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Black(2005):: Sanjay Bhansali takes constructive revenge from audience
Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB) had made a film Khamoshi where Nana Patekar and Seema Biswas had played mute couple but that film tasted no commercial success. Wounded ego of a creative director like SLB was waiting to hit back and after earning name and money from HDDCS and Devdas, he became again ready to repeat his experiment on a far bigger level and brought us Black. This time not only deaf or dumb or both, he dealt with a character, deaf and blind. How you would teach a child who couldn’t listen or see. Two obvious senses to learn something in a defined manner, are listening and/or seeing and rest remain, touch, smell and taste, but with these, sufferer can feel something but cant express anything what s/he has felt.
Black is based on the story of Helen keller, who was deaf and blind. Hollywood had already made film on the life of Helen Keller but these similarities don’t make Black as a less valuable film. Director and actors had to pass through those emotions which were required to bring life to the scenes described in the script, cameraman and other film unit members had to work hard so that scenes looked convincing on the screen. Film is not photo copy. Its extremism to say that Black is scene to scene copy of Hollywood film. Under this extrimist kind of criticism one may miss one of the interesting and good film made in hindi cinema. Be open and film may open new horizons before us. Film brings several emotions before audience and it brings them more close to the life, makes them softer towards life. Black breaks the mechanized way of living our life. Not that everything in film is good and its a flawless film. It also has its share of weaknesses but still its very good film which maintains the quality and a certain standard throughout the film.
SLB signed Amitabh Bachchan, for the role of a teacher, Debraj Sahay, who would bring meanings in the life of a deaf blind girl, Michelle, played by Rani Mukherjee. Though her role is the central object in the story of the film but Black came and it did not remain the story of a deaf blind, Michelle, rather it became the film of that teacher, Debraj Sahay. Kind of actor he is, Amitabh Bachchan usurped the spirit of Black in his favour. If film is watched from character of Michelle’s angle then film has many limitations. Child Michelle’s eyes are so different than adult Michelle. It cant happen that almost bad eyes of child could be converted in to good eyes when she is grown up. Her different walking can be questionable. Moreover there is less depiction of her struggle in life and after she is trained in sign language her life looks like good. Being girl she might have several problems but film focusses very less on the struggling part of life of Michelle.
Debraj has been teaching sign language for 30 years to deaf or blinds in a school at Dehradun. Debraj is retired from the school and yet he spends his time by plunging deeply in to the learning so that he could search new and efficient ways to teach his students. He searches new ways to express words to his students, new ways, which are not available in the present knowledge pool of sign language. He is not limited to the knowledge he has gained to teach the sign language through books or available knowledge. He has a history. His own sister was exiled by his mother to the mental asylum. He has a sensitive attachment with his profession. He had chosen himself to become a sign language teacher but after spending 30 years he is left with no recognition of his work. He selected a path to become a teacher where students cant express their gratitude towards him, which could make him a recognised person. His sensitive part, in spite of all his intelligence, is hurt by the fact that he is a non-entity even after imparting teaching for 30 years in the school. School and society work with the usual norms and traditions and his brilliance sees only frustrations there.
He says,” Ms Nair, I am a non entity even after teaching for 30 years. I am remained only as a feeling. On last day when I was finally leaving the school, my students were waiving me in wrong direction”.
He is, retired now, searching some meaning in the life. His frustrations are big and they have to be big, given his intellect. His sorrows and pathos are big. He has no family where energies could be chanellized. He has no love for other things in life than to be involved in searching new ways to teach deaf blind students.
Ms Nair informs him about offer to teach Michelle.
When he asks Ms Nair while she is putting eye solution in his eye,” What do you see in my eye”?
She says,” A great love for me “.
He says,” You need to go for a check up of your eyes”.
His life is limited to do something good in the field of his chosen teaching area. He is a scientist there, who searches newer ways in his field. His development is not stopped. He is going on a path of progress as far as his teaching area is concerned. It is a matter of faith now. When he is eager and ready to do miracle, nature listens to his wish and, an offer to teach Michelle, comes before him. What a blind person can desire but two eyes and this offer, and the challenges associated with the offer, provide him the opportunity to see some light in his almost dark life.
He asks Mrs Nair again when she is ready to put drop of medicine in his second eyes,” What you see now”.
She says irritatingly this time,” Nothing”.
But he is not listening to her and says as if he is lost somewhere,” Michelle, this is the name of the girl. I can see everything clearly now”.
His cynicism is disappeared suddenly, and he seems to enjoy beauty spread everywhere in the life. For those small moments, his existence seems to enjoy the things which a normal person would enjoy. He continues in poetic manner ……
“A golden morning, roads covered with snow, that little girl, like a wind but directionless. I will give her wings of words. I will teach her to fly”.
This sudden normalcy confirms that unless we get that thing for which we have deep desire, we remain abnormal. The desire and feeling, that we are not able to fulfil, make us a closed person and a chance to fulfil that desire makes us open towards surrounding and our eyes, vision, existence and understanding become free from any kind of burden and we start enjoying the life and start living in the moments.
Ms Nair does mistake what most of the people do. She says,” you are only a good teacher, Debraj, not a magician. You could not handle your own life and you claim to make other’s lives”?
Debraj is hurt, his brilliance is hurt, his knowledge is hurt. No doubt, for 30 years his personality would have been getting wounds from the stale mentality of school authorities and old conservative thoughts of the world. Debraj is suffering from the childhood memory of his sister and he wants to play a God for at least one person in his life time and Michelle’s case brings him that opportunity. His energies are suddenly focussed on Michelle and his desire to do something miraculous. To fulfil his long cherished desire, he even swallows his insults done by Michelle’s father Paul McNally.
Black is Amitabh Bachchan. Its not Rani’s film as its not only story of Helen Keller but story of her teacher Annie Sullivan also. Michelle is an object there to fulfil the desires of Debraj. Existence of Debraj has made a cavity in the nature. He has developed a certain skill, a certain knowledge and nature provides him a chance, to utilize his skill, in the form of Michelle. Debraj’s skill and Michelle’s in-competencies are interdependent. They need each other’s existences. Michelle’s case is proof of “miracles happen in the life” for Debraj. He is kind of useless, old and eccentric retired teacher for others. But inside he is preparing for a hitherto unknown battle. Nature provides answers at right time. When its needed only then nature lifts the curtain from the stage and though mystery is revealed later to know why it was done like this before?
Debraj is dramatic and he loves melodrama. His mannerisms and shades of his character can be found in Col. Slade of “Scent of a Woman” played by Al Pacino to the perfection. Both Slade and Debraj are brilliant but conditions in their lives have brought them at stage where they are treated as good for nothing and they live with deep frustrations. Col Slade gets Charlie for resurrection of his desire to live life with renewed energies and Debraj gets Michelle to realise his long cherished dream of playing God to someone. Difference lies in their physical conditions. Col. Slade is blind and thus feels that his life has been ruined completely and he has no future while Debraj also knows that his present life is sucked up but like Slade, he is not desiring death. He waits to do something meaningful. Col. Slade wishes to live few days of life in wonderful manner so that he can end up his life after. Debraj is not ready to end up the life without fighting. He is a warrior who knows that he has never been given the battle ground, for which he deserves. He is not fearful about loosing the battle but his wish is to fight till end.
SLB has not given much freedom and place to Amitabh, as he has dreamed some mannerisms of Debraj in his minds and has imposed those on Amitabh. It seems that at least Amitabh’s body movement is controlled by the director and Amitabh is left free with his facial expressions only, where he can add on his own and which is prerogative of an actor. There is a scene where Debraj tells mother of Mrs McNally, mother of Michelle, about his sister. This scene is very non-Amitabh type. Watch movement of his hands, AB never did such crossing of fingers of his hands and that too in that dramatic way as he has done in this scene. It looks an imposed scene on him.
Debraj is a teacher in the legacy of Upanishads, where teacher says,” It’s a journey, I am starting with my disciples and we, both the parties, will learn on this journey”. Debraj says that he too learnt from Michelle that even eyes are helpless if darkness is concerned. Debraj, refines, reforms, reconstructs his teachings while trying to teach Michelle. He does not call deaf, dumb and blind as mentally retarded but he treats them as “different” and his approach is different.
Camera work is fantastic. When its eve of 19th day of Debraj’s teaching and Michelle’s mother comes to remind him that tomorrow morning she will come to take back Michelle. She is standing outside of the door and Debraj is standing inside the room and camera is working from behind the Debraj and yet we see faces of both the persons involved in the scene curtsy, Debraj’s image in glass of the door. Audience enjoy the expressions on faces of both the characters, involved in the scene without camera’s successive movement on each person, which is normally the case in such scenes where two characters are talking to each other and audience see their faces one by one.
Michelle’s mother is obliged for whatever progress Michelle has shown till now but she is afraid of her husband’s angry nature also. Though she feels grateful towards Debraj and out of emotions, says to him,”you have made a fine young lady out of my Michellle”. She is happy with even little learning of Michelle but Debraj is not satisfied. He feels mixed emotions. On one hand he is more sad and grieved that he still could not do much as per his own expectations and on the other hand he is touched by the thankful emotions of a mother and the fact that she recognised the worth of his teachings. His eyes are moistened and he opens the door again, in-spite of knowing very well, that Michelle’s mother has gone away, to say,”Thank you”, to the air.
Film has several touching moments. But best moments and best emotional expressions are expressed by AB. When Debraj finds that Michelle has started understanding the meaning of words and he shows this to Michelle’s parents and they are, overwhelmed with the joy, embracing Michelle, Debraj slowly goes away from them and goes to fountain and sits there. When he finds Michelle is coming to search him and he teaches her that he is teacher and she says “Tee”, he is filled with emotions. Michelle’s mother comes and takes her away, leaving Debraj alone. He is sitting there, alone, with tears in his eyes. He is melted now, truly a mellowed person. The man, who was living, in solitude inside his heart, now wishes to express his feelings to his friend, Ms Nair. But he is chocked with emotions, his achievement has made him a pure soul, he can’t complete his sentence and he cries. Tears roll down his cheeks as water falls from the fountain in the background. His sorrows, frustrations, cynicism, gloominess all are washing away with tears and his crying is doing a cleansing process for him. He is becoming empty, sitting alone there in cold, surrounded by only nature. He has shown that his saying that Knowledge comes in a flash, was true.
His fight is won. He is no more in confrontation with nature. He is one with the nature and is surrendering completely to nature in those moments. This is a crying we have seen earlier in “Guide” where Raju Guide prays to God,” Don’t listen to me but please listen to these devotees, their prayers, please make rain happen”.
Those are heights of acting from AB in Black. Best performed moments in whole film. Very genuine and perfectly synchronized with the mood of the character.
For some people, they have to write a poem, they have to paint just one painting, they have to make one statue and for Debraj, Michelle’s learning is that ultimate piece of art, before which every other art is small. His imagination knows no boundary when it is concerned with Michelle’s learning. When she is grown up, he wishes her to join regular university. He has plans to sacrifice his remaining life to help her learning more and more in the life. He is ready to sit besides her in the class room so that he can communicate her, what teachers are saying. He is ready to become her medium to learn new things.
Debraj advocates the prophecy before the principal of college,” Man does not get chance to do good, again and again and he should not loose this opportunity to do good”.
Once Debraj is recognised by his achievements, his body language is changed and AB delivers mostly through his eyes and face expressions this phase of life of Debraj. He is no more an eccentric genius. He is a soft hearted man now. When Michelle answers to the selection committee of University that knowledge is teacher for her, AB brings fantastic expressions on his face. His eyes, movements of his lips, muscles of his face emote all, what he is feeling inside.
Being a visionary about life of such persons, he brings walking stick, as a gift to Michelle and says,” it wont make her dependent on him or anybody else, rather independent”. He is aging and knows very well that now Michelle has to leave dependency over him.
When Michelle is failed, she and Debraj are shown, standing in the shadow, a nice visual and then they dance, as if wish, to dispel this shadow from their life from their own efforts.
When Sara, younger sister of Michelle, admits before her family and family of her, would be husband, that she misbehaved with Michelle since childhood and in the nights she asked if Michelle needed water and in-spite of having affirmative answers she always avoided Michelle’s thirst and slept. She says that since childhood she felt that she has been neglected because their parents showed more care towards Michelle. So its not only case with people like Michelle who really are deaf dumb and blind but its case with so called normal people like Sara also that they cant see things as they are in spite of having eyes. Handicapped is not limited to physical organs only and it can be extended to our limited understanding and narrow vision also. We, normal people also get complexes and thus become handicapped in one way or other.
Michelle becomes angry and on her behalf, Debraj reads her speech where she has mentioned that when she was 8 years old she could feel beauty first time, when she touched Sara, then a new born baby. She adds further that Mom says I could not stop smiling that day.
Debraj shows the symptoms of Alzhimer disease and when Michelle shows her frustrations that she cant get physical pleasure in her life and forces Debraj to kiss her then he kisses her but later goes away from her life.
Michelle does complete her graduation and says in her graduation day speech that she did it in 40 years of age what people do in 20 years of age. But she is happy that finally she did it. But she feels empty without the presence of her teacher Debraj.
When Michelle is sitting inside the car and writing “T” on the glass window of the car, Sara brings her the happy news that, Debraj is sitting there at fountain. Life travels a full circle and Michelle has to bring Debraj’s memory back because he has forgotten everything. But deep down his mind still recognises Michelle. He is still associated with her and in-spite of advanced stage of his Alzhimer disease, he recognises the touch of Michelle and her achievement when she comes to him, draped in her graduation robe. He has forgotten the words to communicate his feelings but tears roll down his cheeks and express his feelings.
Film should have been finished when Debraj recognises the touch of water on his hands as then story finishes a full a circle. And there was no need to drag it to the point where Michelle types a letter to Ms Nair and repeats all that what Debraj might have written to Mrs Nair about Michelle in the past and that her world starts with B.L.A.C.K.
Film is a visual treat and its worth watching to witness performance of Amitabh. He is good most of the time but here he rises above the script and brings Debraj, the teacher before us.
There is one scene where Michelle and Debraj are sitting on a bench and he is teaching her through a book, but she is not intersted and she tries to open an umbrella but he stops her and indicates to her that its not going to be snowed. But few moments later we see snow is falling from the sky. Its said that people who dont have eyes or are deaf and dumb their other senses are very strong and like birds and animals Michelle also feels before other humanbeing that its time for snow fall.
Rani does good but still she looks Rani Mukherjee, it can be her best performance so far on part of Rani Mukherjee but still it leaves with impression that it could have been better. This is a mistake on part of director also that child Michelle looks so different than adult Michelle and not only their body language differ from each other but everything differ. She looks the only odd member in that Anglo Indian family and even lady servant look like people belonging to Anglo Indian background. Naseerudin Shah, as a blind person in Sparsh, and Jaya Bhaduri, as a deaf and dumb girl, in Koshish, remain above the level of performance of Rani in Black. She could have done better and less dramatic. But its more Director’s lacking than hers. He visualized Michelle’s character in this way only.
Shernaz Patel plays her part well and brings us the emotions of a lady who is mother as well as wife of a proud and inflexible man. She has less number of scenes where she has to take charge, else she is there to fill the family photo and she register her presence whenever its required. Though physiologically, she looks, more mother of Sara than Michelle’s.
Dhritman Chaterjee lives his character well. He is wealthy and quite proudy also. He is very strict and does not bear anything which he thinks can go against his wishes. He is less interested in his elder daughter Michelle but he is more interested in teaching lessons of etiquette to Debraj. He is self centred person. When Debraj says his daughter is rude and knows no manners, he says,” well for that you have been given work”. Dhritman brings convincing touches in his portrayal of the role.
Nandana Sen as younger sister of Michelle, performs well and brings the shades of character who lives with the feelings that she is ignored by her parents because they give too much attention to her sister. Her dialogue delivery though needs to be refined. She has small role and shows her presence.
Ayesha Kapoor plays the child Michelle and she is the second best performer after AB in the film. Ayesha brings out very well the wild nature of the character and she does more justice with her role of child Michelle than Rani Mukherjee does for grown up Michelle. And she is not only effective in the scenes where body movement is required but she gives good performance also when facial expressions are required.
Cinematography of Ravi Chandran, maintains the high standard throughout the film and becomes a solid reason to watch the film and perhaps with repeated watching also.
Back ground music (Monty) is very good and it changes as per the mood of the characters and their lives.
Sanjay Bhansali is cursed by many that he uses too many songs and dance sequences in his films but here you wont get any song and yet he brings a wonderful film before us.
49 Responses to “Black(2005):: Sanjay Bhansali takes constructive revenge from audience”
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I haven’t seen Miracle Worker but some of the stills in imdb looks very familiar with Black. Could someone who has watched both Miracle Worker and Black do a comparison between the two.
RK,check out the link…was talking baout this one….btw, no time to read n comment on ur post now…will do tmrw as i always enjoy ur posts…
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article§id=30&contentid=200702270300124846d60ea0e
I have seen black 1 year back and i thought it wasnt that great as people were praising it. The first and foremost reason is I know few speech therapists they told me that its not how it works and rani mukharjee, i found her irritating her walking style especially. The only positives were Ravi K chandran’s photgraphy and BGM thats it.
Phoenixnu:
Thanks for the link. I saw ultimately the mentioned episode of KWK. Sanjay said many interesting things to Karan also and Karan really listened his sayings with much attenion and they seemed to affect him for those moments atleast. Who knows when he goes back to Mitra mandali what remains with him and whats vanished.:)
Abt Kunal Kohli, it was rapid fire round and Karan asked who in his eyes is over rated director and Sanjay said “Kunal Kohli, Kunal Kohli, Kunal Kohli”.
But he has said before giving answers that his answers should be taken in right spirit and they will match with the mood of rapid fire round and thus no deep meaning is attached with them. But who likes his name mentioned as over rated director:(
I feel that Kunal Kohli is not overrated…just because no one considers him to be in the elite league ala Mani Ratnam, RGV, Sanjay, Hirani and Rakeysh etc….. So if Kunal Kohli directs a movie, people just will not expect a great movie. He may make money making movies…but thats it.
But one more thing, that shocked me was when Sanjay mentioned to Karan that he doesn’t watch movies other than what he makes. And that he only loves movies that he makes…………he didn’t watch RDB,LRMB but he watched Fanaa and KANK, just because they are not good movies. I simply didnt understand his funda behind that. I feel he just doesnt want to watch superior products, in the fear that he may feel inferior infront of the other fantastic directors.
But I simple love Karans attitude. He is fantastic, though I can’t say the same about the movies he makes.
Rocko Babu: what difference does it make if Directors call each other as over rated or under rated. Their films matter and not their sayings about each other.
As I saw Sanjay said, he watches his own films to do improvements and he does not learn by watching others films. Karan had asked him something like: if he watches other’s films also so that he can improve his films also.
Artists belonging to any field do this that they dont go through others works when they are in the process of creating their own work, as they avoid any outside influence. Vikram Seth stops reading other’s works months before he starts writing his own book. Its not very uncommon thing. Every body has its own style of working. I did not find any strange thing in Sanjay’s saying about watching his work. He said so many things so things cant be seen in parts. He said about his being an outsider also in film industry. He does not belong to filmi family and thus have travelled through his share of struggle. He cant behave in same manner as Karan or Aditya Chopra can do, as security level is different. He said very wise thing that film industry has place for different kind of film makers Though these film makers may dislike each other’s work but there is place for everyone.
@ Varun-[-( I had seen some deaf and blind people the way they behave is almost same as shown in the movie i.e. their body language is quite different from us since they don’t know anything about postures and way of walking.
I just want to throw some light on the performance of Ayesha and Rani.Usually a deaf and blind during his childhood behaves very abnormally since he doesn’t has idea of anything going around him as shown by Ayesha. But when slowly they are made aware of everything by their teacher they start to behave differently as shown brilliantly by Rani. The performance by rani is quite outstanding since she had to show more emotions than ayesha.
=d>
Not many people know that Rani had donated two computers which are specially designed for deaf and blind to 2 youngster(deaf and blind) who stay together at vashi and helped during her preparation for the role. She also celebrated her last birthday with the students of Hellen-Kellar Institute in New Bombay.^:)^^:)^^:)^
Rony: Very interesting infos. about Rani’s benevolent endeavours. Thanks for sharing these.
Its quite justified which you wrote about difference between demeannours of Child Michelle and adult Michelle. But there is not any question about their behaviour. Question is not raised why Adult Rani does not behave in same wild manner as child Ayesha was doing. First and foremost difference lies between their eyes, a sign language Teacher cant correct and make them beautiful as its done in the film. When a teacher and family is able to teach the girl all the things, typing, dancing and she wears nice dressesand that too with almost perfection then it does not go down the mind easily that same people did not teache her to walk properly. She changed everything child Michelle used to do but did not change her walking style. why?;)
and as Its mentioned, it can be Rani’s best performance so far but it could have been far better. But Director is more responsible for that lacking. No doubt she expresses through facial expressions but she over acts also in some scenes. There is something missing in her performance and this lacking walks along with her all through the film.
Man that is the longest article i have come across.
But a very apt one for this film.
It is just how i saw the film , I read this article.
I read the 1st 2 paras & realised the perspective of the writer(like after watching the 1st ten minutes of BLACK I realised what a torture it is going to be). But the article is very detailed & nice , I just dont agree much. I scroll down & realise ts a relly long srticle. feel guilty about skipping everything & stop scrolling & read few more lines ( like in the film I stopped whenever i see Nandna Sen on screen). The same stuff again. A Thesis on Black.
Sanjay is a great talent no doubts about it. But years of abuse under Vidhu Vinod Chopra has made him a sadist man. His abusive ways of treating his ADs are legendary. But the man loves his cinema. I give him credit for a lot of things. But I dont believe in his cinema at all. Its vulgar. He is in love with himself & his work. No wonder he watches his own movies only. Cinematic masterbution at its worst.
Everything in BLACK is vulgerly overdone. Amitabh’s acting, Ranis acting (what was that Charlie Chaplin walk dude?), Ravi Chandran(one of my fav DPs in India) also joined the them in overdoing everything.
Why would Sanjay say something like that about Kunal Kohli? No one knows who the hell he is anyways. Except for film people. Not that i’m a fan of Kunal, but i would watch his movies over SLB any day. Atleast he doesnt pretend to be making ‘High Art’ & “taking indian cinema to another level”.
RK…i guess you missed my point….i just mentioned my view about Kunal……and regarding Sanjay….I just mentioned that he didnt watch RDB and LRMB (I guess he will not watch them at all)…but he watched Fanaa and KANK……and called them bad movies…..
Nice to see a relatively positive post on ‘Black’.
I loved the film and have said this time and again.
I cant even begin to think of running it down at all.
I will never forget how i felt after the film was over the first time i saw it at the cinema….
It felt as if someone had got me from my shoulders and shook me violently and threw me back in my seat…all in a good way ofcourse!!
Yes, I have heard all kinds of negative feedback about the film.
Some say Big B overacted…
Some say SLB is too self indulgent…
Others call it a mere copy of ‘Miracle Worker’…
I say about time big budgets were splashed around for risque themes like this!!
Watching films based on sex and affairs isn’t the only kind of bold cinema!!
This is!!
And I can’t shake the film off… be it Amitabh’s powerful and subtle (at times) performance.
Be it Ayesha Kapur’s wonderful portrayal of an anguished disabled child.
Be it Ravi K Chandran’s picture perfect camerawork.
Or Monty Sharma’s soul stirring background music.
I’m not saying it’s the best film ever made…but I would definitely say this is part of the much needed progressive cinema we so desperately need!
Phew!!!!:((
@ Rony thanks for the info and its nice to see rani donating those computers, but I met people who work as speech thearpists and help children talk and improve their skills. Most of them agreed that its not how it works. Rani and ayesha might have performed well but I dont think there was enough and proper research done by actor and director regarding the mannerisms of the deaf and blind people. when deaf people communicate with sings they dont make such sounds that rani made in this movie. all i feel is that performances could have been better.
RK, as always…nice one. But very lonnng as well.
About BLACK, its viusal treat, no doubt. And its copy of miracle worker,no doubt about that also. Nobody is taking any credit from all those who have put their hard work in the film… camera,sound,background,acting but SLB cant turn his face and say no its not copy. A copy is a copy after all. Some scenes r frame by frame.And then u feel like slapping that person. Chori aur upar se seenazori!! M all for soem real original stuff. N if u copying then atleast bother to give some credit to the other person as well!!
For me,the emotions didnt work that much because everything else was so grand…so dramatic…opera kinda…u get lost in that… camera,sound,background…emotions become smaller.
I ve not watched Black just bcoz i was not comfortable with the promos of rani
mukherjee..her walk..her behaviour..i mean wht was
SLB thinking..i ve seen the movie”Koshish” where
the couple is deaf & dumb..but the portrayal was
so superb..of course then the actors sanjeev
kumar & jaya bhaduri too were exceptional…u
cannot expect tht from these..overrated
actors..melodramatic..
another eg is naseer playing a blind guy in… sorry..i dont remember the name.. but the portrayal of blind man was so perfect..these are perfect egs of how to portray ppl who are less fortunate but they r not mentally challenged..the portrayal in black was so mentally challenged..she is dumb & deaf & blind but not mentally challenged..ppl who can really understand this difference can portray the actual…i m sorry ..but if these r
so called exceptional movies then i think i will
stick to run-on-the-mill ones which atleast give
some kinda entertainment…khosla ka ghosla…the best in todays timeframe
Mainak: agree with you completely…horribly overdone film…in fact overtly depressing and the funny bit is that Bhansali tried just too hard to depress everyone watching…did not deserve all the accolades it got…and Black was a copy..to top it all…
Bhansali tends to go overboard everytime…Devdas was disgustingly ornate…
Ayesha Kapur looked demented not dumb and blind…are differently abled people supposed to behave like that?
why stereotype people on the basis of their handicap?
Mainak:
Man your style of watching a film, reminded me the title Jeetendra was given. The jumping jack! :)
Thats really good, you see first scene, leave next 10 scenes, watch 12th and again leave next 15 and watch then 28th scene and continue ins ame fashion till the end of the film and now its chance. you get to see last scene or second last or third last?:)
With such watching every film will look like over rated because you watched it from the sky:d
But seriously you are right but you are limited with Sanjay Bhansali only. Every film is the resultant ejaculation of mental masterbation(mm) of a film maker. Even every book written by anyone is the example of MM.
Late Manohar Shyam Joshi, the noted novelist, wrote once in one of his novel,” we the artists, dont F*** with our s**ual organs but we F*** with our brain.”
Thats the story of every creative person.:d
did someone just compare
KUNAL KOHLI and SLB?
i mean
“mujhse dosti karoge, hum tum, FANAA”?
with
“khamoshi, hum dil de chuke sanam, devdas and BLACK”?
As in seriously?
SLB is a genius… KK is just KK
JMD - manan KATOHORA
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Phoenixnu:
Just simply curious! I dont know your sequence of watching the two films? You watched TMW first and then Black or vice versa? Or just watched Black with the impression that its a copy of Hollywood film?
Films either work with someone or they dont, like any other piece of art.
With comments here I am reminded again the last post of Sudhir Mishra:)
here check out the dude SLB
in his most honest form
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0bztcZFW84
JMD - manan KATOHORA
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mysti-gal,
You really have mysterious power,:)
Lifafa dekh ke khat ka mazmun bhanp liya:d
Is Michelle McNally of Black is dumb also in the film or she is Deaf and Blind?
Manan: SLB is SLB
and KK is KK. no comparison. Both make different type of films and they have different style.
They are comparatively young also so will be bringing lot many films in future. we have lot of time to make a competition between the two to decide who is better:)
I think Black is overhyped and I do not like it at all. I havent/couldnt watch beyond half hours. Rani’s chaplinesque walking and overdramatization in the first half an hour made me sick. But it is my opinion.
OmPrakash: problem is : audience cant pursue his case in consumer forum that the product he went through tortured him to the limit where he had to leave the place. If law permits this then there can be fake cases also and even if its genuine then how to prove your point?:(
RK,i watched black first. the miracle worker i havent been able to watch the full film…bad dvd qulity….was getting stuck some hundred times. but managed to figure out some of the scenes that were copied.
Hey RK.. when i saw black i was not so impressed by it.. by saying it is a landmark for hindi cinema wud not be gud cuz hindi cinema should not have copied landmarks…
i have not seen miracle worker but i know its a scene 2 scene copy..wat if u come 2 know that taj mahal is a copied architecture…
the thing is not only how gud u can be..its how gud and original u can be… by saying this u r just justifying plagiarism…
Bhansali have lifted up an old and honest film and made it with great actors and technicians.. does that makes him a legendry director…
I think chaitanya have seen miracle worker and i saw his FOUR STEPS PLAN… i was amazed to c how bhansali shamelessly copied the scenes…
No doubt bhansali is a talented director… becoz it was not easy to recreate Miracle worker..
For me gud films r not only how wel they r made…it shud be how original or innovative it can be.. and btw black was not an honest film cuz it was more made 2 impress people…
if this is one of the best film from hindi cinema then i feel v r still really behind… if u r copying then atleast acknowledge it or else dont make it…
Bhavesh:
Sanjay Bhansali has to fight for his place, in Hindi cinema himself.:)
For me its not a question of interest whether he is good director or not.:-?
But I am not sure how only Sanjay may make a film to impress? Because everybody makes a film to impress his audience.
All I can say is, even if one tries to make a scene to scene copied film, its not easy to remake Sholay, Mughal-e-azam etc again. We have seen this in Sanjay Bhansali’s version of Devdas earlier. Several remakes are under production and we will see the end results also.
Devdas did not work but Black worked.
I had seen Black some 18-20 months ago and I dont recall exactly if credit to Hellen Keller’s biography and hollywood film was given or not. But thats between Sanjay Bhansali and Hollywood owners of the TMW. If they find its copied and that too without taking their permission, they can sue him.
Titanic of James Camroon (Leonardo and Kate Winslate starrer) may be having several scenes used in the earlier versions based on same subjects.
what was Khamoshi of Sanjay Bhansali, was it new idea or inspired by many earlier films having deaf and dumb characters?
Surely a new idea has more longevity.
But the fact that several scens in Black are copied from TMW, may only reduce its importance by few points but even then these facts dont make it a bad film.
When you are in ground playing actual game then you have to play actual shot and a video seen in past how Gawaskar had played this shot may help you theoretically only but you have to play your own shot.
@RK have u seen the miracle worker?
RK
By comparing the movie to ur article i didnt mean to demean ur article in any way. Infact it was a great review. I just just agree with this SLB cult. Infact it frustrates me when intelligent people like you like his work.
Comparing a work of art to how to play a shot in cricket is a ridicilous arguement. Thats like saying SLB also says action & cut just like Kubrick. Is he copying Kubrick?
BTW i saw BLOOD DIAMOND last night.
i wanna write about it. is there a review i can comment on?
Mainak:
Man, I did not take your comment in any bad light.:)I am not bothered abt the article, but abt the film.:d
I am not aware of any cult like SLB etc? I saw Sanjay’s films. Liked some things in his films, disliked somethings. Dont know he is bad director or good director. ;)
I still like the example I gave. becasue it may matter a lot on paper, if one writes about films, see a lot of films, but that does not bring any guarantee, that when he makes film, will make great film.
We have seen Khalid Mohammad. He has seen many great films in his life, has dissected them to depth, and no doubt when he went to shoot his own film, then he might have been having lots of great ideas which he had seen earlier in other’s films, but he just could not translate his theoretiacl ideas in to good cinema. Though on his own stories Shyam Beengal made better cinema. This is not only about few scenes. By chance here we have similar stories in TMW and Black but there are different films, where stories are different but scenes are inspired by other films. Does that make these films good?
Q Tarantino may keep scenes in his films which are replica of old hit films which he has liked but that does not make him a lesser talented director and his films with less quality.
Yes ideally its very good if one has new idea, new story but if one has taken old story, still treatment of the film can make difference. Pls watch PCBarua’s Devdas and Bimal Roy’s Devdas and difference between two films on same story will be clear. Certainly many scenes are same in both the films as they are based on Sharat Chandra’s same book, but Bimol Roy made a gem out of that same story.
I feel its our excuse to bring down a film maker, who does not come under our liking list. He is away when film is before us. He is not associated with it once he sends it in market and it shd be seen that way only.
I agree that film may not work for many, but it cant be the reason that though film can be good but because its a remake thats why its not good.
It may not be great but its certainly good cinema. Not all are Einsteine that will work on new ideas, several have been there like Mandelefe who worked on same periodic table, which was developed by predecessor scientists. So many have contributed there on same thing and thus we got an advanced version of periodic table. Now its up to us how we define it. They may be dismissed because they did not search a new but added something in a thing which is already present, or we may see it as new addition and thus a step ahead.
RK yaar, tu to hamari baat hi nahi samjh raha.first, SLb is good director n no doubt that he put lot of effort into black n all his other movies. but he cant go ga ga about his film wiythout acepting that fact that its copied. he cant be rude and self-inulgent about it. if it was original we all would hav given me much more respect.but since its copied n he doesnt accept it, that why we all feel bad about it.
to quote me favrt dialogue from omkara…in omkra it was …hansi badi mehengi ho rakhi hai aajkal…for me….hansi aur humbleness duno hi badi mehengi ho rakhi hai aajkal.
Phoenixnu:
Dear How you and I are responsible for his rudeness or so called narcissism. But at same time, his film is not associated with him in this way that shd be analysed on the basis of his behaviour. Because then lots of film makers will become baggers? as they really have big mouth and always speak against others:d
Well SLB is not a question here.
We are the country who liked, and helped establishing a co, knowing well co is just using HMV’s copyrighted material. So we are not Dudh ke dhule in any field:d
hey RK… well m not at all saying SLB is a bad director… his approach is really gud… but u seriuosly cant compare creativity with cricket…
tachniques can be copied cuz they r always for betterment but a story or a scene shud not be cuz they r some1 else’s hardwork
One example is of PRITAM… his songs r hit.. he copies songs wonderfully… compare YA ghali and ya ali… he recreated it so well but that will give him no appraisal cuz after he has copied it… u cant praise him these things.. he is a copycat after all… If this will happen then creativity wud b every1s cup of tea!!!…
But SLB is trying a musical this time..one he is very gud at… i wud still go for the movie no matter how much i hate the director for black…
I totally am with you on Khalid man. His stories were realised so wonderfully by Shyam benegal esp Mamu. But he is still trying something.
There is one thing which alot of directors lack in hindi cinema today.
That is passion.
SLB has passion in abundance!
Ok, so alot of you have seen and appreciated the original stories of the films he has remade, but i think there is a huge difference between remaking a film which released 30years ago, and just copying a big budget hollywood blockbuster which came out last year.
That does make a difference, and also, interpretation makes a difference too.
There are alot of ‘copy and paste’ directors out there…. and considering originality is something the hindi film industry cant boast of (of late) i say hats off to SLB.
But yes, personally i wish the film was an original, that, for me would’ve been the icing on the cake.
Oh, one last thing… some people find it difficult to accept a film based on deaf/mute or otherwise made on a big budget..all glossy with wonderful camerawork, as it takes away from the film…
Big budgets and amazing camerawork should be a part of emotionaly stories too…. off beat films needn’t be made on a show string budget.[-(
Bhavesh: dost!
pls send SLB on vacation. He is not subject of discussion but his film, “Black” and here we can discuss what particular was good or bad. Sanjay Bhansali is good or bad does not affect his film’s quality.
Singing is different, you can do practise and can sing a song in better ways but that cant make you better singer than Lata Mangeshkar when it comes to sing a new song even if both are given same new song to sing. So if you have talent only then you can perform with a subject in that area.
Suppose you watch a drama in Delhi and go back to Bombay, can you arrange same quality of play there because you have seen it earlier?
I am sure makers of “Shukriya” might have given DVD of “Meet Joe Black” to all the actors. But did that DVD help Anupam Kher to play the role with same acting skill as Anthony Hopkins had played? Its Scene to scene copy but it does not leave much impact because performance level is low.
Both Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah had Ben Kingsley’s portrayal of Gandhi before them, but could they surpass him?
To explain you better if copy is so easy in acting and film making than Raju Srivasatav would have been quite successful as he can copy AB very much, Sudesh Bhonsle could have been more successful than Abhishek because he too can copy AB and why AB he can copy Sanjeev Kumar and lot of other actors.
So many actors we know who copy actors of yester years.:d
mainak: hope some day Khalid Mohammad’s work speak in same volume in which he has been shouting for years.:)
steve: do you know Hindi?
you are right, passion is the necessary element to make a good film. efforts may go awry in terms of commercial success but not the spirit to make a good film.
nakal ke liye bhee akal honee chahiye:)
RK
I hope the same thing about Suparn. His 1st film is embarrasing for a film critic.
But like i said he might be doing it in a different way. He deserves 3 chances. Good Luck Suparn!
Mainak: certainly he or anyone cant be assessed on the basis of 1 or 2 films . rather any active film maker has chances till he either selects to get retirement or time imposes retirement over him/her.:)
I agree with you RK.
But doesnt ur heart break every time a good critic goes to the other side & makes exactly the kind of cinema he has criticised for years to pay his rent?
Thats cheating. Double standards. Dishonest.
Is SLB’s new film Saanwariya copy of something like walk on the wild side ??? ne clues, neone ?
mainak:
if you are talking abt KM, I can guess that he has less potential as a film maker. Or may be he made late entry in the film industry when his battery was already demanding a good charging. Its not necessary that a good writer will make a good film also. Moreover everywhere this happens that those who criticise other and others works all through their life, face the similar criticism when they themselves enter in to the same field.
He had over confidence.
Our brilliant actor Naseer also falls in same category. He has no soft words when he criticises the hindi cinema but he also ended up with a very mediocre kind of films when he himself wore cap of a director.
Gaal bajane mein kya jata hai.
many young directors are also following same path, they give damn to others films but cant take even soft criticism of their own films.This we may call double or tripple standards:(
Phoenix:
I have stupid kind of curiosity to see son of Rishi kapoor and Neetu Singh than a SLB film.:)
SLB is still not a brand to generate huge curiosity.:-w
Rk…what r u saying ? SLB is brand for sure. May be not 4 u.
And this curiosity is the only factor that sons/daughters of almost every actor gets a break!! Nothing wrong in it but then outsiders suffer bcz of this.
Arre R.K bhai, ofcourse i know hindi!
Arre hindi kya, mujhe Punjabi, Japanese aur Tamil bhi aati hai, lol!!
I’m a Punjabi munda yaara!!
Just happen to be born and bred in ‘Great’ britain, lol…
Can understand hindi as i grew up on a very strict hindi film diet all my life, but have managed to grasp a few words of Tamil too, as i have this strange interest/facination with south talent (i blame a.r.rahman!!)
Phoenixnu:
Surely I can talk abt myself only that SLB is not a brand that his films can generate a feeling of “must watch”. Have liked only 1 film of his till now.
Re: Ranbeer, Dont know exact reason, had seen his photo and for me curiosity is due to the fact that he is son of Rishi and Neetu whose on screen pair was liked very much. They were the most fresh and energetic youth couple on screen.
But at same time, news that Saanvaria has daughter of Anil Kapur also, does not generate any curiosity.
Now whatever definition you may give to this. May be a missing factor of “Rishi-Neetu pair”.
No other young pair could fill that gap.
Surely family heritage harms outsiders in a way that they have to take a long route and have to show more hard work to get same recognition which these lucky people already get.be it business and corporate houses, politics or films or sports, these sons and daughters have clear advantage in the initial phase of the career.
Baki to put sapoot to kya dhan sanchay and poot kapoot to kya dhan sanchay has always been true
:)
steve: your name gave me doubts. but my god, Punjabi ke saath Tamil and Japanese. Now who can learn Japanese (Chinese and other pictographical languages) is a true winner in the field of langauges. :) Hats off to you dear!
you not only live in Great Britain but tussi yourself great ho!!!!
Thanks R.K!
That’s probably the nicest thing i’ve ever been told by an ‘ajnabi’ lol!
But I must confess, embarrasingly i can’t read or write Punjabi, i can only SPEAK it.
But, ironically i can read and write Hindi, and read a ‘little’ tamil!
Japanese i understand to a point, but i haven’t attempted to read or write it.
Wish i could but trust me, it ain’t easy, lol!!
I’m often teased about all this by friends and family.. they’ll be like..
”What are you on?? U read and write in other languages except Punjabi?!! Shame on u!!”
And would you believe me R.K if i told you that no one actually taught me to read and write hindi??
And that i actually learnt by watching films and picking up film magazinees in Hindi and started off by just guessing the words??
That’s how passionate i was about hindi films back at school!
That my friend, is how i taught myself hindi!!!
Honest. Not joking…
Ofcourse Japanese and Tamil are a l-i-t-t-l-e more complicated so i needed proper help books.
Thats my confession yaara!:d