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js-gill
Reviews
Black (2005)
By no means a masterpiece (spoilers)
Warning: The following is my opinion and solely my opinion. It may differ from any person living or dead. So please, don't hate but feel free to discuss as it is through discussion we educate each other.
Black - Why I liked it? For me Black scores in three technical departments - sound, background score, cinematography. The technical feel of the movie is spellbinding. In fact it would not b wrong to state that without these three elements, the movie would fail miserably.
Another area where it scores is the acting front. Rani Mukherji gives the performance of a lifetime and has proves that she is much more than just candy floss cinema material. Equally mesmerising is the young Ayesha Kapoor. Such promise at an early age is really shocking.
Amitabh Bachan's performance is difficult to judge. Whether he tends to go overboard in some scenes or whether he infuses life in them is the dilemma I have not yet overcome. Nevertheless it is definitely a moving and powerful performance but I'm not sure it was a consistent performance.
Black - why I didn't like it.
Story - it was the first of its kind to be witnessed on the Indian screen (I think), but it was based on the life of Hellen Keller. No where was this mentioned in the credits of the movie.
Screenplay - I thought the first half of the movie was easily and by far the better of the two. The second half for me was a disappointment. I later learnt that the first half was virtually a scene to scene repeat of the Hollywood Oscar winner, The Miracle Worker. Oh crap.
Mr Bhansali, although I am a great admirer of your work, you have to start producing original scripts. The execution of Black in the first half was mesmerising but only due to a copied screenplay.
In short, Black left a lot to be desired. A copied script was the first crime. Lacklustre direction in the second half, was the second crime, not mentioning the inspiration for the film was the biggest crime.