Mar 13, 2008 06:28 PM
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One cannot forget the contribution of Subhash Ghai in Bollywood. He has made some legendary flicks like Hero, Karma, Ram Lakhan, Pardes, Taal, Karz, Vidhata etc and many of his films have inspired other filmmakers over a period of times. However his latest flick, Black & White is different from the ones he has previously directed. There is nothing in this flick which has the ‘Subhash Ghai trademark’-it’s not a larger than life flick, it has no big star cast, it’s made on a shoestring budget and Subhash Ghai has also not a made a special appearance in it! But however, the film deserves to be watched because of its effective treatment and its message.
The story of the movie: Numair Qazi (Anurag Sinha) comes to Delhi on August 1. He stays at his ‘relative’s place’ at Chandni Chowk. He pretends to be a victim of the Godhra riots and that he has come to the capital city to seek employment. But actually, he’s on a mission. He has been sent by a group of Muslim fundamentalists from Afghanistan as a suicide bomber. His job was to blast the Red Fort on the Independence Day. For this purpose, he befriends Rajan Mathur (Anil Kapoor), an Urdu professor at Zakhir Hussain College. His motive behind befriending him was to get access to Red Fort on 15 August through Rajan. But the 15 day journey changes him. By interacting with professor and his wife Roma (Shefali Shah) and others, he starts having second thoughts. Will Numair be able to untie himself from the cause to which he is fanatically tied? Or will he go ahead with his mission and cause destruction?
Black & White easily stands out from the rest of the movies on terrorism, because instead of concentrating on terrorism, the film concentrates more on the terrorist. It focuses on the life of a suicide bomber, who has no fear of death and will die happily killing others. Hats off to Subhash Ghai for showing this wonderfully and hats off to Anurag Sinha too for portraying it perfectly!
The film keeps one hooked from the first scene itself. The beginning portions (the one of Afghanistan) were thrillingly shot and the dark set and the use of Pushto language makes it look very real. The film gets better when Anurag sets foot in Delhi and all this continues till the intermission point. But while there in no uninteresting sequences in the 1st half, the film gets little slow in the 2nd half. It gets little long ad the screenplay at many times was not very tight.
But the film picks up again in the last 20 minutes. And the climax was wonderful and it was totally shocking and unexpected. Full marks for the mind-blowing climax!
Another great about Black & White is the description of Delhi. The cinematographer wonderfully captures the visuals of Delhi, especially the one of Chandni Chowk and Delhi Metro! This year, another film had given a beautiful piccturisation of Delhi-Sunday.
The best performer of the movie has to be Anurag Sinha! He’s tall, handsome, has attractive looks and his voice was manly and suited his character perfectly. He hardly smiled in the movie but whenever he did, he looked damn good! Thanks to Mr. Ghai for giving the film industry one more talent! I am sure Anurag will surely go a long way. Neil Mukesh and Ranbir Kapoor, you have some big competition!
Anil Kapoor played his part beautifully and came up with an excellent performance. His scenes with Shefali Shah were very sweet and he gives a rocking performance in the last 30 minutes! And it seems he has some given a great performance in Race and Tashan too! There is a high possibility that he’ll bag an award this year!
Shefali Shah gives an equally brilliant performance. She brings life into her performance. She should surely be nominated for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) category.
Aditi Tandon didn’t have much to do in the film, but she surely has the talent and the looks. Habib Tanwar, the old man, gave a fantastic performance. Akash Khurana was great, even in a miniscule role.
Sukhwinder Singh’s music was great. He proves that he is not only a great singer, but a wonderful composer too. The songs which stand out are ‘Jogi Aaya’ and especially ‘Main Chala’, which was the best song of the movie.
Ranjit Barot’s background score suited the theme and mood of the movie. Somak Mukherjee’s cinematography, as I said before, was great.
Varun Vardhan’s story was amazing. The best thing about the story was its conclusion which was unusual but at the time, convincing and justified. The screenplay was very effective, but slipped at times due to which the film didn’t make 100% impact on the viewers.
Subhash Ghai’s direction was powerful and engrossing. He chose a very different topic but provided it with a good direction. He was also one of the screenplay writers and succeeded in showing the profile of a terrorist and the psyche of a suicide bomber. But he didn’t succeed completely due to a lengthy second half. Other movies based on suicide bombers like Dhokha, Dil Se etc created a tremendous impact as it had a strong and powerful screenplay which kept one hooked onto the screen. But that was not the case in Black & White. But still The Showman should be applauded for Black & White. Waiting for your Yuvraaj, Mr Ghai!
Some of the best scenes of the movie:
1. The first scene
2. Anil Kapoor’s entry
3. Numair being taken by police for interrogation
4. The murder of Akash Khurana
5. The intermission point
6. The song ‘Jogi Aaya’ and ‘Main Chala’
7. The last 30 minutes of the movie
On the whole, Black & White is a great, topnotch flick that gives a brilliant message. It’s quite unusual flick and deserves to be watched. If it had been devoid of its flaws, the film would have become an outstanding masterpiece!
My rating- ½
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