Movie Review : Black and White - Juvenile

Rating: 4.5 /10

You almost feel like this movie is a child , with its heart in the right place but extremely cliched and juvenile. This is made by the yesteryear master Subhash Ghai, and surely he is way past his prime. It seems that the world has moved ahead, but he is stuck back in his Ram Lakhan, Khalnayak years. I have loved his films like Karz ( awesome) and Kalicharan, but it seems he has lost his magic. If a new-age director would have directed this film (Like Anurag Kashyup - in the slick Black Friday format) this would have been a much better film.

But alas Subhash Ghai falls to the much followed, over-used and obsolete cliches. His Militant from Afghanistaan is here to blow himself up with many innocents at Red Fort on 15th August, to avenge the death of his parents! He is ruthless, he is angry young man and he is focussed. That is untill he meets a Bengali baabu who teaches Urdu at a muslim college near Chandani Chawk and his activist wife. The professor is his ticket into the Red fort. So he finds an amazingly hillarious way to endear himself to them. By GOD , if you ever find a more juvenile technique, do let me know! So he becomes their beloved. They feed him, give him shelter and give him love, which finally melts his heart and predictably he does not carry out his mission. The police try to blow him away, but Prof helps him escape. So the Prof is nabbed by the police, until he tells us all his motive behind it.

His message: They send their message by making him a Suicide Bomber, and we have sent ours by converting him into a good man.

As I said the moral is excellent, the intentions well placed, but the execution is cliched. There are pitfalls in the dialogue, the screenplay, the direction. Subhash Ghai is not able to justify why this Hardcore terrorist completely turns on his heels at the last moment. Its inexplicable to you and me, but Subhash tries with the help of some good deeds by the Prof and his wife. The songs are forced in and there is an absolutely waste of a Love track! Anil Kapoor and Shefali Chaaya are forced to "Ham" and over act in parts and Anil only leaves an impact towards the end. The single expression role works well for the new comer Anurag Sinha, but its hard to explain his character who looks like a terroris - acts like a terrorist but is never identified as one!

An average movie at best. Watch it only if you want to go to the cinema and there is nothing else on offer... A DVD viewing would suffice.