Sanjay Verma

Kathmandu:

The hype about ‘Black’ the film has been on overdrive. This was a much-anticipated movie from the new Moghul of Bollywood, Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee’s presence made it that much more difficult to miss. The theme of ‘Black’ is not new — many films have reeled out the triumph of human determination over adversities — ‘Black’ only takes it to a different level. ‘Black’ does not have a new story to tell and it is told in a setting that is not country or time specific. The characters do speak Hindi in an Indian town in the early 20th century, but these are never crucial to the tale. The film is also secular in approach, the catholic setting is totally incidental. Unlike films in this genre, which somewhere seek divine inspiration in adversity; ‘Black’ does not. God’s name is not taken in vain; it is simply not taken. ‘Black’ is a film with strong atheistic undertones; it describes theism as the unknowable blackness of the sighted!

‘Black’ is about the inalienable right of all humans beings to seek knowledge. Knowledge, which imparts meaning and dignity to existence. ‘Black’ is about the sparking of the desire to learn and understand in a young eight-year-old girl child Michele (played prodigiously by Ayesha Kapoor as the young Michele and later by Rani Mukherjee) who, cannot see, hear (and speak) and is destined to an asylum by a desperate and defeated father. Enter a teacher (Amitabh Bachchan), who is overcoming his own defeat and failings. An unlikely combination made more difficult by Michele herself and sceptical parents. From then on the film is about Michele’s relationship with her teacher and the use of the only faculties available — the sense of touch, fingers and lips as the blackboard. Brilliant scenes tell the rest. The scene where – in a party at home Michele articulates a song by using one hand to feel the lip movement of the singer and weaving out the lyrics in air through the fingers of the other hand, while swaying — is magical. Her first interview and late success at university are touching moments. Michele sensing snowflakes before her incredulous teacher does is already public thanks to the film’s promos. Sibling rivalry felt by Michele’s younger sister is finally revealed over a dining table. But the scene that is a wrenching outreach of identity is when Michele discovers her femininity and innocently wants her old teacher to kiss her on the mouth to confirm it. He does it with a tearing guilt even if it completes another lesson. Michele redeems her womanhood but loses her mentor to his own shame. This poignant sequence is one of the finest to be filmed anywhere. ‘Black’ tells us how blackness can appear in everyone’s life. Roles are reversed when the teacher is found lost to Alzheimer’s disease. Michele is now the teacher trying to restore some dignity to a dying man whom she once referred to as her god. Melodramatic? No. Just life turning full circle.

For my generation Amitabh was king. Those days Amitabh Bachchan was always bigger than the character he played. But with time one felt that the man was short-changing his talent. In ‘Black’, the teacher is Amitabh Bachchan in the first few reels but soon he is only an ordinary teacher and by the end of the film he is just a man, grey and hopelessly amnesiac. ‘Black’ is Big B’s most complete de-personification till date.  Rani Mukherjee surpasses herself, too. Both are instinctive actors but have gone the method way in this film. They took serious sign language lessons. The results show. The movie belongs to Ayesha Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Big B and the director.

In ‘Black’, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has carried over a sense of theatrics from ‘Devdas’. In ‘Devdas’ the content was serious but the form used was a sophisticated but loud nautanki. ‘Black’ has a deliberate dramatic structure and is again theatrical of the dark Brechtian variety. For most parts the film has a feel of a play.  Outdoors shots look like sets. Even the lighting of the film is play-like: has sunlight been used? It is a fresh approach in Bollywood. ‘Black’ carries a universal theme, its narration and editing is taut, characterisation intense and performances consummate. It enlightens more than it entertains and is a story well told. The images will stay with you for days. The hype has been for good reason. If you think this review makes little sense check out ‘Blackmail’ instead.