Black Friday

It saddens me that posters on this thread have the need to brand this as a 'bollywood' movie. the brilliance that is ' black Friday' is so far,far,far removed and so many million times better than any of the dross that conventional ' bollywood' could ever even HOPE to produce makes 'bollywood' a throughly inappropriate branding for ' black Friday'.

for me, 'black Friday' is paving the way for what Indian cinema *should* be doing more of....that is, challenging it's audience and offering some intellectual stimulation.

I realise that the Indian cinema public's demand is overwhelmingly for ' boy meets girl, boys long lost brother/best friend also loves the same girl, they have a fight, then they realise they are brothers and engage in a 30 minute dance recital', type of bullshit, but Indians are becoming more sophisticated and I for one cannot wait for the more serious and discerning productions to come from India that truly challenges the mind and senses.

'Black Friday' in this regards represents a HUGE turning point for Indian cinema.

don't miss it..it's a must see movie on so many levels.

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 film.

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 film presents the hard facts about the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai (then Bombay). The film gives a new dimension to real life cinema, with real name, real incidents, and real people. The usage of actual news footage of the incidents make you believe whatever you are watching. It takes courage to take names of some of the biggest name in underworld and Indian politics as bluntly, and the filmmaker shows that courage. The story doesn't point finger on any particular person, group or community as the culprit for what is still Indian crime history's biggest tragedy. It tries to make a point how some clever minds make their business out of our religious sentiments, at the cost of lives of common men. Men who are common in every sense of it. The terror, the attacks, the explosions, the riots inhales not any particular community but the whole humanity.

Director churns out a stunning effort. Technically too the film is impeccable. The blast sequences couldn't have got any more realistic. Each actor performs his character to full honesty, but Badshah Khan and Tiger Memon stand out.

And before you jump to your own conclusion to decide the culprit(s), to decide the fate of them, the film concludes with the quote that says it all.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

A must watch.

I remember watching the trailers of Black Friday a couple of years ago and making it a point to watch it.Never before has anyone dared to approach such a controversial issue so blatantly,which is probably why it worked.The events that are depicted in this movie shook not only the city of Bombay but the nation as a whole.To add to the documentary-like look at the blasts of '93,director Anurag Kashyap has done a brilliant job of elucidating moving,intense performances from fine actors like Kay Kay Menon and Aditya Srivastava. Technically, Black Friday is more visionary than most Hindi movies ever made.It did not have exotic locations,an ensemble star cast of the most high profile actors in the industry,or an unlimited budget,all of which are necessities for an Indian movie.The use of complex Steadicam shots,slow motion and hand-held cameras really put the movie into a different perspective.The use of lighting in situations such as the interrogations being bathed in red light also helped set the mood required to really go into the depths of all the stories of the main characters which have been intricately woven together with finesse. Hats off to Mr. Anurag Kashyap for bringing such a fine piece of art to Indian cinema.Seems like the time spent with Mr. Mani Ratnam,the greatest Indian director ever to get behind a camera,is paying off.This is evident in the tinge of patriotism and realism portrayed.Personally i hope guys with vision like this continue bringing quality to Indian cinema.It really needs it.

Anurag Kashyap is one of the best directors working in the Hindi film industry. I loved films like Ugly and Raman Raghav 2.0 and hearing this was one of his best, I had to check it out.

Black Friday tells the story of the 1993 bomb blasts through the perspectives of the police, the perpetrators and everyone else involved.

I find it fascinating how this film got pushed back so much and after seeing it, I can understand why. Based on the detailed book by Hussain Zaidi, Black Friday goes through everything leading up to the event and the aftermath and does it in a brutally honest manner. This film is risky and it's risky because it uses all the names of the people involved. Kashyap tried to make this a truly honest depiction of what was going on and that's what makes it really hardhitting. Without sugarcoating anything, Black Friday remains an interesting watch as we see the ins and outs of the bomb blasts. The film has many characters and trying to juggle everyone's story isn't an easy task but Kashyap does his best here and gives each important character ample screen time.

Considering the film's budget limitations, this film still manages to capture the horrific nature of the blasts. Once it happens, seeing how it disturbs everyone's lives and the amount of dead bodies shown covered in blood is very intense and handled very realistically. I loved the use of red during the interrogation scenes as it increased the intense nature of the scene. The film isn't flawless. There are a couple of audio and editing issues. I think the 2 hour 40 minute runtime is a bit too long and occasionally loses steam during some parts but Black Friday is riveting most of the time.

What really excels in this movie are the performances and I think everyone was terrific. Kay Kay Menon did a great job. I really felt the seriousness of his character during those interrogation scenes. Aditya Srivastav also did a fantastic job as one of the terrorists. The standout though was Pavan Malhotra as Tiger Memon. He owned every scene he was in. It was also really surprising to see a lot of well known people who were unknown at the time like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Gajraj Rao and Imtiaz Ali.

Black Friday is a fantastic study on the 1993 bomb blasts and it's very impressive considering the low budget they had to work with. I would recommend giving it a watch.

'Black Friday' is horrifyingly raw. It's overwhelmingly dark. It's frighteningly real. It's daringly gritty and graphic. Anurag Kashyap's film is one of the most skillfully executed movies of recent times. A great screenplay, strong light effects, the use of color, the direction, the performances, the background score work together very effectively. The cinematography, whether the shaky camera, the zooming or the closeup shots, works brilliantly. 'Black Friday' is slick (but not so much as to take away from the realness). Actors Kay Kay Menon, Aditya Shrivastava and Pavan Malhotra do an excellent job in the acting department.

Based on Hussain Zaidi's book of the same title, 'Black Friday' revolves around the investigation of the infamous Bombay blasts (after which Bombay became Mumbai) in the early 90s. The movie opens with a 'boom' and from then on the intricate investigation proceeds. As the trial was still in process, Kashyap had to wait years before his movie could finally release in 2007. The director deserves credit for bravely making a film on such a serious and risky subject.

However, it does have the documentary feel. Kashyap breaks the film into chapters and this gave the feeling that one was watching a documentary series. The pace isn't steady because the film does drag at certain points.

'Black Friday' is a brave well-made film and it is one that should be watched. Not everyone might like it but on some level they may appreciate it.