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Review - Black and White: Sermon after sermon
Quick Review
Haven't we had an overdose of movies based on religious fanaticism and associated terrorism already? May be not...Okay, haven't we had more than our share of stories told in the same mundane fashion? I say enough already!
First credit where it's due. The base story is not bad at all. It has its interesting plot-twists. The sub-plots sort-of flowed into each other too!! The other thing that I enjoyed was the music. Unfortunately, this list stops here.
The battle is completely lost in the filling-in of the details. The characters cannot be called underdeveloped, but they are unbelievably one-dimensional. One character is just shot out of the plot just about when his character could have done something interesting. It is hard to digest when a character behaves the exact same way when he is being friendly with someone and when a close relative passes away. Even if he is the modern-day Gandhi. How can one be speechlessly grieving in shock in one moment and lecturing on tolerance in the other.
Almost each character spieling out speech after speech on either tolerance or intolerance, doesn’t help either. Each lecture consists of the same old, mind-numbing lines. Each line being repeated begs us to be thankful if they are two different sentences saying the same thing. Because at other times, the same words are repeated - asking us to be sympathetic towards the dialogue writer for being creatively-challenged. And one character who certainly shouldn't have been encouraged was the "poet" grandfather figure. The lyrics were just inane, sir, let alone inspirational.
Anil Kapoor certainly has a wider range of expressions than this. Anurag Sinha again, has a great voice but a very monotonous style of delivering dialogues. Shefali Chaya should be admired for trying her best to maintain composure while playing a rather loud character. I would still blame the character development for the lackluster performances. They had a very good reason to pick a tone and stick to it - the script has no variation in their character!
There is one redeeming factor in this whole set-up - we have seen much, much worse from Subhash Ghai
Black and White - Cast and Crew
- Official Website: Link
- Producer: Mukta Searchlights Films
- Director: Subhash Ghai
- Lead Cast: Anil Kapoor, Anurag Sinha, Aditi Sharma, Shefali Chhaya Shah
- Supporting Cast: Habib Tanvir
- Screenplay: Subhash Ghai, Akarsh Khurana, Sachin Bhaumick
- Dialogues: Subhash Ghai
- Dir. of Photography: Somak Mukherjee
- Editor: Amitabh Shukla
- Music Director: Sukhwinder Singh
- Lyrics: Ibrahim Ashq
Chugs:
laboured, amateurish, dumbed-down, over-simplistic.
posted 2 years agoi had sworn off Ghai after Kisna...should've stuck with that. i think he should either stick to his masala entertainers or quit.
Anurag has a good screen presence but apart from a couple of outbursts all he had to do was stand still, hands folded.
the only redeeming factor for me was Habib Tanvir. love his voice.
Sameer Panchangam:
Dude was it really an overdose? Give me a list of 10 such overdoses if you can!
posted 2 years agoshaina:
Anurag Sinha was good. Overall, too idealistic and unreal movie.
posted 2 years agoAnshuman Bose:
*** comment edited ***
BLACK & WHITE is a good movie made by showman Subhash Ghai.Anurag Sinha deserves the best actor in a negative role(male) and best debut male award in all the award functions next year.Anil Kapoor is fantastic.Aditi Sharma who resides in the same city where I reside-Lucknow doesn't get enough scope in the film.Shefali Shah is too good but there is a problem that her role is short in the 2nd half.The music is ok but the best track is 'Main Chala'.The whole crew has done a good job.
This movie will be totally appreciated by the multiplex audience but is not for the entertainment of the people going to single screen theatres.A good attempt by Subhash Ghai.I give it *****=5 stars.
posted 2 years ago
nirmal:
Not bad is what I thought when I saw the movie. I don't know what the girl's name is - (the student) but she for me was perfect. Great eyes, lovely voice and excellent Hindi vocabulary. As much as I hope she could make it to the top, I don't see that being a possibility unless she starts stripping down.
I think the movie overall was alrite. I wonder what it would be like to watch the movie as a Chandnichowker.. Any one out there who can tell us about the integrity and diversity of Delhi's Chandni Chowk.??
Sukhwinder was fantastic on the instruments and ofcourse who can complain about his abilities behind the microphone.
I am being very honest here but I did not realize or feel that it was a Subhash Ghai movie until I reached the end credits. Are there 2 Subhash Ghais in Bollywood? 'cos this ain't Ghai -- ya ya I know Kisna was a disaster.. but you would only expect a strong comeback won't you! His story is turning out a bit like RK Santoshi I guess who never managed to play catch up with modern Indian cinema.
Rgds
posted 1 year, 11 months agoNirmal
raju:
khub j saras film hati
posted 1 year, 7 months agoLeave a new comment