Black & White (2008)

A spy living in the house in disguise, who has a heart transformation.

Director:

Subhash Ghai

Writers:

Sachin Bhowmick (screenplay), Subhash Ghai (screenplay & dialogue)

Stars:

Anil Kapoor, Annurag Sinha, Shefali Shah

Cast

Credited cast:
Anil Kapoor	...	Prof. Rajan Mathur Sen Gupta
Annurag Sinha	...	Numair Qazi / Mahmood Albak
Shefali Shah	...	Roma (as Shefali Shetty)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Arun Bakshi	...	Naeem Shaikh
Chaitanya Chinchlikar	...	Interpol Officer
Pawan Chopra	...	Police Officer
James Durston	...	Photojournalist
Milind Gunaji	...	Hamid
Pankaj Jha	...	Journalist
Mushtaq Khan	...	Mohanlal Agarwal - MLA
Akash Khurana	...	Wazir Shah - Rajya Sabha Member
Jaimini Pathak	...	Raahat
Nikita Rawal
Aditi Sharma	...	Shagufta
Sukrit Sharma	...	Jalaal

Storyline

Afghani Mahmood Albak is recruited to be a suicide bomber and kill at least 400 people at Lal Keela in Delhi on the occasion of India's Independence day celebrations on August 15. He is provided with the identity of an embittered youth, Numair Qazi from Gujarat, who had witnessed the death of the his parents at the hands of Hindu extremists. Upon arrival in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, he meets with Numair's paternal uncle, Gaffar Ali Nazar, an Indian Patriot who writes in the local magazine, and lives with his wife and two sons, Jalal and Bilal. Both Jalal and Bilal are involved and have been paid a huge sum to accommodate Numair. But when wealthy and influential Naeem Shaikh kills himself, after becoming suspect in the eyes of the CBI, Numair befriends the Urdu Professor of Zakir Hussain College, Rajan Mathur Sen Gupta, and his social activist wife, Roma, and moves in to live with them and their disabled daughter, Surubhi, so that they can procure a Pass for him to witness the Independence...

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Plot Keywords:

hindu | muslim | color in title | terrorist | terrorism | 

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Taglines:

In search of harmony

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nawazuddin Siddiqui played a brief role.

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Soundtracks

Yeh Hindustan Hai
Performed by Udit Narayan
Lyrics by Ibrahim Ashq
Music by Sukhwinder Singh

User Reviews

Still missing the good old Midas Touch of Subhash Ghai in this movie.

Black & White – Subhash Ghai returns after the debacle of "Kisna". But unfortunately I was again disappointed and found the Ghai spark missing in the movie. In fact, I am quite surprised why the filmmakers keep on using the same plot again & again even when they know that it has been exploited before by others in the industry. We all have seen the plot of "Inviting a new person to live in your house which in disguise is a terrorist and a suicide bomber" used many time before also. The main source behind the inspiration is "The Devil's Own" which came in 1997 starring Harrison Ford as the house owner & Brad Pitt as the guest. It was followed by Raj Kanwar's "Baadal" released in 2000, in which Amrish Puri played the host and Bobby Deol was the terrorist. We also witnessed the similar kind of thing in the second half of Maniratnam's "Dil Se" (1998) which had Manisha Koirala, staying in Shahrukh's house. And now again it is repeated in "Black & White".

Subhash Ghai surely moves ahead with an offbeat and an unusual track for Mukta Arts and he has broken his own old pattern of film-making with this venture. But its quite questionable why he chose a story which has similarities with many other movies. The film lacks the grip from the first half hour itself and then the only engrossing aspect is the music which comes as a background theme in many scenes. The screenplay is predictable from the first scene and the viewer also cannot relate to the secular them in a big way.

The only impressive elements in the film are : 1. The unmatchable act by well know theater activist Habeeb Tanvir as the old poet. 2. And the Soul Stirring music by Sukhwinder Singh. In fact this is the first time I am impressed with this music for a film soundtrack. Way to go Sukhwinder…Keep it up.. Subhash Ghai undoubtedly has a gifted ear for good music which he has proved again with this latest offering.

Anil Kapoor is impressive and establishes himself as veteran actor in the industry who can be a strong pillar for any project. The debutant Anurag Sinha is a good find, but he has got not much to do and only has to give the starring looks according to the his role most of the times. So he can be judged better when he emotes, fights and dances in his next movie. Shifali Chhaya is loud at some places and the rest of the cast just OK.

The climax is the major letdown. The similar kind of climax you may recall in "Dil Se" and "Hu Tu Tu" when the suicide bomber is heading towards a national meeting place on 15th August or 26th January. Chandni Chowk and Heritage Sites in Delhi are the new craze in Hindi Films now a days. The best part remains the music by Sukhwinder Singh, though he borrows a lot from the Punjabi Traditional Music Treasure, still I will rate it as his best work for a film soundtrack till date.

In simple words, its Subhash Ghai's attempt towards a different kind of cinema. He excels in parts no doubt, but I wish he had chosen a virgin topic for this move. Watch it for Habib Tanveer…and do listen to its complete soundtrack…

Rating : 2 / 5

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi Urdu Bengali

Release Date:

7 March 2008 (India)

Filming Locations:

Delhi, India

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,817,018

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mukta Arts, Mukta Searchlight Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color