K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple, Stupid!
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’’So, how was Black?’’ My friend asked me over a cup of coffee.
’’Well...I kinda thought I was watching Harry Potter!’’ I blurted.
My friend stared at me, eyebrows raised, as if he had just seen a lady entering a men’s loo. He clearly thought I was out of my mind. I thought I was too, since I had no idea why I had said that. He leaned over and placed his hand on my forehead. Yes, my temperature was alrite, I looked alrite. And so he asked, quite simply, ’’What?’’...
If you want to make a blonde laugh on Saturday, tell her a joke on Wednesday! Now I ain’t no blonde, but why I said Harry Potter, of all people, struck me today, a week after I had seen the movie.
Because just like the students and professors of Hogwarts, the characters of Black are dressed in long, flowing, black robes all the time. And just like I always imagine where Hogwarts really is located, I sat through Black wondering where on earth does the McNally family really live. Shimla, is it really?
And just like the most powerful curse could do nothing to Harry Potter, and instead destroyed Voldemort, I know that my negative comments on Black will come back to haunt me. After all, in an age where only sex and Shahrukh sell, here is a director who made a brave attempt to tell a different story. And especially when the story is based on a blind, deaf and mute girl, who would have the heart to criticize it?
But despite the fact that every Tom, Dick, Harbhajan and their pet dogs have praised this film from the rooftops, Black is an average movie. A great subject, ruined by a director who refuses to learn from his mistakes.
I’m sure everyone by now knows the story of Black, so I will not go into detail. Roughly based on the life of Helen Keller, it’s the story of a blind, deaf and mute girl, Michelle McNally (Rani Mukherjee), and her teacher Debraj Sahai (Amitabh Bacchan), who teaches her how to communicate with the world and live an independent life, despite her disability.
In one of his interviews, Bhansali had said that Black is a movie you will remember more for its characters rather than the colour of its curtains. Coming from the man himself, if you were delighted to here this, you will be equally disappointed to know that it’s not the case.
The sets, the costumes, the entire feel of the film comes screaming at you for attention, appreciation for the director’s art. But unfortunately, the larger the sets, the richer the costumes, the more it distracts you from the main story, and the more it alienates you from the main characters. And the more you want to tell Bhansali - Keep it simple, stupid!
The dialogues are brilliant at times, over-the-top most of the time. Underplay of emotions and subtlety is most important in films like these - where more is said by what is not said. Just like Anu Malik’s shayari (on Indian Idol) was great in the beginning but gets on your nerves now, in the same vein, poetic dialogues don’t have the same effect when used throughout the film. Again, keep it subtle, stupid.
The movie has no songs, and I guess I am most delighted. Not so much because they weren’t required; more so because I shudder to think what SLB would make of Debraj or Michelle, on songs that typically go ’Dola Re Dola’ or ’Nimbuda Nimbuda’. The background music by Monty is haunting, though one wishes that the same triumphant tune wasn’t played after every 2 minutes and 43.56 seconds! It simply dilutes the effect when it’s needed the most.
The screenplay is probably the most disappointing aspect about the film. The first half is decent, but post-interval, it’s completely a downhill affair. You feel the director ran out of ideas in the second half, which could have dealt more with Michelle’s life in the outer world, rather than in the confines of her house and school. She is completely dependent on her teacher for most of the movie, and there is hardly any time devoted to how she manages life on her own.
Also, it is but natural that a grown-up woman will think about sex, and the way it’s been introduced (through her sister’s wedding) is good. However, the entire scene where Rani wants Amitabh to ’make her feel like a woman’ is awkward. Besides, in typical Bollywood style, Amitabh felt guilty of himself and left Rani following that scene, which really undermined the relationship between them.
And that brings me to what the movie is all about - the performances...
Amitabh as the teacher, is great. All through the movie, you can feel his raw passion, his enthusiasm in teaching Michelle, though I won’t deny that he has over-acted. Otherwise, his eyes speak much more than his words do, and you can see in those eyes that he wants Michelle to succeed more than she herself does.
Rani as Michelle, is equally good. Check her out in the scene where she starts dancing on knowing that she has failed (yes, that’s right!). Though I have one complaint...did she really have to walk like a Charlie Chaplin on stilts?
Shernaz Patel, the lady who plays Michelle’s mother, also gives a greatly restrained performance. I especially loved the scene where she tells Amitabh to make a lady out of her daughter.
However, it’s Ayesha Kapur, all of 10 years old, who gobbles up every other actor in the film! She really excels as the young Michelle, a girl who probably knows as much about ’language’ at age 5, as George Bush knows at age 45! The way she starts learning her first few words, and the sudden rush in her to touch and feel and know about everything around her is depicted brilliantly. Check out her ’’Spoon’’ scenes!
~* THE VERDICT *~
There’s more to a film than just grandeur and technical wizardry. A good story, great performances, and some memorable moments give the film its soul. Despite having all of that, Black lets you down. The first half does strike a chord, but the effect doesn’t linger in the second.
Blame it on Bhansali’s direction, blame it on the melodrama and the exaggeration, blame it on all the hype surrounding the movie. But it somehow fails to move you.
Everything in the film appears so forced and exaggerated that you feel Bhansali wants you to sympathize with Michelle. And this completely goes against the main intention - to show how a girl proudly lives her life like a normal person despite her disabilities.
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