It was March 11, 1993. Two friends, out to represent their college in a quiz had a tiff. The boy accused the girl of hurting his sentiments and walked away in a huff. The girl tried to reason out with him and
after long persuasion; finally they agreed to meet the next day at Plaza for a quick chat and possible rapprochement.
But …The next day was March 12, 1993… the day Bombay went up in flames and the spectre of terror and revenge bombings first unfurled on Bombay horizons.
A lot of water has passed since that fateful day when Bombay was under siege by the forces of hatred and violence but the wounds still remain…. The agony still surfaces and the memories still hurt. It has been a good 14 years since that
incident but still, the faces of those who were blown apart and of those who lay on the streets, drenched in blood, blank eyes staring at you, looking for a support that could not be given, asking questions that could not be answered, searching for a family that had been devastated and crying for a future that had suddenly vanished cannot be forgotten.
Black Friday is an honest attempt, without taking sides or condemning any one side, to capture on celluloid the days when friendships broke down on religious differences, where the religion of the man was more important than his character, when everyman looked at every other man with naked
suspicion… where all Bombayites, whether Hindus or Muslims lived under the shadow of riots and the fear of death…. When the principle of ‘an eye for aneye’ was first put to effect in the megapolis and the reputation of Bombay as a melting pot of all religions, communities, castes and creeds came under severe
fire from it’s own denizens. Black Friday looks at the disease and also pays attention to what caused the disease so we have the destruction of the Babri Masjid, the riots of Dec 92 and Jan 93 and finally the retaliatory bomb blasts of March 93, all woven in the same fabric.
Kay Kay Menon in the role of DCP Rakesh Maria is clinically efficient. He brings to the role a quiet sobriety and a dignity that enables you to relate with the travails of the police force. The scenes wherein he’s openly uncomfortable with the interrogation techniques used by his subordinates
but unable to rein them in, because the investigation has to be completed make for a brilliant viewing as do his confrontations with Badshah Khan. I do not think any other actor could have brought the maturity to the role as performed by Kay Kay.
Pawan Malhotra is mind-blowing in his depiction of Tiger Memon. He does the role with such a conviction and deep understanding that whenever he speaks of destruction, your bone is chilled to the core. Here is an
actor who can storm the citadels of performance but who has failed to get worth of the same. Sadly, this looks to be the trend in Indian Cinema where star sons and daughters become superstars and real talent languishes in the gutters.
Aditya Srivastava is another brilliant actor in his prime.The role of Badshah Khan required a subtlety and a vulnerability to argument as well as a deep, almost fanatical regard to religion while still retaining the
face of innocence that’s almost a given among hardened members of a cult. Any over-acting or false note of performance would have jarred the characterization and destroyed the essence of the film. Aditya ensures that the film maintains it’s tempo by chiseling out a well-paced performance.
Kishore Kadam as Dangle plays the common policeman of Bombay to perfection. He is well assisted by Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Yakub and Gajraj Rao as Dawood Phanse. Vijay Maurya is so convincing as Dawood Ibrahim that one gets goose bumps watching him perform. Zakir Hussein as Nand Kumar Chowghale is another actor that impresses you. Arbaaz Ali Khan as Jaaved Chiknaa also looks and acts well. Bobby as Khurana is commendable.
A round of applause for S Hussein Zaidi for his pain-staking and meticulous research and kudos to Anurag Kashyap for having the guts and confidence to put it on celluloid in the docu-drama format. I would not hasten to add that ‘Black Friday’ captures the essence of the book completely and is
an excellent riposte to those who think Indians cannot make a riveting journalistic drama based on facts
The director shows a complete command over the medium… he has taken care to portray Bombay
as it was in 1993. Even the scenes show a complete departure from normal cinematic lore and a total identification with the real world. So we have obese constables panting and unable to keep pace with a slippery fugitive, actually pleading with him to stop running; a DCP uncomfortable with the interrogation tactics
employed by his subordinates trying to look away from the hammer that’s smashing a hand but maintaining a tacit approval of the techniques applied, a fugitive underworld Don opening up a gift package to find broken accusing him of failing to save women under his protection, a burkha-clad woman being gang-raped by some miscreants, an old man hiding away from the police with terror in his eyes, a man
lying shell-shocked among the bomb blasts while another man steals a gold chain from a dead body, people walking on pools of blood and Tiger Memon staring at Bombay’s skyline and promising
vengeance. All these scenes have an impact on the viewer and the impact stays.
This year, the trial of the blasts has come to an end and soon the ones responsible for the blasts will be given their due as per the law of the land but the causes of the blast has still not been given the attention
it deserves nor have those who indulged in the riots been punished for their role in the riots… thus the cycle of hatred and suspicion continues. Bombay has since become Mumbai and has borne silently and stoically the impact of many more such retaliatory terror attacks but the fabric of the city has long been tarnished and the faith in Man long eroded.
Nothing has been gained but all has been lost and the menace
of hatred has slowly engulfed the country as the diktat of an eye of an eye has made all of us blind and incapable of understanding that we ourselves are to be blamed for our sorry state of affairs.
By the way, the friends never met again … Plaza had been bombed….Black Friday had taken its toll.