Customer Reviews

Black (Amitabh Bachchan, 2 Disc Set) DVD

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Ever wondered a life without Sound or Sight, where Silence is the ruler! It could be a dreadful thought for people like you & me(the 'gifted' lot), but the blatant reality comprises of many millions who are branded as 'challenged' lot. 'Black' attempts to unfold this world of darkness where every color is free of its meaning and where every feeling felt comes thru, they are more spirited and pull off challenges with aplomb. They don't need any mercy or don't moan in general.. subtly suggesting us to be little more grateful about what we have and who we are.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali arrived in Indian Film industry with 'Khamoshi:The Musical', a film on the subject of deaf & mute. With 'Black' he moved a step ahead and deeper by choosing to trade on an unusual path of selecting a subject inspired by Hellen Keller's life. Well-known for his prolific passionate films where music & dance gain an adequate repute comes a film which is songless yet musical, troubling yet touching, painful yet pleasant.

Lot of films on blind & mute have been made in the past. My memory somehow selects to remember Sai Paranjpe's Sparsh(1980) for reasons 1.Rightly portraying that challenged people do not need any sympathy, 2. Not creating any melodrama out of tragedy and 3. Naseeruddin Shah's performance.

'Black' revolves around Michelle McNally(Ayesha Kapoor,Rani Mukherjee) who is unfortunately a physically challenged child since a very young age,but fortunately how an ageing anguished teacher Debraj Sahai(Amitabh Bachchan) brings ray(s) of light in her dark life. A ray of light entering a dark room thru a small hole is such an effortless natural event, sounds simple but not for Sahai who has to train a girl whose disabilties have turned her into a riotous brat. Words like impossible & inconfidence doesn't exist in Sahai's life and this is precisely the things that need to be inculcated in young Michelle's mind and heart through the language of touch.. where fingers become words and a window to express desires and fulfil dreams.

A totally performance-driven film where every actor emerged a winner. With a handful of characters to concentrate on, Bhansali succeeds in extracting the best never-seen-before act from all of them. Be it little Ayesha's brilliant out-cry or her parents' Shernaz Patel & Dhritiman Chatterjee's sublime sorrow or Nandana Sen's very natural sister insticts. Rani is not surprising, but very realistic in delivering the finest nuances of Michelle's character to perfection. Bachchan's repository of acting seems to be hoarded for such films where he tries to compliment his artist's yearnings totally by taking him on a very high respectable status. Watching Bachchan and Rani together achieving little big victories is so enchanting that we're caught unawares by our tears and smiles merging with theirs.

This is Bhansali's most beautiful belief painted on 70mm. To give wings to his aesthetics there is his team of techinicians who need a big round of applause and mention for their commendable work in the field of Cinematography(Ravi K Chandran), Background Score(Monty), Art Direction (Omung Kumar),Dialogues(Prakesh Kapadia) & Editing(Bela Segal).

Black color has a very universal appeal in general, so will this 'Black' appeal you completely and welcome you into a new genre of Indian cinema.

This film is simply one of the finest pieces of cinema to be made anywhere in the world in the last 5 years. That's quite an extraordinary thing to say but then Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'BLACK' is an extraordinary film.

It carries some weighty themes and pulls no punches delivering them. At times the film is harsh and even brutal in it's portryal of the life of a combined deaf and blind woman. Exploring not only the perceptions of those who care for her (parents, nannys, etc.) but the perception of the central character herself Michelle locked in her world of darkness.

Rani Mukherjee underplays the character of Michelle with such skill and believeability you are genuinely shocked when she loses her temper and lashes out. Beautifully supported by Ayesha Kapur, as the young Michelle, who achieves remarkable sympathy with her character. Between the two Actors they achieve a fullness of character rarely seen in cinema today.

The supporting cast of Mother (Shernaz Patel), father (Dhritiman Chater) and her sister who feels left out (Nandana Sen) provide wonderful sub plots weaving in and out of the main theme. The script is sharp, biting, honest, brutal and even amusiing at times, more than a match for any of the best script writers Hollywood can throw at you.

Then into the mix add one alcoholic, eccentric teacher played by Amitabh Bachchan who turns in the performance of his life. If he doesn't win an Oscar for this then the motion picture industry needs to ask serious questions of itself. A craftsman at the height of his powers Amitabh creates a character who is at once terrifying, wonderful and yet with a fragile edge that you feel could snap at any point, which created a meanaceing undercurrent in the early part of the film. Then with a subtlety of pure genius Amitabh completely turns this round over the course of the film to play with our heart strings like the master he is.

The film dialogue is a mix of English and Hindi which brings me to my only gripe. The subtitles are grossly inaccurate in places, which is annoying to English speaking audiences. The curios thing is the words are being spoken in English yet the subtitles are saying something totally different in English, makes you wonder what else has been messed up in the subtitles.

The score can be a little overbearing but is still an excellent score. Despite a dissapointing technical blooper this is still a truly remarkable film and I recommend it to anyone.

'BLACK' strides across the gap between Bollywood and Hollywood and leaves 99% of Hollywood films in it's wake. If you only get out to the cinema once every five years, go see this, it's worth every penny of the entrance fee.

I was blown away by how good this film was. Everything about it was superb, the acting most of all. Ran Mukherjee was phenomenal, i have always been a fan of hers but i never knew that she was capable of this. The fact that it was a remake of the Miracle Worker turned me off a bit, I didn't think that it was a movie that could be remade and done better, but Black did it. It also being a Hindi movie makes it even more extraordinary because now the entire world can see Indian Cinema at its best. This movie is going to sweep every award next season and if this doesn't get any acclaim at the awards show here in the US, then i will have lost all faith in them.

The only reason I did not get up and clap at the end of the film was because I was a bit too taken aback by the strange flood of emotions in tears this film brought out from me. I have never seen a film with this torturously significant direction of mind. Amitabh Bachchan might live a hundred years but it is without a doubt in 2005 that he actually reached a level beyond being called "superhuman" His acting is synonmous and quite close to what my faithful description of people's God might be. (I Don't beleive in God mind you)

Rani Mukherjee on the other hand who plays the role of Michelle gives to this film what no actor possibly could have given. She does indeed outshine anything remotely addressed to impress. I lost count of the number of times I shamelessly let out the tears. However, like a lot of illiterate teenagers and middle aged people, I do not call this film depressive. Infact, I call it a challanging inspiration of sorts. After this film, I realised I will watch all movies involving Amitabh Bachchan and more importantly Rani Mukherjee.

To play the life of a human who can't see,hear,touch as well as Rani does for this film is simply unbelievable. The next time I run into Amitabh Bachchan I will make sure I touch his feet. He's the closest to God we'll ever be.

Time and again, I think of the best films I have seen in Bollywood but this one film right here makes them all shudder and sit back 20 rows from the first row that belongs to Black.

The last scene of this film is quite possibly the most emotionally jolting scene I have ever witnessed in my life.It's sad that many people died before watching "Black" or many might not witness the epic.

If you have remotely liked a film in your life,then I order you to watch "Black" No matter who you are and where you reside.

With 233 salutes and more earned respect,

H.S.Anand

Black was an amazing film. the actress playing Michelle was mind blowing! no songs but the story and script make up for it. I would recommend this to anyone even if you aren't a bollywood fan!!

Absolutely OScar worthy effort from Amitabh and the young girl who plays the blind Rani. Rani hams it a bit at times, but is mostly adequate and at times, good. See it - is it 85% in English and will keep you spellbound.

This movie is superb. The acting by Amitabh Bachchan, Ayesha Kapur and Rani Mukherjee were incredible. Amitabh Bachchan's character was different than any other movie that I have seen him in and this shows just how versatile his acting ability is. He is a very seasoned actor and I expected as much. Ayesha Kapur also did an excellent job portraying the younger Michele. To see a child act so well amazed me. But I was most impressed with Rani Mukherjee. This was totally different than when I saw her in Khabhi Khushi... playing Naina. Although she was good in that the details of the emotions that she showed were astounding. She is now one of my favorite actresses!!!!

BLACK is One OF Amitabh Bachchan's greatest Movies,I enjoyed this DVD,very Quality,The Arabic Subtitles was great too.Go get this dvd :)

This movie is worth for this years Oscar Winner in the best foreign Film Category.......

THIS IS WORTH ADDING IT TP YOUR DVD COLLECTION.......

YOU WILL NEVER REGRET.....

I HAD SEEN THIS MOVIE IN THE THEATRE, SO I CAN'T COMMENT ABOUT THE DVD QUALITY.

AS MUCH AS I CAN SAY IS THAT AMITABH BACHCHAN IS AMAZING AS USUAL AND THE BACKGROUND SCORE IS SIMPLY WONDERFUL.....

A GREAT WAY TO START YOUR BOLLYWOOD DVD COLLECTION!!!!!!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!!

DON'T MISS THIS ONE AT ANY COST!!!!!!!!!