Black is a 2005 Indian drama film co-written, directed, and co-produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It stars Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji in lead roles, with Ayesha Kapur, Shernaz Patel, and Dhritiman Chatterjee in supporting parts. The film narrates the story of Michelle (Mukerji), a deafblind woman, and her relationship with her teacher Debraj (Bachchan), an elderly alcoholic teacher who himself later develops Alzheimer's disease. The film, primarily in Hindi, also contains significant English dialogue.
In 2003, Bhansali announced the production of his new project, Black. Its idea first came up when Bhansali met several disabled children during the making of Khamoshi: The Musical (1996). The screenplay was influenced by Keller's 1903 autobiography, The Story of My Life. Principal photography was done by Ravi K. Chandran in 100 days from mid-January to April 2004, taking place in Shimla and Film City. Omung Kumar was the production designer, while Sham Kaushal was the action director. After filming, it was edited by Bela Sehgal. The soundtrack and score were composed by Monty Sharma.
Black released worldwide on 4 February 2005, and received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with praise for its direction, story, screenplay, dialogues, cinematography, production design, costumes, and the performances of the cast, with major praise directed towards Bachchan and Mukherji's performances, and Bhansali's direction and screenplay. The film grossed , and became the eighth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year.
At the 53rd National Film Awards, Black won three awards, including Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Bachchan). At the 51st Filmfare Awards, it won all eleven of its nominations, including Best Film, Best Film (Critics), Best Director (Bhansali), Best Actor and Best Actor (Critics) (both for Bachchan), and Best Actress and Best Actress (Critics) (both for Mukerji), becoming the most-awarded film in the history of the ceremony at that time. It was also the fifth film to win the four major Filmfare categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress.
Plot Michelle McNally, a 42-year-old, Anglo-Indian woman living in Shimla, is "special" in more ways than one for being deafblind and mute. She inhabits a suffocating world of infinite Black -- where she is isolated in the darkness of her own existence, trapped by her inability to see, hear and speak. Michelle, her younger sister, Sara, and their mother, Catherine, find Michelle's long-lost former teacher, Debraj Sahai, near the fountain outside their house. Debraj is admitted to a mental hospital, where the doctor diagnoses him as the patient of incurable Alzheimer's disease, who has near-inability to remember his past and even how to speak. However, Michelle denies the statement and vows to help Debraj in regaining his normal mental health, in return for Debraj's kindness to help her discover her identity, which makes her feel human rather than someone inferior with a disability. The film then flashbacks to the past to Michelle's childhood. Michelle was a girl who tragically lost her eyesight, hearing and speech after recovering from an illness at the age of two. On the sheer will of her ferocious rage against destiny, Michelle grows up prone to violent outbursts for becoming more and more frustrated by the seamless, endless void in her life, where nothing reaches her and she reaches nothing. As a result, Michelle becomes a violent, uncontrollable 8-year-old child and her parents, Paul and Catherine, are at their wits' end trying to control her, especially after Catherine gives birth to Sara.
However, the light shines through the end of the tunnel one day. Debraj, an elderly alcoholic teacher for the blind and deaf in Dehradun, enters their lives and becomes a ray of hope for Michelle. Debraj sees himself as a magician and is a disillusioned eccentric man. He takes it upon himself to bring the young Michelle into the light and build her into someone who can express and communicate. Debraj even gives up salary, allowance and alcohol and only requests for time and trust to complete his mission. He uses harsh methods, although always for Michelle's long-term benefit, but Paul initially disapproves of the methods and orders Debraj to leave. Although Paul believes him to be gone, Debraj stays as the teacher while Paul is away on a business trip for 20 days. Catherine grudgingly approves of his continuation, given her fear of Michelle being sent to a mental hospital. By the 20th day, Debraj manages to teach Michelle some words and better manners, but he still has difficulty teaching her the meaning of words. When Paul returns, Debraj packs his bags and begins to leave, but at the very last moment, he gets frustrated with Michelle's continuing insolent behaviour, as he is walking towards the door with suitcase in hand. As a result, Debraj immediately takes Michelle out in the courtyard and throws her into a fountain full of water. At that moment, Michelle suddenly takes to Debraj's lessons and begins to understand the meaning of water. She is also able to identify her parents and can vocalise the first syllables of small words, causing Paul and Catherine to retain Debraj as Michelle's teacher.
22 years later, 30-year-old Michelle has learned a great deal, becoming a relaxed and expressive woman, who is even able to dance and expertly sign. Debraj convinces the principal of a university to grant her an interview, which Michelle successfully passes with assistance from Debraj's friend, Mrs. Nair, and receives admission to pursue a degree of Bachelor of Arts, the first blind-deaf person to do so at that university. Michelle moves away from home and lives with Debraj and one of her servants. Over the next two years, she struggles to gain her degree, failing year after year, but she still maintains her spirit. One reason is that she must rely on Debraj completely for interpretation of the material and studying. This problem is overcome by the principal of the college, who prepares the whole first-year Arts course of study in braille for Michelle. Another reason for the continuing failure of Michelle is that her typing skills are lacking and typing is her only way to write down what she knows during exams. However, she also soon overcomes this deficiency through another flash of increased competence when Michelle almost quits the university and gets into an argument with Debraj. At the same time as Michelle faces all her challenges with resilience, numerous other changes are also witnessed. Debraj begins to succumb to Alzheimer's disease, first forgetting the way out of the principal's office, and then forgetting Michelle and leaving her stranded during an ice-cream celebration for her improved typing.
Meanwhile, Michelle also reconciles with Sara, who turns out was always jealous of her parents' affection for Michelle throughout her life. After attending Sara's marriage, Michelle begins to wonder about love, which she has never experienced, and she even requests Debraj to kiss her on the lips. Debraj reluctantly does so but decides to leave Michelle himself because of this demand and the position she has put him in. In the present, which is twelve years after Michelle's enrollment into the college, she successfully manages to gain her BA degree, and with her proud parents looking on her, Michelle even gives a speech to the graduating class. Wearing no black graduation robe, she expresses gratitude to everyone and announces that she will only wear the robe so that her teacher may see her first. At the mental hospital, Michelle visits Debraj wearing her robe and glimmers of memory are seen returning as Debraj realises that she has graduated and even performs a victory dance. As the window opens to the rain outside, Debraj's hand is seen in Michelle's reaching into the rain, and the teacher-student pair is heard vocalising the first syllable of the word "water", with echoes of the scene in which Michelle first began understanding the meaning of words, when Debraj threw her into her fountain earlier in the film. However, this time, it is Debraj who is beginning to learn to speak and understand. The film ends with a scene of Michelle among a crowd of people, all dressed in black, carrying candles while walking towards a church. There is a voiceover of a letter that Michelle has written to Mrs. Nair, explaining that today was her teacher's first day of school, and that just like hers, his alphabet began with the letters "B L A C K", implying that Debraj had finally succumbed to his illness and died.
Cast The cast is listed below:
Amitabh Bachchan as Debraj Sahai Rani Mukerji as Michelle McNally Ayesha Kapur as young Michelle Shernaz Patel as Catherine "Kathy" McNally Dhritiman Chatterjee as Paul McNally Nandana Sen as Sarah McNally Sillo Mahava as Mrs. Gomes Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal as Mrs. Nair Kenny Desai as Dr. Mehta Khursheed Khurody as a pianist at Sarah's wedding Shehnaz Anand as a teacher Zul Vellani and Kamal Adip as trustees
Production Development
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. 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. 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. Bhansali chose to address a subject that no other director had done before: "I didn't want to stop making a film straight from my heart because of the fear of losing my audiences." 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." He announced the film in July 2003, along with his other project, Bajirao Mastani, which would be released in 2015. The media declared it as his "most personal film".
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". 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 deafblind 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 [deaf] 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." In addition, some sources claimed that it served as a remake of Arthur Penn's The Miracle Worker (1962), but Bhansali denied the reports. Others claimed that the film was based on Prakash Kapadia's Gujarati play Aatam Vinjhe Paankh, which was inspired by The Miracle Worker.