Black

Plot

The cathartic tale of a deaf, mute and blind girl, and her teacher who brings a ray of light into her world of BLACK.

Release Year: 2005

Rating: 8.0/10 (8,262 voted)

Director:
Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Stars: Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Shernaz Patel

Storyline
Based in Simla, the McNallys are an Anglo-Indian family consisting of Paul and his wife, Catherine. Both are full of joy when Catherine gives birth to a baby girl, Michelle, but their joy is short-lived when they are told that Michellle cannot see nor hear. Both attempt to bring up Michelle in their own protective way, as a result Michelle is not exposed to the real world, and becomes increasingly violent and volatile. Things only get worse when Catherine gives birth to Sara, and Paul considers admitting Michelle in an asylum. It is here that Debraj Sahai enters their lives. Through his eager involvement, Michelle blossoms, grows, gives up her violence, even gets admitted in school with normal children. The years pass by, Michelle does not succeed in getting her graduation, and it is time for Debraj to bid adieu as he is having his own health problems. 12 years later, at the age of 40, Michelle does succeed in graduating in Arts…

Writers: Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Prakash Kapadia

Cast:

Amitabh Bachchan
–

Debraj Sahai

Rani Mukerji
–

Michelle McNally

Shernaz Patel
–

Catherine 'Cathy' McNally

Ayesha Kapoor
–

Young Michelle McNally

(as Ayesha Kapur)

Dhritiman Chatterjee
–

Paul McNally

(as Dhritiman Chaterji)

Sillo Mahava
–

Mrs. Gomes

(as Silloo Mahava)

Chippy Gangjee
–

Principal Fernandes

(as Chippy Ganjee)

Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal
–

Mrs. Nair

Nandana Sen
–

Sara McNally

Kenny Desai
–

Dr. Mehta

Arif Shah
–

Marc Brugger

Bomie E. Dotiwala
–

Mr. Brugger

(as Bomi Dotiwala)

Jeroo Shroff
–

Mrs. Brugger

Bomi Kapadia
–

Trustee 1

Kamal Adib
–

Trustee 2

Taglines:
An unending darkness… A world of shadows… A ray of light that found its way… A teacher's dream… A student's miracle… A valiant journey… From ignorance to knowledge… From darkness to light… An extraordinary story of an ordinary life

Details

Official Website:
Official site |
Official site |

Release Date: 4 February 2005

Filming Locations: Afghan Church, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Box Office Details

Budget: INR 180,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $125,342
(USA)
(6 February 2005)
(45 Screens)

Gross: $733,094
(USA)
(27 March 2005)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

Director Bhansali hoped to make a film that was an extension of his critically acclaimed (box office flop) debut film
Khamoshi: The Musical. Both were based on a visit he made to the Helen Keller Institute.

Quotes:

Debraj Sahai:
That after spending thirty years in this school, I'm just an unseen unheard entity. When I saw the school for the last time, my students were waving to me in the wrong direction.

User Review

Black can restore one's faith in life and love

Rating: 10/10


First things first. On Easter Sunday I pondered whether I should go see
the film "Black" — a film about which I had heard nothing in the
popular press, until I saw its title on the cinema's Marquee. Not
surprising really, since the film appears at this point to have only
been released in the specialty Hindi-language Bollywood film circuit in
Canada. Which is a real pity because if I had not made an accidental
point of presenting myself at a movie-house that was actually screening
the picture, as a Euro-heritage native-born Canadian I would likely
still be walking around in a typically North American ethno-centric
film fog about this excellent picture.

When I initially asked the theatre's ticket clerk what "Black" was
about, his description hardly got me excited. It's the story of a
teacher who helps a disabled woman. It didn't sound terribly engaging
to me. But boy, was I wrong! While I am not a complete stranger to a
number of Bollywood-type films, I'm lucky if I see one or two in a
year, and at that, it's usually been because someone else has suggested
it. While few of these "B" class movies "deserve" screen time in
mainstream North American theatres, this is hardly the case for
"Black". It is not a "B" class flic.

If only because the film's Director Sanjay Bhansali co-wrote the
script, this obviously allowed him to imagine how he might want to
capture the story with beautiful emotionally-charged cinematography.
And what a sophisticated symbolically packed feast it was at that! Yet
backing up the impeccable imagery was an equally top-drawer story. One
dimension tells the story of a once well-regarded teacher who has come
to the end of his financial, if not his existentially-justified rope, a
man whose talents are neither fully recognized or completely
appreciated. Then during this 11th hour turmoil, he receives a letter
asking for help from the parents of a young deaf and blind girl. Her
story is of course equally gripping, a girl effectively trapped in an
internal prison in which language, a vital connector within herself as
well as to the outside world, is missing. In this sense, both
characters need one another, for both are on the common and all too
true brink of being "disposable people" – people ripe relegated to
become out-of-sight out-of-mind statistics in a faceless institution.

This feature of the story speaks to a possibility few of us care to
contemplate, namely: "Who would care for me if everything fell to
pieces?". It is a possibility reminiscent of and anchored in a time
when as children we depended entirely on our parents for nurturance and
love. This I think is what gives this story its privileged access to
the inner-recesses of our deep emotional need for interconnection. And
because it is a story told as much with emotionally poignant visuals as
it is with emotionally gripping dialogue, these have a way of
by-passing the usual intellectual filters we erect to both define and
"protect" ourselves from one another. This film will have none of that.
And the emotionally-forceful performances offered by the male and
female leads simply seal our fates, leading us to co-journey with them
in their heroic quest to find the light that will illumine us as much
as them.

Few are the number of viewers who could experience this film and not
leave better people, if only because it succeeds in allowing us to
recognize the value of caring for one another as the greatest triumph,
if not the most important ingredient in all of our other successes as a
species. In short, this film strives to restore one's faith in the
value of life and love, and does very well in that task. And what more
can anyone ask from any motion picture? It is a work of genius, well
executed, and a triumph of film-making, regardless the culture. Which
is why I believe it deserves a lofty 10.