Black Friday

'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.

Mr. Anurag Kashyap,

Take a bow! Black Friday is sincerely the greatest piece of cinematic magic to be released ever. You and your team have produced cinema of the highest quality, raised the notch by a few miles and used this medium like never before, hats off to you sir!

I must admit that I am slightly biased toward your film because I have been born and brought up in Bombay and on March 12, 1993 (the day of the serial blasts) was just 8 years old. As Salman Rushdie famously calls children born during the era of Indian Independence as "Midnight Children", i would like to say we are but "Blast Children". Children whose innocence has been shattered mercilessly by the underworld and extremists from every religion and you have portrayed just that in your film.

The film does not hype terrorism or romanticize the darkness of Bombay or the coldness of its police like many other so called underworld films do but portrays exactly what happens in reality, the human side. Sir, your film has merged the very shady line between cinematic magic, fiction and reality to an intoxicating mix of actuality.

Pawan Malhotra (Tiger Memon), Kay Kay (Rakesh Maria) and Aditya Srivastava (Badhshah Khan) do not act, they live and breathe the very sentiments of these real life people. As a viewing audience I never once felt like I was watching a film, but felt like a 'fly on the wall' as the plot unfolds before your very eyes, the very same helplessness as Mumbaikars felt on that very day of the bomb blasts. The music by Indian Ocean is outstanding, it flows as easily as your reel does and blends so very brilliantly with the script.

The cold chill that trickles down your spine as Dawood Ibrahim is shown in his mansion in Dubai is breathtaking. The authenticity of Bombay and its various locations from fast food restaurants in Bandra to the passport office in Worli is worth many many accolades.

Mr. Kashyap, this film has struck the very chord of life in cinema once more. I'm sure everybody who watches it will share similar sentiments as I do. I am glad that the 2 year dustbin wait for your film did not deter you from eventually getting it released. You are not alone sir, the world supports your work with open arms. The silver screen is worth visiting again. Thank you sir and take a bow again..

Yours sincerely, Aditya

I just watched Black Friday last night at home and didn't feel like missing a single scene or even a shot of the movie. I was totally concentrated and lost in this movie. I felt how a genuine, appreciable and real effort can go wasted on box office. Such movies should run well even on box office as well as in award functions.

Kay Kay Menon is one of my favorite actor as well as Pavan Malhotra in his intense role playing. Hats off again to this movie from 1st scene to last one. The sequence of Badshah Khan moving Rampur to Jaipur to Kolkata and back to Rampur is truly worth-watching. I know this movie didn't mean to earn profits or a MASALA FLICK that's why it became a serious cinema and worth watching.

Anurag Kashyap has really done a brilliant and hard-hitting job. I wanted to see this movie from the moment I came to knowledge about it. I really enjoyed every moment though I found there were many censor cuts during the movie and BEEP tones during bad words speaking. Anurag made it hardcore real.

I am not here to reveal or tell the story as it will spoil concentration and excitement of the watchers who didn't watch this movie yet. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND BY BEING A REAL MOVIE-WATCHER TO SEE THIS MOVIE ANY WAY YOU CAN GET IT.

I learned that because of politicians' dirty plays, games and just because of their selfishness such incidences happens frequently in our country and which interrupts India to move further progressively. Such degressing tact, cheats and bad intentions of our politicians ruins peace between 2 religions and whatever they do they do just for their own benefit. How many innocent people were killed during such riots and blasts that's nightmarish thought and DID THIS POLITICIANS EVER THINK ABOUT THEIR INNOCENT FAMILIES WHILE PLANNING SUCH THINGS? My anger is purely towards THE POLITICIANS not to any Hindu or Muslim. Now our young generation must come up with their new ideas, intelligence and unity to fail such bad and dishonest intentions of Indian POLITICIANS.

BLACK Friday is most worth watching that's all.

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.

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.