Oscar for the best foreign film. Review on Black - Bollywood

And the Oscar for the Best Foreign Film of 2005 goes to...

The Indian Movie B L A C K.

Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Produced by 'Applause Entertainment'

Lagaan (2001) took 25 years to come along after Sholay (1976), but B L A C K is the next milestone in Indian cinema and that too just 4 years after Lagaan! Isn't that amazing? But that's how the world works when a man is inspired! Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB) has outdone himself and shown the way to other Indian film directors that you don't need to make a film in Hollywood for it to win an Oscar. An Indian film is enough to get us that recognition from the western world that we crave for. Actually, even if B L A C K doesn't win an Oscar (which is impossible if the Oscars are unbiased!), let me tell you it ranks among the all-time best movies in this world!

SLB started his career with Khamoshi (1996) about the deaf and dumb parents of Manisha Koirala. He went wrong somewhere in the characterisations and probably also buckled under the pressure of distributors and producers for the so-called commercial aspect. The movie failed miserably. Though it was sensitively handled, had excellent performances by the cast and one of the best-ever music scores by Jatin-Lalit, Khamoshi had gone wrong somewhere. B L A C K not only rectifies those mistakes but also goes a step ahead in doing away with music, which is an area of revenue generation for the producers and nothing else! But in Kahamoshi SLB had shown his flair for film-making and telling stories with a difference. A promising director had emerged.

Then in 1999 came Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (HDDCS) which was a commercial success. So, this time SLB silenced his critics by making a commercial success. The promise was showing. He wanted to prove that a commercial success is nothing but this! And he did that with aplomb!

Then came the Rs. 50 Crore Devdas (2002). An instance of over-indulgence. Trying to remake an old classic was never going to be easy and comparisons were inevitable. It was this that was finally going to pull down the costliest film made in Bollywood. Forgettable performances by the supporting cast and Aishwarya Rai. All in all, a worthwhile film that ran solely on the shoulders of The King Khan!

With this frequency of one film every three years, SLB started working on Bajirao Mastani and B L A C K at the same time. And since he had a role in mind which should be played only by Amitabh Bachchan, he finished the shooting of B L A C K first. And lo! Here we have the most astounding movie I have seen in recent times. Also, this movie marks the contrasting times of today. In an adjacent movie hall was Shabd which was houseful earlier than B L A C K because Aishwarya Rai had done a Mallika Sherawat. And here I was watching a classic. An all-time great movie! Our generation can be brilliant and ordinary at the same moment!

Based in the early 20th century, the story portrays the upliftment of human spirit over darkness and helplessness. The story is about a deaf, dumb and blind girl and her teacher. It is about the relationship they share and live through. It is about the triumph of human spirit under adverse circumstances. It is about how the word impossible can disappear from our dictionaries. It is about how we should not sympathise with the impaired people but treat them as equals and empathise with them. Understand their world. They live in a different world. Get in there and speak their language. Speak the language of the Universe. That's what they understand. That's what all of us understand!

There is also a reference to the probability that they are closer to God than we - the so-called normal people - are. There is a clarification, and rightly so, that we see dreams from our Mann (Can it be translated to 'Mind' in English?) and not eyes. That's because the protagonist is blind and yet she dreams. She has dreamt of becoming a graduate. There is a case of changing paradigms in every frame of the movie. Have you ever seen a walking stick as an instrument that makes people independent? Don't people always sulk that you are making them older than they are by presenting them a walking stick? How do you expect the impaired to take this? When asked a question as to, ''Where is the USA with respect to India on the globe?” what would most of us answer? Has it ever occurred to you that, ''The earth is round and USA hence could be on any side!'' ?

The story depicts the life of Michelle from the time she is born and her mother comes to know that she is blind, deaf and dumb. The wealthy parents try every cure possible and are convinced that B L A C K is going to be the colour of their daughter's rest of the life. B L A C K till then is the colour of darkness and ignorance. Michelle is treated like a mentally retarded child inside her house. Then they hear of a teacher Mr. Sahay who can transform the lives of such children. Mr. Sahay is an alcoholic but considers himself a magician who can weave magic into lives of children who are impaired. Whether the parents can trust their child in the hands of this alcoholic? Whether the alcoholic's magic actually works? Watch the Classic of this decade B L A C K to find out.

A 14 reel, 2 hour movie. Direction is impeccable. Story and screenplay are just about perfect. Background music suits the mood of the movie. The costumes are very well done without distracting from the theme of the movie. Special mention must be made of the cinematography by Ravi.K.Chandran. Brilliant is not the word! The colour combination in every scene is perfect. Especially the scene where Amitabh and Rani stretch their hands out of the window of the hospital to feel the rain and the camera moves away showing the contrasting B L A C K of their costumes to the white of the hospital was one of the shots that took my breath away. The look of the movie adds considerably to the feel of the movie. Bhawani Iyer's dialogues: I don't know if Bhawani wrote only the english ones or even the hindi ones. The dialogues bring tears to your eyes. For the first time, I cried to tears while watching a movie. The only other movie which came close to this was Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anand.

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