Black - A Review
After much hesitation and deliberation I finally decided to watch the Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, Black. Subject to much Bollywood hype, it was supposed to herald a new age of Bollywood and while Black has its moments, its a highly cliched, woefully shallow affair. It is good nonetheless.
For Bollywood, the story is unique and different for those with some experience its nothing more than an underdog story which aims to tug the heart. I may sound cynical, even narcisistic, but Black is NOT the be all end all of films - it is rather a good effort from a director now used to infinite hype and ultimately over recognition.
Yes, Amitabh's and Rani's acting are very good, yes the sets and choreography are also excellent, but the film has so many loopholes in its story, the film is marred by indecision on the directors part, the film is NOT powerful - it is preachy. And to sink further Black prophesises so much yet performs so little. Every little cliche in the book can be found in the film. There is an illtreating father who is not evil, the prejudiced and envious sister, a careful and loving mother and ofcourse there is the unconventional yet ultimately successful teacher - what of this hasn't been done before?
But Black does succeeds on some level - taking a rather simplistic and nonchalant plot in their stride Amitabh and Rani carve out deservedly powerful perfomances. Rani, especially is at home in the shoes of a deaf and blind girl. Amitabh while powerful and dominant does tend to overact. The girl (I don't know her name) who acted as the young Michelle is probably the best of the lot.
Black takes a sporadic approach to filming, every so often Bhansali attacks the subject. For every 10mins devoted to the story, 20 are wasted in superfluous candy floss. Sure enough the film boasts georgeous eye candy. Every shot can be put on your wall and hung as a beautfiul nature scape. Dare I say it, this film nearly matches 2001: A Space Odyssey in that regard.
Ultimately Black is a good effort gone awry (why Amitabh resorts to Americanised english is beyond me as is why the use of a postermodernistic Indian setting - such a thing does not exist!). Bhansali, while not the level of Kamal Haasan, Mani Ratnam or Shyam Benegal is a beacon of hope in the endless trash churned out by Indian filmmakers - fails to a reasonable degree with this lukewarm venture.
This entry was posted by Blogpur, on
Monday, June 06, 2005.
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8:10 AM
I found the Filmfare Awards 2006 verdict of awarding ALL the awards to BLACK extremely hilarious, and was wondering if I was alone in my views on this movie which I found rather shallow. And then I came across your blog!
7:51 PM
Thanks for stopping by, yes indeed it is a very shallow affair. That is the best word to describe it.
10:58 AM
You all are retarded. Black is a good overall effort. It boggles the mind as to how people scorn at other peoples efforts so easily. You are shallow. The movie isnt.