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Bhansali reclaims his art, but not his heart
Our correspondent believes that while being a brilliant
movie, Black is not from Sanjay Leela Bhansali's heart.
BY JM
The director of Khamoshi, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, is
back with Black but the former remains his best work
yet. As someone who celebrated Khamoshi and mourned
when Bhansali came out with Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam followed
by a little better but far-from-his-best, Devdas, I
feel hope stirring to see that Bhansali has not given up his
vision and pluck.
But going back to Khamoshi, I still feel it was a
movie ahead of its time. It was a beautiful depiction of what
it is like to be deaf-mute and deal with an increasingly
impatient world. More importantly, it depicts what it is like
to be the normal and live with people who need to so much to
just survive. Very often, our filmmakers show cardboard
characterisations of people who can give so much of love and
tenderness all the time and expect nothing in return. In Khamoshi,
my most favourite scene was when Manisha Koirala is thrown out
of the house by her parents and as she leaves she tells them
to be stop running from the world and hiding behind her.
 She
demands that they stick by her, because she stuck by them when
they need her. She tells them to take responsibility of their
lives, which I think is such a courageous statement. Just by
expecting them to be able to give, she is treating them as
normal people.
And the best part is, when she comes back and rings the
doorbell, she finds her parents have installed a light bulb so
they can figure out the sound of the bell. They have learned
to be independent. I thought it was a beautiful movie about
human dignity and not treating people with disabilities as
mentally retarded or as people who cannot take on life with
courage and strength.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali put his heart and soul into the movie
and I could understand his bitterness when the movie tanked
and even our so-called evolved critics panned the movie. (What
the hell, they panned Dil Se too, which I think is Mani
Ratnam's best!) But I couldn't help feeling let down when I
saw Hum Dil.... The movie had promise too, if Bhansali
hadn't been quite so bitter after Khamoshi and tried
hard to follow the Mangalsutra formula. The ending of
the movie seemed to say, "OK, you want a conventional
movie, by god you'll get a conventional movie!"
Which would still have been alright, if he didn't try to
pass off the movie as a great movie after its box office
success. I would have had no qualms had he called it what it
was - a pretty movie with great music and the right masala mix
-- and left it at that. Even Mahesh Bhatt, never pretended his
movies were wonderful when he stopped making good movies. And,
to be fair, a filmmaker has the right to make any kind of
movie he wants to. But please don't call it a great movie and
insult our intelligence.
Then there was Devdas. And I mourned a little more
for I thought that Bhansali had sold out for sure. Don't
misunderstand me, I enjoyed Devdas but he certainly
wasn't pushing the envelope. (Devdas isn't about great
legendary love, it's about a man who never could come to terms
with the fact that he never could stand up for himself.)
Black is Sanjay Leela Bhansali's saving grace. Some
tremendous performances, a good script, (the obvious Miracle
Worker influence! ) and great cinematography make the movie a treat
to watch. Though, I sincerely wish the movie wasn't so perfect
and well, a little cold-blooded. It's a movie, made with the
head. Bhansali's craft is better and it shows. Every prop,
every detail is well thought-out. And while it's good, very,
very good, it doesn't have the naiveté and vibrancy of a Khamoshi.
Perhaps, I should just be glad Bhansali is back and feels
confident enough to make good movies. And maybe it's too much
to expect him to retain the naiveté and belief that he showed
in his first movie.
But, he seems to be a director, convinced that there are no
takers for the kind of movies that he wants to make. The
success of the multiplex movies may have given him confidence
that people are interested in "different" themes,
but in his heart, he does not believe that a movie that is
truly unconventional will work. And that, to me, is a big
tragedy for a filmmaker of his calibre. For it means that he
still does not believe in himself.
BY JM
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