstar image, by making himself look old and fragile. Again the director is at fault for not letting us forget who he is, by making him self proclaimed magician who is total control of his surroundings.
Ayesha Kapur and Rani Mukerji are credible as the young and the older Michelle respectively. They both have worked hard to imbibe the physicality of the character and they have been successful in doing so great extent.
On the whole, one is bound feel that Bhansali has not got over his ‘Devdas’ hangover, as the same lavish theatrical quality of manipulating the audience is evident here also. And, we should not forget that he is same fellow who gave us ‘Khamoshi – The Musical’, a bit more natural story concerning the disabled. So, if put to vote ‘Khamoshi’ will always stay a few points above ‘Black’.
(Published in Jan-Mar 2005 issue of ‘Success & Ability’ with minor changes.)
4 comments:
Good review, Paresh ...my son Sanjay is in class 7 and guess what?.. for his project 'Movie Reviews : A critical analysis " he has decided ( after making me search endless reviews on the Net ! )to hand in your review of "BLACK" as his selection ! I have printed it out for him with a short note about the writer . And it inspired him to write a short review on "HP & the Prisoner of Azkaban" too.
Thought u would like to know, and don't be too surprised if u start getting fan mail from his classmates !..Best Wishes
Thnx. It feels great that the students these days are exposed to lot of things. I remember in our students days it was a sin if you showed interest in anything other than our textbooks & homework
Black was a bit too "PUT UP" and "FLARED UP"....i liked the theme...AB did a gr8 job....some scenes were really classy...like the one in which Michelle asks her teacher Sahai on what a kiss is and how it is done...then the very famous Snow Scene....those were just beautiful...but then SLB being SLB was prone to leave his mark and thus the OVER HYPED sets and direction!!!
GOOD REVIEW bro!!
Wow that's awesome 👍
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