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^ good!! finally someone watched it...
wasnt it just awesome?? i just loved every bit of it... i went with two girls.. the younger of the two couldnt stop crying from scene one hahaha
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no honest.. Amitabh is just so amazing in this role... u sorta cant compare it to any of his previous roles though cus his every role is sooo different... hmm like u couldnt compare his role in Dev to this one... but superb nonetheless
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yeah saddzz I suppose... but its just unfair to call something a career best though don't you think - although I get the point :)
I have over 20 Amitabh movie DVDs each of which has something unique about his role in the movie... I think this one might be next in line to go in the collection.
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yeah i know.. i dont think anythings a career best.. espcially when it comes to AB.. hes simply amazing...
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big b has often dealt with the media and the paperazzi pretty well but succumbed to pressure when he said this on star +
big b: "OUR NEIGHBOURS BETTER LERAN TO BEHAVE WARNA WE'LL HAVE TO TEACH THEM A LESSON OR 2."
the day i read this i lost all respect i had for a phenominal actor. limelight se hatkai dekho he is another typical anti pak hindian.
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Amitabh has some dozen 'career best' performances already :D will watch this movie in a few days though!
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http://jang.com.pk/thenews/feb2005-daily/11-02-2005/oped/o3.htm
In a ‘Black’ mood
Though it is a gloomy tale of pain and loss, ‘Black’ has the right ingredients to uplift the spirits
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The late Kathmandu winter has turned dreary, creativity is stifled, and so it is time to visit the Jai Nepal theatre and take in Bollywood’s latest offering. Though it is a gloomy tale of pain and loss, and despite some loose ends that will certainly deprive it of an anticipated Oscar, the movie ‘Black’ has the right ingredients to uplift the spirits. Bollywood is finally waking up to the desires for good cinema, and the senses that benefit reach out across Indian frontiers.
Hindi films have always been a Southasian phenomenon, since Lahore was the centre of celluloid and Pathan hunks had yet to migrate south to Bombay. But back then, the language was Hindustani of the folk boli rather than the stultifying labaj preferred by latter-day Bombay scriptwriters. That was also the time when the titles and even casting used to be in three scripts: English/Roman, Hindi/Nagari and Urdu/Arabic. Somewhere in the 1980s, the Urdu quietly slipped out with political realignments in the northern Subcontinental plains. As maverick filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt told this writer a year ago, “What a good idea! Yes, let us bring back Urdu!”
In ‘Black’, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali provides superstar Amitabh Bachchan with the opportunity to observe penance for all the television commercials he inflicts upon the satellite television audiences from Chittagong to Quetta. If it is not Dabur’s Chebenpras and Anardana, it is Nerolac Paints or Cadbury’s Chocolate. Perhaps the superstar Khans of Bollywood (Amir, Saif Ali and Shahrukh) and others should also be forced to make reparations for being shameless vehicles for multinational colas and the like. Would the aging Yusuf Khan (Dilip Kumar) ever have submitted to such degradation?
‘Black’ is a well-crafted film based on the story of Helen Keller, with a fine performance by Bachchan as a tippling teacher past his prime who towards the end succumbs convincingly to Alzheimer’s. He takes on the mission of rescuing the being of a hearing and sight impaired Anglo-Indian Shimla girl, played by Ayeesha Kapoor who grows up into Rani Mukherjee. ‘Black’ has had modest success at the box office as yet, not commensurate with its critical acclaim.
The film is targeted at the urban and NRSA upper crust, and packs a sophistication to match (NRSA: non-resident Southasian). A production such as this is made possible through the diversification achieved by the Indian film market, and the emergence of the stand-alone Anglophone upper middle class audience. Gone (perhaps) are the days of one-size-fits-all films with generic packaging including three-hour length, six to eight songs, stereotyped characters and melodrama that simultaneously incorporate extreme tragedy and comedy.
The shape of the evolving market first became obvious when leading ladies began to prance around like ‘vamps’ of yesteryear. Continuing segmentation has made a film like ‘Black’ viable, with nary a song, at under two hours, and a poignant plot that demands subtlety in performance and presentation.
When Bollywood brings out fine Hindi films, all Southasia join in the pleasure. We cannot live the fiction that only (North) Indians watch these productions. But the incongruity remains in that even though the larger audience knows no boundaries these films are made for an audience within India and the expat NRI. That is why unsettling chauvinistic productions like ‘Gadar’ (2001) hit the big screen with regularity, and we can only hope for the day when the international box office takings from the Southasian diaspora will reign in the producers. The damage done by the Pakistan-bashing jingoism of a single ‘Gadar’ cannot be undone by ten saccharine-sweet bhai-bhai films like ‘Veer Zaara’ (2004).
For the moment, the gentrification and enhanced quality of Hindi films has benefited the urban ‘A’ segment and Southasian diaspora: the lower stalls are pronouncedly empty. We await therefore a further evolution to provide the larger population of the Indus-Ganga basin with better fare. Otherwise, we will forever be stuck in a time warp with bizarre films like Lahore’s ‘Joh Dargaya Woh Margaya’ (1995).
As production technologies become cheaper and there is a diffusion of skills, some simultaneous trends must be encouraged. Firstly, there has to be devolution of Hindi filmmaking power from Bombay to other centres. It is incredible and unnatural that no more than a handful of megastars monopolise a market of nearly half a billion. Other centres of film production must evolve in Hindi, and as the regional economies expand they must take in Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi and so on.
The turn of the wheel will also hopefully and at long last bring back regional cinema to the north of the Subcontinent, emulating what has happened in the south. If celluloid is to bring quality entertainment to the thirsty masses, beyond Hindi and its dialects, cinema has to be (re)discovered by Bengali and Punjabi, Oriya, Asamiya, Sindhi and Nepali.
While we await this utopian future, it is a good idea to go see ‘Black’, as a motion picture that provides some solace in troubled times, and as a harbinger better things up ahead.
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Cathy Meade of BBC wrote a long and utterly insightful critique on this Indian film.... She says she's determined to take the film to the Oscars. Though that wasn't the goal I had set for 'Black' - the film has surpassed all my expectations on every count - it seems the unanimous feeling that 'Black' should get an Oscar."
Meade has written: "Your (Amitabh Bachhan's) performance can only be described as that of the magician, the alchemist that transforms everything he touches... What is most wonderful for me is that the role not only allows some truly magical expression of your artistry and creativity but also captures something onscreen that can only come from your own soul.
"Drawing on everything from your astonishing fire and passion to your wicked humour to your incomparable ability to inspire courage and love and devotion in others."
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this film definetly will win awards...and I think this film will be India's best bet in the Oscars...amazing movie, and even more amazing acting by Amitabh and Rani...and especially the 9 year old girl...Ayesha Kapoor.
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Hmmm..interesting...:)
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Yep …There is already talk for this movie going to OSCAR. !!!
I cant wait to watch this one.
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yeah, the lil girl.. Ayesha kapoor was amazing....
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I love movies full of pain , this was 1 of it .
I cried 4 or 5 times while watching the movie 
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^ ^ then what makes you a bad boy??
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^ 
it wasnt really a depressing movie.. i thought it was quite uplifting.. i laffed more than i cried.. ok i cried a bit towards the end.. it just got all too much
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Which movies would you put in this category?
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you want a movie to cry to... watch Koshish... Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya... deaf and mute... it gets your heart up your throat :(
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It was a classic indeed! :k:
They’re both up for awards this year.
I cried throughout the movie as well. Can Amitabh get any better than this?
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he was like amazing...
hey Umar, i saw that movie when i was 7!! it was actually the first movie i watched on our first ever VCR... good stuff
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Umar miyan i have noticed that you have nice choices. That movie is really awesome, i saw that when i was a kid. awesome performance by sanjeev and jaya. :k: