An unsettling insight into the Bombay blasts

After having won the reputation of being a jinxed director, scriptwriter Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday finally saw light of the day two years after its completion this week. Kashyap’s debut venture Paanch has still not been released, and Black Friday, despite the delay, has given us all the more reasons to look forward to it.

Based on the book by S Hussain Zaidi, Black Friday is an unsettling movie that makes a strong statement by showing rather than telling. Without making any comment, the movie shows how one incident leads to another and an entire generation walks the path of fanaticism. There are no heroes, neither villains in the movie. The characters are real, their names are real- Tiger Memon, Dawood Ibrahim, adding stroke after stroke of realistic touches to a moving narrative.

Rather than excruciatingly narrating the planning and execution of the 1993 Bombay blasts, the movie begins with the scene of the blast, including details about time and places of each. This is followed by the ‘chapters’: investigations, arrests of suspects and finally a peek into the psyche of those who planned the blasts. The scenes keep moving between past and present and an excellent editing keeps the narrative involving throughout.

Despite the real time footages of news, interviews and scenes from the blast sites- gore and dead bodies- the film disturbs, not disgusts. At times you find yourself clenching a fist with the kind of realistic portrayal of the scenes- and the way the police carries out the interrogations. It doesn’t keep you at the seat’s end, but sink back and think of what happened and how.

Theatre and TV actor Pawan Malhotra deserves a bravo for the way he enacts Tiger Memon. Same with Kay Kay, who plays the Mumbai ACP Rakesh Maria. Though the latter has few dialogues to his credit in the movie, his acting is what speaks for him. Background score by the band Indian Ocean moves with the mood of the movie, and the soundtrack Bandeh at the end comes as almost the epilogue. Arey ruk ja re Bandeh… haunts you long after.

A green signal for this one? Maybe.

If you liked Page 3 or Chandni Bar, there is some chance that you will take well to Traffic Signal; it bears the typical Madhur Bhandarkar stamp. Unfortunately, this very effect has begun to weigh down upon his creativity- with the treatment of the films becoming repetitive.

We loved him when he came first, because he was different. But he is now his own self over and over again. The obsession with the alleys of Mumbai- the bar dancers, the business tycoons, the socialites and the goons - works against the storyteller despite his strokes of genius. Yes, that is another reason why you could watch Traffic Signal. If you were born in Mumbai or stayed there, relating to the movie will be much easier. (Those who are there will understand what I mean) For the rest of us, it is just the multitudes living on the Mumbai streets- fighting, begging, pleading for survival. And money. Those whom we have seen in glimpses in movies. Only in the movies.

The protagonist, Silsila (Kunal Khemu), tells us about the ‘industry’ spread around each traffic signal in the opening scene. The movie takes it much further- to the manager of one traffic signal who collects his weekly shares, or hafta- to the gangsters, policemen and the politicians - all somehow integrated into what Bhandarkar claims to be a 180-crore business. And finally, Silsila himself is used as a ploy to what results in the collapse of the business around their traffic signal- which used to be life and bread for the people living there. Though people may find the end a little abrupt, but it is open-ended in a way that allows the audience to draw their own interpretations- without any dramatics on the director's part.

Bhandarkar deserves due credit for handling such a vast theme effortlessly. Within a scene or two, one gets to know about the lives of the characters- portrayed in a realistic way that disgusts at times, adding positive points to the director’s score sheet. The first half of the movie introduces too many characters too quick. And there is a melange of scenes building up the general feel of the movie. But before the viewer went further into their stories, the movie reaches its climax. But the characters as a mass entity come together to scintillatingly portray the life that Bhandarkar wishes to show - one that is overlooked by passers-by everyday.

Bhandarkar also brings in Konkana Sen- his Page 3 star in a 'special appearance' as the prostitute who lurks about the same traffic signal where his story is based. We end up looking for more of the fine actress. Ranvir Shorey is impressive in his acting as the drug-addict too, and the touching Ranvir-Konkana story breathes life into the movie.

Atul Kularni finds mention in the credits, but is conspicuous by his absence on screen. In less than two hours, Bhandarkar tells a lot and also touches on issues related to the characters.