Saturday, February 05, 2005

Film Review-Black


Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerjee in Black Posted by Hello

StarCast: Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerjee
Direction: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Rating: * * * *
Hindi films are getting different and that too in a big way! Its just the beginning of the year and with movies like Page 3 and Black, Bollywood's rocking. Expectedly, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black leaves you spellbound. This one will stir your soul. If this one doesn't get India an Oscar then who cares, we dont want them.
Michelle McNally (Ayesha Kapur/Rani Mukerjee) is born to anglo-indian parents (Shernaz Patel and Dhritiman Chaterji)in Shimla. Due to some illness when she's an infant she loses her sight and ability to hear. Not knowing the patrician way to bring up such a child and the parents succumbing to the child's stubborness, Michelle is a stubborn, mannerless girl who has no future and is a liabilty to her family.
Enter Debraj Sahai (Amitabh Bachchan), who is a teacher in a school which has students with similar impairments. Now this guy is an absolute whacko, who has dedicated his entire life for such children, he doesn't want to be remembered as a teacher, instead he calls himself a magician. Now he is called to help Michelle, and after working very hard on her, he metamorphoses her into the Michelle of today. Debraj starts to suffer from Alzheimer's disease slowly and now Michelle needs to bring him back to life. The roles are now reversed! And guess what she does the impossible.
The performances are par excellence. Shernaz Patel as Michelle and Sarah's mother is so natural, just exceptional. Watch her sequences with Bachchan, truely awesome. Dhritiman Chaterji is excellent. Nandana Sen (Sarah) as Michelle's sister impresses in a small significant role. Ayesha Kapur is first-rate. This child is something, I have no words to express, for the world class performance that she's delivered. See it to beleive it. Such an angel. If you thought Sr. Bachchan was getting irritating with the umpteen number of ads on television, go watch this one, no wonder he is the best actor there is and the best there ever will be. As for the Rani Mukerjee, she is indeed the reigning queen of Bollywood. Her best performance till date, one thing's for sure, this girl was born to act. But hats off to the director whose execution of the subject, the performances that he's extracted, and the visuals he's captured cannot be described in mere words.
Highly Recommended.
-Sanketh Rao.

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