Honest Depiction of Mumbai Blasts and Life Aftermath
Movie - Black Friday (2004)
Director - Anurag Kashyap
Screenplay - Anurag Kashyap, Hussian Zaidi (Book)
Actors - Kay Kay, Pavan Malhotra, Aditya Srivastava & Others
Tagline - An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
This is not only a film. It's a lesson. It's a message. It's cruelly true history. It's an initiative. It's an attempt. It's a bold step, forward. It's known yet untold bare truth. And after all it's a documentary type movie. No doubt the film opens old wounds, but only to find the root cause of it, only to find cure for them, only to make sure they are eradicated and never surface again.
The movie Black Friday is based on the book of Hussain Zaidi, tracks the investigation & interrogation that follows after the Bombay serial bomb blast in '93. The movie portrays the perpetrators' lives just before and after the incident. The foray of the Indian cinema into investigative journalism is good. The movie doesn't ever try to be politically correct and the director is almost obsessed with showing everything. The film presents the hard facts about the 1993 blasts in Mumbai (then Bombay). The usage of actual news footage of the incidents make you believe whatever you are watching. What makes the film more riveting is the bravado of the director to represent the real names of all those involved in the conspiracy which gives a new dimension to real life movies.
Finally this movie with the focus on Bombay Bomb blast has covered lots of issues including the stress on the Police during investigation along with the perspectives from all sides. The movie is unique in the sense that it shows the life of a terrorist AFTER the blast and how he copes with all the pressures. The movie delves into the psyche of a terrorist after the blasts. Then there's the pressure faced by the investigators to nab the perpetrators, but at the same time handling the issue with sensitivity in their zeal.
The acting throughout the movie is par excellence. Kay Kay (as Inspector Rakesh Maria) is absolutely fantastic in this film though his screen time was limited. The surprise packet here is Aditya Srivastava who absolutely nailed his character. His desperation and struggle to escape the country, from the clutches of Mumbai police was just marvelously portrayed. A person helplessly running around the country, lack of money, being chased around by an unknown force. He emotes flawlessly the desperate look in his eyes to find place to hide himself. Pawan Malhotra is also a known face in India's parallel cinema. His portrayal of the underworld don Tiger Memon was just superb.
The best scene is an interrogation between Rakesh Maria (Kay Kay) and Badshah Khan (Aditya Srivastava). The dialogue here deals with communal/religious violence without being clichéd. The beginning scene of interrogation where the accused confesses "Sir, bombs are about to explode in the city sir" the movie delivers the punch to get the feel of the movie. The scene where Tiger Memon convinces his fraternity for making blasts in Mumbai is also great. His spewing of venom through the dialogues is great. “Mumbai mein Dhamaka Macha Denga Hum, Yeh Hindu sab lungi aapna mein mutenga” is a good dialogue. Indeed a great work of screenplay by Anurag Kashyap.
The music by Indian Ocean gives the movie its life especially in the final blast scene the eerie noise and the song “Karam Naam Ke”. The music more importantly suits the plot. Though the movie is a bit long and looses pace at some places but the director never loses grip, and that's really commendable. But, its almost impossible to present all the details in of the blasts shown in the movie in a short time.
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