Black - Movie Review

Published: July 12, 2010

By EKTA R. GARG

Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji

What would happen if Helen Keller were Indian and her famous tutor a man with a drinking problem? Sanjay Leela Bhansali answered that question in his 2005 film, Black, his interpretation of Keller’s story. Rani Mukerji and Amitabh Bachchan play student and teacher—roles loved by critics and fans alike. The film won 11 Filmfare Awards, an unbroken record to date.

A deaf and blind woman, Michelle McNally (Mukerji in a career-defining performance), visits her former tutor, Debraj Sahai (Bachchan), who disappeared mysteriously several years earlier with no explanation of where he was going or why. The visit is a poignant one and triggers a trip down memory lane.

Young Michelle, deaf and blind since shortly after birth, runs rampant, and her parents, helpless in their fruitless attempts to control their daughter, look for someone to rescue them. Help comes in the form of Debraj Sahai, a brilliant, eccentric, alcoholic teacher. Sahai uses harsh methods with Michelle, and yet his harshness breaks through Michelle’s unwillingness to yield. In scenes reminiscent of Keller’s autobiography, Sahai condemns Michelle’s method of eating—she walks around the dining table at mealtime, grabs food off people’s plates, and gobbles it like an animal. At one point Sahai shoves her into a fountain in frustration, and at that moment Michelle has her first breakthrough in Sahai’s sign language lessons. Suddenly, Michelle’s manic energy is channeled into a wildly desperate urge to learn everything about the world around her.

At this juncture, Bhansali’s story departs from the real-life version without leaving reality. Michelle enrolls in college, and she slowly, painfully works her way through her courses. Her troubles are compounded by Sahai’s increasingly odd behavior; he doesn’t share the source of them with Michelle because he’s afraid of what his suspicions mean. But when he disappears and then reappears in Michelle’s life, student and tutor switch roles in a realization that is at once encouraging and heartbreaking.

The impetus for Black came while Bhansali was making his first film, Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), a film about deaf-mute parents raising a hearing child. Bhansali visited the Helen Keller Institute to do research, and his two main stars went through months of sign language training before filming began. In severe contrast to the extravagance of his previous film, Devdas (2002), which was rife with color, Black was shot in various muted shades of its title. 

Monty Sharma’s background score enhances the dramatic plot, and Mukerji and Bachchan are surrounded by little-known but incredibly able supporting actors. Mukerji and Bachchan were hand-in-glove choices for their roles; Mukerji doesn’t need a spoken script to convey the subtleties of her emotions, and Bachchan manages to be psychologically off-kilter and yet also a hero when all hope is lost. Black is worth watching for just the two of them, but it’s also a terrific reminder that a courageous heart really does triumph over all odds.

Black is rated Must See.

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