After the successful inning of delivering movies like Khamoshi - the

musical, which was based on a theme of the difficulties faced by a

couple who is deaf and dumb, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam filmed on a
sweet love triangle, addressing the reality of life and true love and
Devdas, a remake of Bimal Roy’s Devdas (1955), which was based on a
novel by Saratchandra Chatterjee, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is all set for
another big release hopefully on February 4th 2005.

Black stars Amitabh Bachchan [Debraj Sahai], as a teacher to Rani

Mukherjee’s character [Michelle McNally] who is of a deaf and blind
girl. She accomplishes her dream of becoming a world-recognized
musician with the help of her teacher who comes into her dark life to
spread some light.

The trailers of Black seem to give a broad idea of what the movie is
about. It starts with images of Rani and Amitabh in a classroom moving
their hands in different motions. There are words in Amitabh
Bachchan’s voice in the background. The words are “ye andhon ki
aankhein hain, gungon ki awaaz, aur beheron ki kavita – thak jaayein
to talwar, band ho jaayein to darkhat.” The frame then moves on to
showing Rani and Amitabh sitting in a library-like room. The
picturization moves on to Rani doing hand gestures along with other
girls and then to Amitabh moving his hand. The background music is
prominent by this point. The title ‘Black,’ written in embossed and
shiny words follows next. The last scene is of Rani and Amitabh sitting
on a bench outside when it’s snowing. Rani tries to feel the snow when
Amitabh gets in her way and teases her and Rani pushes him aside and
Amitabh says, “aye, stop it!” Rani starts to tickle him and Amitabh gets
up and laughs. We can hear little squeaks from Rani as if she is trying
to laugh.

The promo shows the hard work that the two actors, Rani Mukherjee
and Amitabh Bachchan have put into giving their best to the movie.
Big B is purely outstanding as usual with his accurate expressions. Rani
Mukherjee surprises with, what seems like, a remarkable performance
in a highly challenging role. The marvelous performances were
inevitable, as both Rani and Big B learnt sign language in order to play
the role with more efficiency and effectiveness. According to Sanjay
Leela Bhansali, “[Rani] also studied deaf and blind people.” He also
claims, “this is Amitabh’s career best role. I am proud of their
performances.”

This time around, Bhansali has come up with a unique theme. Black,
compared to his earlier movie themes, is exceptional. Bhansali is
convinced that a big part of the population that watches Hindi films is
bound to like the film. He is not afraid to experiment with something
that’s out of the average Hindi film frame.

“When I made ‘Khamoshi’, everyone said who would want to see a film
about a deaf-and-mute couple? Perhaps some people are saying the
same about ‘Black’? Who would want to see a film about a severely
handicapped girl and her teacher?” said Bhansali. “Well, I’ve news for
the doomsday prophets. There’s an audience out there that wants to
experience a cinema that takes them beyond the expected. I want to
surprise, enthrall and seduce the audience. Yes, I want to be a
magician on celluloid.”

On February 18th 2004, there was a fire that erupted because of short
circuit and two gas cylinders. The fire destroyed a major set of the film,
leaving Bhansali in a huge loss of over five crore rupees due to the
damage of many technical equipments.

Even after this critical incident, Bhansali decided to go on with the

shooting and thankfully, the film was successfully completed.

Black appears to be an out of ordinary film with an unusual subject.

The film is bound to appeal to the viewers because of its distinctive
style and brilliant performances by the stars.

Hit or flop, Black is sure to leave a deep impact on the minds and
hearts of the viewers. Bhansali will, once again, win millions of hearts
through his extraordinary venture, Black. Wish you all the luck, Sanjay