I don’t take watching Hindi movies lightly. To me, it’s like Russian Roulette, except that you have 1 in 100 chance of survival. That is the reason it was not until several of my trusted friends recommended me the Hindi movie “Black” I didn’t dare face the Black-death like movie.
Let’s first get the good things out of the way. The cinematography is one of the best I have seen recently. It’s on par with the current international big-budget movies. And the movie has no songs, thank heavens!
Ok, now the bad things. In the first 15 minutes of the movie, I was disappointed to realize that this movie is a shameless and a very poorly executed rip-off of “The Miracle Worker,” which tells the story of Helen Keller. It was never mentioned in the movie’s promotions or anywhere else. Did the producers think nobody would notice? One must be blind not to see the connection (no pun intended).
If I have to summarize the tone of the movie in one word, it would be “melodrama.” Since I don’t have to, I will elaborate. Every actor, in every scene, played his/her part with as much exaggeration as possible. A character couldn’t sneeze without over-acting it! I am surprised the movie didn’t come with a disclaimer, “Any resemblances this movie has to reality are purely unintentional.”
Amitabh Bachchan’s action was mediocre, you would expect better from such an experienced actor. Calling what Rani Mukherjee did in the movie “action” is an insult to every person who ever acted. It is more like clueless waving of hands, twitching of face and shouting at the top of her lungs. She played the part of a blind girl. Far from researching for her role, I doubt if she ever saw a blind person. You ask why? For one, blind people don’t go about running into walls and furniture in their own homes on a daily basis. She seemed to have convinced herself that sporting sun-glasses is sufficient to play the part.
About the screenplay, I don’t know where to begin. Apparently, nor did the screenplay writer.
The movie had one of the happiest endings. I mean, I was very happy, ecstatic, that the movie finally ended.
Nothing to do with Black, but what is with this hindi movie bashing attitude in general? So you deined to watch Black and even with your russian roulette chances of survival, you got by didn’t you? Just the point, that many hindi movies might be very silly but many of them are good too.
Why not write about a hindi movie you liked or is it less fun to do that?
My bashing is not specific to Hindi movies. But IMO most Hindi movies are crap. Most Hollywood movies are technologically advanced crap. But there are occasional good Hindi and Indepenent English movies (Dattak, Asthitwa, Garden State etc.). We will get to them eventually. Good reviews are fun to write, but in my experiencce, people don’t find them fun to read.
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This post has been removed by the author.
By and large i’ll agree, maybe , just maybe i’ll not go so far in being critical, but i’ll say one thing….
for the subject matter the movie was too verbose…
Sorry got the same post thrice….some browser craziness….hence deleted two of ‘em!
I am NOT a fan of hindi movies and will swear loudly while watching them ,with a fairly steady stream of 4 letter words.
This is considered pretty unpatriotic …ahh phooey
I enjoyed Black. Big B is getting up in years, and he still gets to kiss Rani. There’s hope for me yet!
Hahaha…I agree with this! I’m sorry to the bollywood fans out there. But you do have a point, But there is one that has caught my eye, rang de basanti…it has such passion and soul, I don’t know it seems to depict the current situation of India with a rare form of an authentic plot. There is a lesson to learn from this film,
And as for bollywood rip offs, it’s just a matter of a nostaglia feeling with a dose of melodrama!
Ciao..
Darsh
Oh God! finally! finally someone who disliked the movie as much as did I. I don’t know why it got awards and accolades. i think it was pathetic. Rani Mukherjee acted like an imbecile, not a blind-deaf person. Sickening! It was too dark a movie to be called hope inspiring I felt.
hey..
came across the blog and liked it enough(the amway story) to go through your blog archives).
very very happy to meet a fellow black-hater. I hated that movie. It was a pain to sit through and I could never understand why everyone made a big deal about this movie. it was crap.
well..moving on your next blogs
neha
I think there is a reason that Indian movies are “rip-offs” of good English ones. It is the only way that the film fraternity can introduce the audience to better cinema. A lot of people in India may never watch the English version, but they definitely will watch the Big B. These successful actors are taking a risk with these movies simply to start a better trend.
Also, till very recently, theater and exaggerated gestures and expressions were what people were used to. We cannot suddenly switch to the subtle expression changes and muted conversation of Hollywood movies…not if you want the crowd to get what’s happening.
So, basically, Indian cinema is getting there. It might take some time, but I’m sure that the fraternity is doing its best with movies like Black.
Sorry for the long comment. I liked the effort put into the movie Black, and felt I should share my take on it.
How-do-you-do, just needed you to know I have added your site to my Google bookmarks because of your special blog layout. But in earnest, I think your site has one of the finest theme I’ve came across. It really helps make reading your blog a lot easier.
Thank god I am not the only one who didn’t hate the movie. It was pathetic to sit through it.
Umm..I meant I am not the only the only person who didn’t like the movie.