Black: It's all about struggle!. Review on Black - Bollywood

Hello people,

I got the chance to see Black yesterday. After I saw the movie I thought that it wasn't good.. it was brilliant. It didn't look like a Bollywood product for once but looked like I was watching a Hollywood movie all the time. It felt so .....different. So, here's my review about it:

What is it about?

It's all about struggle! It's all about the realities of life. It's about the relationship between a deaf and blind girl and her teacher. In a nutshell, Michelle Mcnally( Ayesha Kapur as the child and Rani Mukherjee as the grownup girl) is deaf and blind by birth. Her world is black, she cannot see anything and she cannot hear anything. Debraj Sahai( Amitabh Bachan) is an eccentric and alcoholic teacher for such children and he gets the chance to teach Michelle how to communicate and survive in the world. This movie is all about what it would be if you were blind and deaf, it's about the relationship between a teacher and his student, it's about the spirit of life, to fight and to go on. Rest of the cast includes Shernaz Patel as Mrs Mcnally, Drishiman Chatterji, Nandana Sen and some others. Michelle has a younger sister Sarah as well. Sanjay Leela Bhansali who brought us Devdas and Khamoshi is in the director's seat.

So..it's a movie about handicapped people?

Why? It doesnt sound interesting or appeal much to you? If it doesnt, then I would request you to go and watch this movie or if you dont have time for the movie then go and visit an institution for the deaf and blind.

The movie takes up a subject that is very novel to Indian Cinema. This movie falls under the category of Drama/Fine Art but it's not at all abstract. Anyone can understand it. But this movie takes Bollywood in a new direction. Bollywood movies bombard you with sex, violence, songs and melodramatic moments but this movie has nothing of it. It's got a beauty of itself. It's similar to a movie a recently saw ''The Terminal'' in the sense that in that movie, Steven Spielberg took such a simple subject. A man played by Tom Hanks was stuck at the airport for 9 months and he made the movie out of those nine months. Similarly, this is a beautiful movie which touches your heart.

Hey reader, close your eyes...imagine you are blind ( May that never happen to you..just imagine) and that you are deaf as well. Now, try and walk around a little bit. What can you do? Can you go out and drive?Can you see what you are eating? Can you see the beauty of the mountains, the greenery, the rivers...nature?...Can you even watch a movie?...Can you go out for a walk by yourself?...Can you enjoy all the sports?....Can you go partying out like normal people?...Nothing....It's all black...

Aankhein nahin tou kuch bhi nahin...duniya khatam hai aap kelie....now being deaf as well... you cant listen to music..you cant listen to your family ..your friendz calling your name...imagine sitting in a room with absolutely no sound!!

After a while.. you will yearn for some sound...no matter what ...mayb the sound of something falling down or someone call your name?...Your world is not only black, it's silent as well. The frustration, the feeling that maybe you could just jump out of this, how such a person can spend a normal life...that's what is in this movie! How such people survive in this world...how they read..how they communicate...this movie will make you thank God that you have eyes and you can hear.

Michelle Mcnally learns how to read with Braille..goes to University. Fails..fails and fails again..gets dejected...wants to leave it all...her teacher urges her on...she tries and tries and in the end she does it! That's the spirit of life...keep going on..keep struggling to get your goal.

The visuals and music

The cinematography of the movie is stunning. As I mentioned before, it looks like a Hollywood movie every frame. The use of lights is just breathtaking. You can notice the fine detail in every scene and it's all very bright, it's not black at all. The use of angles from which light comes is brilliant and you see all types of colors in the light. Blue, Yellow, white, aquamarine, Deep blue, Submarine blue, ochre...it's like an artist's palette on the screen. You see so many new colors!

Hats off to SLB and the cameraman and rest of the crew for all their hardwork. As I read in one of the other reviews, it's poetry on screen! The sequences of snowfall, the Simla market, the house of the Mcnallys, the graduation ceremony, the party at the Mcnally's mansion, the dinner for Sarah's engagement, the wedding of Sarah, the sequences with water and snow are some of the highlights.

There are no songs in this movie but a haunting and apt background score. There wasn't any place for a song in this movie and by not including songs, SLB has done a very good thing. Songs would break the pace of the movie. The background score itself is beautiful to listen.

The performances

Amitabh Bachan has shown why he is Amitabh Bachan. He has wasted himself in a lot of insignificant roles lately but here he is just great. He plays the role of the teacher to the T. The strictness, the pendatic nature, not knowing what's impossible..he has all the qualities. He suffers from Alzheimer's disease when he get's old and has played the part perfectly. This might possibly be his best performance to date and awards are on their way.

Rani Mukherjee is excellent. Both Big B and Rani had to learn the sign language and about blind and deaf people. Rani really makes you feel that she is blind and deaf.. the frustration..the anger...the way she walks... it all looks so real. It's an unusual movie where you don't see her speaking any dialogues..it's all about expressions and body language and she does it wonderfully well. Awards coming her way as well!

Special mention about Ayesha Kapur, who plays the young Michelle. She is mind blowing.. well I can't believe a child could carry out such a performance. This is a role which most of the grownups would have trouble performing. Credit also goes to SLB who has extracted all these performances from the cast. Well, if at this age she could act so well, I wonder what shez going to do when she grows up!

The supporting cast is good too..Shernaz Patel and company. The good thing about this movie is ''characters''. It's characters are so lucid and full of life. You connect with them immediately and it hasnt got that many characters to speak of. Broadly speaking it's got 3 characters: The Teacher, The student and the student's mother.

Overall, a great great performance from all the cast! Super...Paisa vasool...nothing more you could ask for. Just one word : ''Wow''.

Bottomline

This movie is like a jewel in a desert of sand. It will take Bollywood places..it's a beautiful movie...it's got powerful performances....it's cinema in the real sense. This movie takes you in depth of how painful and how worse life can be for a handicapped person and makes you feel for them. Isn't that reason enough to see this movie.

All movies have some weak points. Althought there arent many in this one but regarding big commercial success, the movie is a mixture of Hindi and English, hasnt got any songs or masala in it..so it wont be a big hit commercially but who cares. I'm sure SLB doesnt because otherwise he wouldnt have made this movie. Secondly, the movie makes you a bit sad..but that doesnt mean you keep crying all the time. Its a beautiful gem...and not to be missed......it's all about struggle!