’Black’
was very disappointing and embarrassing. One gets very offended by the insensitive manner in which they applied elements from the lives (as depicted in the 1962 movie ’The Miracle Worker’) of Helen Keller and her teacher/mentor Annie Sullivan for commercial purposes. One also gets very put off by how, along the way, they managed to twist those elements with plagiarism from many sources, including the more recent ’Notebook’, with a little ’original’ glue thrown in that only serves the purpose of hurting the main theme.
Twisting Sharath’s ’Devdas’ for cinematic effects was one thing, but here we are talking about a sensitive real-life story, with its real people, their sacrifices and their accomplishments. It calls for a more mature handling when making a version of this inspiring story, for the Indian audience.
One only hopes that they don’t tout it around as a big achievement or a show piece, when they have no IP to boast of.
The performances were fine. But, that doesn’t help much amidst the insincerity of the whole setting. How could anyone take a real-life female protagonist and put a male lead in her place, just to bring out the melodrama minus the spirit (the ’what’ and the ’why’ of the real life story), and do so only to suit someone’s histrionic abilities?
Indian cinema has to be more respectful of the international community of art and cinema, and discourage such efforts. We have to promote creativity and innovation, and stop patronizing such clever rehashing of other’s intellectual properties.