Everybody’s alphabet begins with “A B C D .” For the protagonists of Black it begins with ” B L A C K “. And for Sanjay Leela Bhansali it begins with ” E X C E S S”. Yes I know his alphabet has repeating letters.
“Black” also repeats itself endlessly. Bhansali lacks the touch of brevity and subtlety—-each of his scenes is overwrought and hyper-dramatic —-initially whatever impact they have is worn out as he keeps on using the same heavy-handed directorial style to squeeze tears from the audience.
“Black” was made for an international audience. It is primarily an Oscar vehicle where all the themes that traditionally please the Academy have been accommodated. It has been set in an Anglo-Saxon context so that the target audience does not feel alienated. It has been made technically compelling.
Nothing wrong so far.
What screws everything up is Mr Bhansali’s direction. His directorial style is very obtrusive so much so that it hampers the flow of the story by distracting from its theme. In Devdas and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, it was the gaudy sets and the excess of color that overpowered the audience. Over here, it’s the over-acting from the protagonists.
Most of the scenes are over-dramatic—people falling, yelling, getting dunked in water, getting slapped, throwing silverware. Amitabh is the worst culprit in the hamming department—-he delivers his dialogues with a Mephistophelean glee———–which though appropriate in a movie like Aankhen stands out like a sore thumb in a somber movie like “Black”. The fault is not Mr Bachchan’s —-it is Bhansali who feeds him over-the-top scenes where over-acting is inevitable.
“Black” is a huge let-down. The reviews had me believe that it was a masterpiece and a watershed movie in Hindi filmdom. It is anything but.
A technically polished weepy is all that I can call it.
At LOOONG last someone has said the REAL thing about Black—an overhyped piece of pretentious trash.
Absolute piece of thrash. Tried hard to mimic those european senti movies & failed miserably. Id rather watch some cheesy sex movie julie. twice
hey great bong, as srimoyee said, finally someone has said the real thing! i have been wondering for a while now if i was the only one who saw the overacting and the hamming cuz everyone i went to see the movie with liked it! well said! i’m also a big fan of ur other blogs…damn funny! keep blogging!
As usual, Black swept away with the major Filmfare awards.
http://movies.indiatimes.com/quickies/1430361.cms
Seems that films like Page 3 or Hazaron Khwaishe Aisi will never be recognized in our country.
Will love to see a post from you on this years Filmfare awards.
And forget about Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara and Black Friday (your 2 most fav movies) to get any awards. After all, this is the country which can send Paheli or Devdas to the Oscars.
Black is a piece of utter garbage, I could not stand it for more than half an hour. How could people like a movie like Black or that ET movie by Hrithik is beyond me.
In one of the last few scenes where he is suffering from Alzheimer’s or something and Rani comes to meet him, you should just see the way he goes on hamming. HE is supposed to be twitching and jerking due to weakness. But just see the way he does it. It looks as if he is dancing or something. I started laughing like a lunatic in the theatre but the people sitting around me couldnt see the humour and yet again, a rational man was silenced. Since then, I have watched a lot of his movies and discovered that he has been a hammer since the big-bang. Dunno why people worship him and compare him to Robert DeNiro. Robert DeNiro of India.. yeah, thats a good laugh
I disliked Black when I first saw it after my reading some excellent reviews. The acting is so over the top that it actually gets hillariious. Unfortunately, I think my hearing will never be the same again after this scream fest.
a little too late, but very well said…