Black is in

Black is certainly not a masterpiece. It is certainly a fine effort and could easily rank amongst the best films of this year (I am sure Bollywood is going to have an inspired year).


It has a taut story, each scene is awash with grandeur (not in Devdas vein though) and beauty (including the best faces in India as the side cast). The cinematography is classy and muted, very much in tune with the European setting. Each frame is an attempt at elegy, which most of the time succeeds.


Certainly Mr. Bhansali deserves an applause.


The role of blind and deaf (hence dumb) is every actor's dream and one cannot squander this chance at all those easy awards (unless you are Abhishek Bachchan). Rani Mukherjee plays with poise, restraint and utter perfection. Amitabh Bachchan is reliable as always. But somehow, leaves me cold. With him, the man is always bigger than the role, and that's a big problem for any actor.


One major thing that people may not know, Black is an English movie. There is a smattering of Hindi, coz all the characters are Indian. But the spoken language is English. Somehow in this movie, it doesn't jar (in the typical Johar, Chopra movies, it gets on the nerves)


Black Friday, meanwhile is still in the cans.