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Review - Black Friday: Is it the complete 'truth'?
Quick Review
![[Poster for Black Friday]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2585/4116437533_d8ec4b6220_m.jpg)
Black Friday is a very well made movie; the technical aspects are par excellence and live up to the expectations of the genre. The acting is at its best, the background music is very well used, and the locations and sets seem as real as they could be. But the narration style is not gripping at all.
This movie is being advertised as a movie about 'the truth'. So there's the usual gore, the regular torture in prison cells, the typical yelling and pleading associated with a crime, and the investigation thereof. The strange thing is that not a single cop was bribed during the inquiry and you don't see one politician through the movie. Was it really so easy for the police to get all the information about this act of terrorism as is portrayed in the movie? And by the way, if this movie is 'the truth', all our other movies that show greedy police officers and politicians and claim to be fictitious, etc - they are actually telling the truth! These dishonest people in the bureaucracy are a figment of imagination!
The movie is not about one police officer, one terrorist or one victim. It is about the bomb blasts. It is a dispassionate, non-judgmental account. It is like reading a newspaper, gives you the details of the way things supposedly happened. Of course, the visuals and language are much more graphic than a few pictures in print.
Kay Kay Menon (Additional Police Commissioner), Pawan Malhotra (Tiger Menon) and Aditya Shrivastav (Badshah) do full justice to their roles. But the characters (except Badshah) are not sketched out very well and the non-linear presentation does not help. In fact it adds to the confusion of the long list of names and the inter-connections.
Also, what exactly is the aim here? Is it to tell the world, "this is how ammunition is smuggled into India, this is how terrorists were trained, and this is how it was planted"? There is nothing shocking about the answers to any of these questions. Obviously, if there were bomb blasts, someone-somewhere got the raw material and organized the whole operation. Is the aim, then, to tell both the Hindu and Muslim fascists how this is not what God wants? If it was so easy to convince the fundamentalists, then wouldn't half the problems in the world be over by now? And I surely hope the aim is not to tell Tiger Menon and Dawood Ibrahim, "We know what you did thirteen years ago?" By the way, in the middle of all this, was I supposed to feel bad for the terrorist?
No, I certainly don't expect every movie to have a list of aims and objectives. But, for a serious movie of this caliber, a much clearer purpose is needed. Especially when the previews have bold, red letters on a black background that read "the 'real' contender for the Oscars", a little more than a documentary is expected. Unless, of course, you are hoping for a nomination in the "documentary" category.
- meetu, a part of the audience
Black Friday - Movie Details
- Director: Anurag Kashyap
- Lead Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Pawan Malhotra, Aditya Srivastav
- Screenplay: Anurag Kashyap
- Running time: 160 minutes
- Reviewer: meetu
- Categories: Hindi Movies
- Genres: Social, Based on true life story, Terrorism
Comments (17)
oh god you gave traffic signal 4 on direction and black friday 2.5 !! shocking . what ya smoking these days?
posted 3 years, 6 months agoThanks for the feedback, Morph.
posted 3 years, 6 months agoTraffic Signal wanted to tell you a story about the nexus that revolves around a Traffic Signal and it does that well. Black Friday wanted to sensitize you to the futility of using religion to kill each other. It ends up spending too much time on the helplessness of a terrorist. It felt like it was a message to the terrorist – “Don’t get influenced by the people who run the underworld! They are going to leave you after their job is done!â€
Or maybe, to me, Traffic Signal seems more real because I have spent a little more time in the slums that are portrayed there than with the Dawood Ibrahims of the world.
Dear Meetu,
posted 3 years, 6 months agoI think the purpose was to tell the story of how it happened, no one is going to go over the court transcripts to know what actually happened. So, the easiest way for people to know is that they have made a movie about it after thorough research.
Also, the non-linear direction is because the thing is interlinked but it happened simultaneously and that is a good way to tell a story. It is upto the viewer to put the piece together so it involves the viewer too.
traffic signal was a mish mash hotch potch of a movie . most of madhur bhandarkar's work is juvenile sensationalism . page 3 managed to rise above this problem but only slightly .
posted 3 years, 6 months agoBlack friday explores the bombings from all angles police , terrorist , victims , hindus , muslims , underworld etc all the parties involved in the episode and does it brilliantly .
Anurag kashyap gets this across very effectively without sensationalizing or judging any parties in a docu-drama format.
Madhur's direction on the other hand is ham handed and have the subtlety of hitting his audience with a hammer !!
Dear meetu
posted 3 years, 6 months agoHonestly there is no comparison between Black Friday and Traffic Signal . I Guess its obvious From the 20 Odd reviews that you Have Posted . You Are the only One I know Off Who Doesnt Like the Movie :) and Deepa Gehlot ! Who says This Movie Glorifies Gangsters ! Surprisingly She Said the Same thing about Omkara.
I advise you to watch it again . i know of people who after seeing Black Friday havent been able to sleep that night :) so it accomplishes its job of sensitising more than pretty well
Hi Venkatesh, you are right, that this is the easiest way to reach a mass audience. I guess, I have to take it with the same pinch of salt as I would take any newspaper report.
posted 3 years, 6 months agoThe movie is not only non-linear, it is also backward. Because of this, least importance was given to the Babri Masjid riots. Which is one of my main complaints.
Hey Morph, I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. I did find a point to agree on though, I didn't like all Madhur Bhandarkar movies either :-)
Dear blackfridayfan, I certainly noticed that I am one of the very few who did not like it! I am sure you too can think of one movie that almost the whole world liked but you did not. I would love to know which one that is.
Thank you all for the discussion.
I just saw the movie and I agree with you Meetu, that this is not as great a movie as being potrayed by many...definitely not a bad movie too, I liked half the movie, very gripping, then it slowly lost my attention as it was not intelligently screenplayed! and yeah the point is totally missing..and yeah,.what was the movie about again?
posted 3 years, 6 months agoHi ride,
posted 3 years, 6 months agoActually, technically i thought the movie was alright. Its the missing points that bothered me and bother me even now when I think about the movie.
Thanks for the feedback!
Hi Meetu,
posted 3 years, 6 months agoI think you haven't understood the point of making the movie....It is completely(in every true sense of the word) based on the book by the same name by Hussain Zaidi.......All the chapters in the book have been translated on to celluloid in the way they were written and hence this 'Non-Linear' way of the film........The purpose of the film was not to make any standpoint nor to make a documentary......It was neither to sympathize with the terrorist nor with the law and order machinery of Mumbai......It is just a detalied account of the interrogations and arrests that followed the blasts which is also what the book was about.....If you did not find politicians and bribed-officers in the film it is because the book never wanted to give undue weightage to Bal Thackeray or Praveen Tagodia who played a vety small part in the interrogations and arrests.....I would like to agin tell you that the book and also the film basically deals with the arrests and interrogations that followed.....So please try to see the film from the book's point of view and not as an entity in itself....If you look at it this way you will probably agree with me that it is a very good( I try to keep my language simple and I hate buzz words :)) book......and if you are still searching for a motive behind the movie; it was probably meant for the larger section of people who shy away from reading books and who would probably have missed a very good read.......
Hey deepro,
posted 3 years, 6 months agoHow could it have given undue attention to Bal Thackeray or Tagodia if it did not give undue attention to Tiger Menon and Badshah?
I will refrain from repeating my other problems with the movie here. If you are interested, you can read my replies to comments and Follow-up - Black Friday
Unfortunately, since I did not like the movie. And most people who have read the book, say the movie is a fair representation of the book, I am not motivated to read the book.
Hi Meetu,
posted 3 years, 6 months agoNice review. By the way, it is 'Tiger Memon' and not 'Tiger Menon'. Warning you before somebody from Kerala takes an objection to your writing (lol)!!
-Sri
Hi sridhar,
posted 3 years, 6 months agoThanks!
About the spelling, I thought so too. That's why I checked before writing it. Only got confused because many newspapers have spelled his name Menon, including Mid-Day. Besides, that is what I thought it sounded like in the movie, so I went with Menon.
Hey buddy,
posted 3 years, 4 months agoYou said it all...a movies needn't have an aim... and yet this movie has...doesn't it show even in ads..."an eye for an eye makes everyone blind" (or something like that)! And yeah it has a newspaperish and non judgemental attitude...unfortunately that is what people dont like...take no side...remain unattached...people want you to take a side...to support someone and to show someone as the villian...who is the villain here...every character who tortured another person, be it officers, or Badshah Khan, or whoever...and everyone is a hero... police who found clues...or the youth who realized they were duped...and yet people were killed!!! Why? Tried answering that Meetu...? You are asking about Babri Masjid, and about whole??? My dear... then somebody will have to explain in what circumstances did BJP form...and in what circumstances did actually Muslim & Hindu divide happened in India...shouldn't we discuss them as a WHOLE...someday... and who has immortalized what... terrorism and then may be somebody should tell people not to talk of SATI in class rooms...and somebody shouldn't tell how 'Asoka' killed people... the idea of SCRIPTING is not to tell HOW but to tell WHY someday...I'm not surprised by this question though...there have been politicians who changed the HOWs in the text books of children... while the very purpose of education should have been WHY!!!
Hi sheetal,
posted 3 years, 4 months agoI think it would have been better at being non-judgmental if it had shown a little more about the motivations behind Babri Masjid, BJP formation, et al.
I, for one, did not have a problem with it being non-judgmental. Non-judgmental is good.
I am all with you about asking 'WHY'. Why did the terrorists do what they did? Why did Babri Masjid happen? Who is going to answer that one? I don't think this series of whys will go back to 1947. I am inclined to think that it will go as far as political motivations behind Babri Masjid.
Thanks for stopping by and putting your thoughts down.
Hi, I found your site recently and really liked your reviews. So was checking your comments on some of the old and not-so-old films. I am a little surprised at this review... Now, I'm not telling you have to like this film because everyone else has liked it (and nowadays it's kinda cool to like Kashyap's films, y'know like a cult or something)... But your comments about the WHY and arguments for more footage to Babri Masjid saga, sounded a little illogical to me. No offense, but i think that'll be taking the chain of reasoning a li'l too far (I know there's no line where it's adequate and when it's beyond that). I felt how much it was shown was enough for the viewers to extrapolate the cause-effect scenario further backwards and understand that it's really a never-ending process. This movie is not about "Why did Babri Masjid happen? Who is going to answer that one?" neither it seeks the "political motivations behind Babri Masjid." All in all, there can never be a sane reason which justifies an act of terror like that (from the average viewers' POV, not the terrorist's)... Well these are just my opinions.. To each his own as you say... :)
posted 2 years, 2 months agoWelcome to wogma, Avik!
Yeah, I got clobbered big time on this one. But, what I not like, I not like. I admire Anurag's guts but this one lost me on its intent. Somehow, the story of a terrorist did not interest me or maybe was not told in a captivating manner.
About Babri Masjid, I just thought when the issue is so sensitive, a whole picture should be given. Anyways...
posted 2 years, 2 months agohello meetu,
posted 1 year, 11 months agoi agree this movie is not entertaining ,,its documentary style..but it was stunningly approached,,.the character of badshah was brilliant,,,kudos to Aditya shrivastav,,,
i would say but,,this kind of movies are the need of today( may not b demand)..we need to look on issue like terrorism in a nonjudgmental way..the movie depicted so,,beautifully
the strongest point of the movie is.. that the director is clear in his thoughts..he wants to make .." real " cinema,,not "entertaining "masala..
Regarding ur arguement on some points missing about the incidence,,,i would say, its not necessary to spoon feed the audience everytime..
Our cinema has reached "nowhere"..because people of this nation wants entertainment not enlightment( a line copied from movie sarkar raj)...
an attempt like this should be appreciated with " big " HEART...
and one should also not forget ...this movie was made ... many years back and was hanging for censorship...imagine what effect it would hav wen it would hav been released in its "original' time..when not so goood movies( technically , story wise ,acting wise or any wise/) were made.
i would also say a word about Indian ocean ( who gave the music ),,,they rock yar,,,where they were these many years ..wondering.....
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