Why did everyone like Black? It's terrible. It's a cumulative effect of Bhansali's fascination for fairy tales and old movies he probably watched on his mother's lap. Like Charlie Chaplin's Tramp and Sound of Music. Rani Mukherjee is blind, but she also a) walks like Charlie Chaplin b)appears to have ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder c)has a dad who needs more help than her.
If you subscribe to the Chaplin view, then there's 'the' walk to prove this, and besides the Gaiety theatre in Shimla where the movie is set is always playing Chaplin. If you're exploring the SOM view, well Dhritiman Chatterjee is Christopher Plummer, the strict father who leaves his children (in this case, child) in the able hands of Julie Andrews (Amitabh Bachchan) who works wonders with the kid. Ho hum.
It's a complex play of light, texture, shade and colour. It should have been sepia-tinted. Or converted into a travelling photography exhibition. The house indulges Bhansali's obssession with the lavish, overstated, decadent. What was gilted and glinting in Devdaas is ornate and heavy in Black. Same origins. Very over-the-top movie. I'd be a lousy critic, but after this I watched Ray and wow... that was really magical!
