Black (2005 film)

The production of Black started when Sanjay Leela Bhansali came up with the idea for the film while the shooting of his directorial debut, the musical Khamoshi: The Musical, between 1993 and 1994 when he interacted with physically disabled children.[2] After the successes of the romance Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and the historical epic Devdas (2002)—one of the most expensive Hindi films ever made at the time—he had made a plan to make another film in the romantic genre.[8][9] Still, the actress Jaya Bachchan criticized his work from Devdas and encouraged him to "attempt something different"; in later years, he would say that it motivated him to make Black.[10] Bhansali chose to address a subject that no other directors had done before: "I didn't want to stop making a film straight from my heart because of the fear of losing my audiences."[11] He described it as "a step towards a more complex kind of film than what we get in mainstream cinema", adding, "It is an uplifting tale on the triumph of the human spirit."[11][12] He announced the film in July 2003, along with his other project, Bajirao Mastani, which would be released in 2015.[12] The media declared it as his "most personal film".[13]

Bhansali revealed that he was inspired by American activist Helen Keller's life story. However, he stated that he only used it as a reference and the film was "a completely original piece of work".[14] Additionally, Bhansali also read Keller's autobiography The Story of My Life and other related books, including Geraldine Lawhorn's On the Crossroads (about a deaf-and-blind musician). In an interview with The Hindu, he said, "I was fascinated by the ways in which teachers and parents struggled to reach out to the hearing-impaired children. How do you start the communication? How do you keep it going? What takes other children a year to learn takes 10 years for them to absorb."[11] In addition, some sources claimed that it served as a remake for Arthur Penn's The Miracle Worker (1962), but Bhansali denied the reports.[15] Others claimed that the film was based on Prakash Kapadia's Gujarati play Aatam Vinjhe Paankh, which was inspired by The Miracle Worker.[16]

Bhansali chose the word black for the film's title; according to him, black is his favorite color and he felt it has a "universal resonance".[12] He explained how the color's monotones and shades were "very attractive if used intelligently", and it was "the best element ... that ... doesn't overshadow the characters or narrative".[17] He added that it was "a powerful striking colour which describes the film's sensitivities", and defined his mood and temperament.[12][18] "I wear black clothes most of the time. The colour calms me. When I decided to make a film about the world of the sightless, Black was the title that came to mind immediately", he said when interviewed by Sify.[19] The same title had been registered by the actor Kumar Gaurav before, and Bhansali asked him to relinquish and gave the title for his next project. According to an article published by Screen in November 2005, Gaurav saw that the film was "bold and path-breaking"; consequently, he finally gave up the title. As gratitude, Bhansali credited Gaurav's name in the opening credits of Black.[16]

Bhansali told The Telegraph that Keller's life was an "exemplary to all of us", believing that he had "personally learned so much from her"; he stated that he learned "the value of a teacher in any student's life".[15] Journalists asserted that his involvement in both Black and Bajirao Mastani (a period film about the Peshwa Baji Rao I and his second wife Mastani) proved his ability in two opposite film genres; he expressed: "It is a conscious process of rejuvenation as a filmmaker. I have to reinvent myself as a creative person."[12] He then described the former film as "an uplifting tale on the triumph of the human spirit",[20] and it was "about feeling, not speaking".[15] Furthermore, he added, "Black is about the love between a girl and her teacher. They teach each other the dignity of living. To call Black a love story is a true compliment. Black is a pure love story."[15]

The lead actors of Black: Amitabh Bachchan (left) and Rani Mukerji

On the same day of the film's announcement, Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji were officially cast in the lead roles.[12] Bachchan featured as Debraj Sahai, a role which he described as a "brilliant teacher but an alcoholic", and he took it as an attempt to avoid typecasting.[21] Bhansali, who is a "diehard fan" of him, said that he actually wanted to cast him (and his wife Jaya) in Khamoshi: The Musical. However, that was the time when Bachchan took a hiatus from his acting career. Bhansali eventually cast Bachchan in Black, after the actor watch his previous work, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999).[20] Bachchan had big expectations with Black, as he said in an interview to the Deccan Herald, "I feel the Indian audience should like this film."[21] He praised the "fascinating" and "unusual" screenplay of the film, stating, "To be very frank, I would have said 'Yes' even without listening to the script."[21][22]

To prepare for his part, Bachchan underwent special training before the shooting. He visited schools for physically disabled children and learned haptic communication, which he found to be "very weird because we can not see, hear or talk", from them for six to seven months; he read some books related on it.[21][23] Also, he did extensive research about Alzheimer's disease and what happens after a person being affected by it.[21] He thought that it "was the most-challenging role... It is a first-time experience because there is not even a single scene in this film that I felt I have done before."[24]

Meanwhile, Mukerji got the role of Michelle McNally (which Bhansali wrote specifically for her) and confirmed her involvement in the film in July 2003.[25][26] She spoke positively of her rapport with Bachchan, and stated that she felt "humbled" with the actor, describing him as "a very modest person, very sweet, a father figure".[27] Same as Bachchan, she accepted it to avoid the typecasting in romantic roles.[28] Mukerji revealed that she was initially reluctant to play the part, when Bhansali read the story Black to her in June that year, because of the "challenging" subject and she had no reference to do it.[25][29][30] She confessed, "I was scared when I heard the script. I wondered how I will play this character."[25] In preparation, she also met children with physical disabilities, this time, at the Helen Keller Institute in Mumbai and practiced sign language there for six months.[30] According to Mukerji, her interaction with them helped her to "gain sensitivity towards their reactions, aspirations and hopes".[28] Moreover, she had to learn braille and found the experience was "like speaking with my hands and my fingers."[31] In spite of that, she said that the film "has made me realize that those who are physically or mentally challenged are actually much stronger than normal, successful human beings."[30]

The child artist Ayesha Kapur made her debut with Black, playing the version of Michelle. She learned sign language for prepared her brief role as well as Mukerji. Media reports stated that it was "the most difficult character ever written for a child", but Kapur refused that by saying, "I don't know how I played Michelle. I just did it. It wasn't that difficult, really."[32] Shernaz Patel, who had only one film experience in Mahesh Bhatt's drama Janam (1985), portrayed Michelle's mother Catherine "Kathy"; she was cast by casting director Amita Sehgal on the basis of her work as a theatre actress. Nandana Sen played Michelle's younger sister Sarah, a role she described as "an emotional experience".[33] She observed of her part, "... she's a typical 16 year old ... You see her evolving in the film, from this oversensitive, moody teenager who is constantly hungry for more affection to a nurturing, loving, caregiver who deals with her sister's circumstances with a lot of love and understanding."[34] She found Black to be "a pathbreaking film, both in terms of content and style", and called her role "a breakthrough" in her acting career. For it, she learned how to communicate with sign language, four months before the shooting.[34]

Bhansali—with his production company SLB Films—produced, financed, and distributed the film alongside Anshuman Swami of Applause Entertainment;[36][37] another company, Yash Raj Films, also served as a distributor.[38] Bhansali wrote the screenplay in three months, and the story with Bhavani Iyer and Kapadia;[3][6] the latter two also wrote the dialogues in English and Hindi, respectively.[39] When asked by Rediff.com's Subhash K. Jha, Bhansali found the English dialogues to be "too lucid to be left behind in translation".[12] Omung Kumar was the art director for Black. In a party sequence featuring all of the lead cast from the film, he used 200 lamps on the ceiling. According to India Today, Bhansali was not sure about it, but he allowed Kumar to do that as an "experiment".[40] He used black as the main color to be in tune with the film's themes.[41]

Clothes for all actors from Black were done by the costume designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee for eight months.[42] He spoke of excitement involved in the project: "Black was a brilliant experience, literally a once in a lifetime experience."[35] He added that "the film is about you and me and, therefore, it called for serious clothes."[42] In preparation, Mukherjee saw many black-and-white photographs. He used a lot of monochromatic colors—including beige, black, brown, gray, khaki, and indigo—for the film, as it is set between the 1950s and 1960s.[42][43] For her role, Mukerji (who has green eyes) was required to use dark-tinted contact lenses.[16] She did not use make-up, and she would only take fifteen minutes to prepared before filming.[44] After the release of Black, Sabyasachi Mukherjee talked about his experiment with the film's two leads; he found working with Bachchan to be "amazing", as the latter "is so down-to-earth", and similarly to Mukerji, saying that she was the "girl-next-door" and "effortlessly brilliant".[42]

Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam K Ahuja were chosen as assistant directors for Bhansali; the newcomers confessed that their motives were to get Bhansali to offer them acting jobs.[45][46] They later made their debut as actors in Bhansali's next directorial venture, Saawariya (2007), an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1848 short story "White Nights",[47] which was commercially and critically failed.[48][49] Kapoor would go on to become one of the highest-paid actors in Bollywood while establishing himself as a leading actor of Indian cinema.[50] Ahuja has a good career in Bollywood as well.[51][52]

The first schedule of Black took place in Shimla

Black was filmed in 100 days by Ravi K. Chandran.[12][41] In an interview with Rediff.com, Chandran called it one of the most "important" films in his career and considered it as his favorite project; this also marked the first time he shot a film without songs. He revealed that he had previously rejected Bhansali's offers to shoots Devdas as he had busy schedules at that time. However, Chandran promised to collaborate with Bhansali in his next venture, which would be Black. When Bhansali narrated the film's story to him, Chandran decided to use the cinematography style same with that of Guru Dutt's 1959 drama Kaagaz Ke Phool.[41] Sham Kaushal was the action director.[6] Kapoor served as a body-double for Bachchan in several scenes.[53]

In mid-January 2004, the entire cast and crew of Black went to Shimla to begin the first schedule.[16] The first sequence filmed was the film's opening scene, featuring Mukerji stretching out her hand when snow begins to fall.[54] Shimla was very cold at the time, but it did not show any signs that snow would fall. Therefore, the crew bought kilos of salt and snow-making machines from Mumbai's local markets. The media reported that the shooting would end at 04:00.[16]

Filming moved to the film studio complex Film City the next month and India Today said that seventy percent of Black was shot there.[55] The studio, which has a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m²) area, was rented by Bhansali in January 2004 for 45 days, but on 18 February, a fire burned most of the set, resulting in a shooting delay.[55] Bhansali recalled, "It was a torturous exercise and I couldn't sleep, but we needed continuity. I would not shoot if the cottage looked different."[3] In June 2005, the Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation fined Bhansali ₹60 million (US$1.36 million), with ₹20 million (US$453,514.74) for its reconstruction and ₹40 million (US$907,029.48) for its rental cost.[55] A month later, the art dealer Farida Hoosenwally also accused him for not return 390 artifacts she lent, and she sent a complaint letter to the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra R. R. Patil.[56] According to the media reports, the incidents made the initial budget of the film—estimated ₹135 million (US$3.06 million)—increased to more than ₹200 million (US$4.54 million).[4] The schedule was continued on 28 February 2004.[57] The filming was done two months later,[12] and Bhansali's sister Bela Sehgal edited it.[6][58] Canadian composer Mychael Danna completed its background score.[13]

Black received positive reviews, with most critics praising its story, Bhansali's direction, and the performances—mostly that from Bachchan and Mukerji.[16][90] It received a rating of 87 percent on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on six reviews, with an average rating of 8.5 out of 10.[88]

The entertainment portal Bollywood Hungama gave the film two stars, finding it to be "relies heavily on performances".[91] The critic observed of Mukerji, "With no dialogues in her lap, the actress conveys through expressions solely and what a terrific impact she makes! Here's a performance that should act as a reference guide for all aspiring actors. And yes, she's bound to walk away with all major awards next year as well!"[91] Baradwaj Rangan of The New Sunday Express felt that the actress was "outstanding" in the part,[92] which Rediff.com's Sita Menon described as "a pure, performance-driven role".[93] Ziya Us Salam hailed her for "[pleasing] the [audience] eyes" despite her "minimal make-up".[94] Khalid Mohammed of Mid-Day added, "Rani Mukherjee is a revelation, belting out a multi-nuanced performance which compels you to reach out for that hyperbolic adjective, awesome. Lock up all the awards already, they're hers."[95] Devesh Sharma from Screen said that Bachchan and Mukerji have given "the performance of a lifetime", noting that with the film, "Bhansali has proved that we don't lack raw materials or the talent—all it takes is guts and a determined belief in oneself to make a world class film."[96]

Jaspreet Pandohar of BBC opined that "Bhansali proves that neither he, nor the never better Bachchan, need a Hollywood film to produce an Oscar-worthy film [with Black]."[97] She also took note of its production aspects; she lauded that the screenplay and cinematography were "carefully crafted" and "beautiful", respectively.[97] In The Hindu, Gautaman Bhaskaran claimed that the film was the best among Bhansali's other directorial ventures.[98] Namrata Joshi of Outlook wrote of how it "provides a redefining moment in commercial Hindi cinema, pushing its frontiers of narration and style".[99] Sunny Dua of The Telegraph said, "Black is beautiful, for it is real. What is unreal is the way multicoloured, multilateral mainstream Hindi cinema has been suddenly rendered colourless. It will be hard to rate staple Bollywood fare from now, for the bar has been set way too bright by a stark, dark colour."[100] Hindustan Times's reviewer Vinayak Chakravorty rated Black three out of five stars, appreciating Kapur's portrayal of young Michelle and described her as "the anchor of the film's first half".[101] Similar thoughts was given by Nikhat Kazmi, who felt that Kapur was "absolutely brilliant".[102]

India Today called the film "a world-class Hindi film" and "a landmark", and found both Bachchan and Mukerji to be "brutally unattractive but always heart wrenching"; Shruti Gupta of NDTV added that they "score yet again with their performance".[103][104] Writing for another Telegraph review, Anil Grover complimented the "fantastic" chemistry between the two actors.[105] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express, also positively reviewed the chemistry, hailing it was "mesmeric". Gupta, however, believed that Mukerji "who really lights up" the film, concluding, "The tilt of the head, the face, alternating between animation and vacuousness, the slightly open mouth, the bewildered lost look, the jerky gait—any or all of it could have turned Michelle into a caricature. But Rani overcomes the handicap of being 'normal', and nails all of it down with an unsparing, unsentimental starkness."[106] The Times of India's critic Jhoomur Bose Malik praised Mukerji's costume, elaborating that "she did cut a diminutive yet striking picture with the cap, the structured black outfits and of course the no make-up look."[107] Reviewing Bachchan's role, Subhash K. Jha saw that it resembled "Shakespearean tragic-hero" character.[108]

Sushma Mohan of the Deccan Herald compared the film's story with Khamoshi: The Musical, and argued that it was "more complex and sensitive" but "better and finer" than the latter.[109] The director and critic Raja Sen from Rediff.com also did a comparative review of Black with Paheli (2005), also starring Bachchan (in a guest appearance) and Mukerji (in a lead role opposite Shah Rukh Khan). He termed the former "a half-baked, often derivative and crucially flawed film", while called the latter "leads to a languorously unhurried fairytale, a unique love story told without fuss". In Black, Sen felt that its script "keeps [Mukerji's performance] from being an immortal [one]". Conversely, in Paheli, he believed that she had delivered "a powerful, sensuous, emotive performance".[110] Derek Elley of Variety called Mukerji "seems to be hitting her stride as a serious actress".[111] A reviewer of Empire said that Bhansali "expertly draws engaging, convincing [p]erformances" from the leads of Black despite his "unsentimental" direction.[112] Pakistani magazine Newsline concluded, "[It] is an inspirational film and a must-see, even if only for its beautiful direction and acting."[113]

Black was successful at the box office in India and overseas, with trade analysts believed that it was influenced by its positive critical reviews.[114] In India, the film had a theatrical run of nine weeks.[115][116] It earned ₹10.3 million (US$233,560.09) on its opening day.[114] It collected ₹34.3 million (US$430,000) on its first weekend and ₹64.7 million (US$1.47 million) at the end of its first week.[114] The film earned ₹330 million (US$7.48 million) in India, making it the year's ninth highest-grossing film in the country.[117] In North America, Black grossed $560,000 in four weeks.[118] In the United Kingdom, it grossed $600,000 in four weeks.[118] The film-trade website Box Office India estimated the Hindi language version's total collections to be ₹409.4 million (US$9.28 million), concluding its commercial performance to be "average".[114]

In South Korea, the Korean language version was a major success upon release there in 2009. The newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that it sold 560,000 tickets and collected ₩3.8 billion ($2.98 million) within two weeks of its release.[119] It went on to sell 877,408 tickets and gross ₩6,241,612,000,[120] equivalent to US$5.88 million (₹256.6 million).[121] It became the highest-grossing 2005 Indian film in overseas markets with $7.7 million[122] (₹335.8 million), and the second highest-grossing 2005 Indian film worldwide with ₹666 million (US$15.1 million).[123]