Black Friday Review

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Article Updated 10 February, 2007 08:06:18 AM IST

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Black Friday ReviewLet Sleeping Dogs Lie!

Black Friday
Credits
Producer/s:	Jhamu Sughand, JSPL
Director:	Anurag Kashyap
Cast:	Kay Kay Menon, Aditya Srivastava, Pawan Malhotra
Music:	Indian Ocean
Lyrics:	Piyush Mishra

Tell us something new! One feels like telling this to filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. Ever since ’93, one has witnessed bomb blasts not only in films but also live on television. So much of newsprint has been spent on the bomb blasts that one has almost seen and heard what the film is trying to show. And at the end of the day, the ’93 bomb blasts is hardly a slice of history that needs to be glorified or glamourized on screen. The film drags. It’s really sluggish. Not that one expected item songs in it but it’s like an Iranian film.

No one can ever forget the 1993 Mumbai blasts that shook not only Mumbai but also the rest of India! What triggered off these blasts? That’s what the film is trying to tell you. Like we didn’t know the answer to this question! The film tells us about the conspiracy and the people who engineered this heinous crime, the blasts and the aftermath. The film is based on the events leading up to and the investigation thereafter of the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts:
1.25 p.m.: The first blast at the Bombay Stock Exchange. 2.45 p.m.: The blast at Worli Passport Office. This was followed by a series of explosions in the Air India Building, Century Bazaar, Zaveri Bazar, Plaza cinema, Sea Rock Hotel in Bandra, Centaur Hotel, Juhu, and Centaur Hotel, Santacruz. To give credit to the maker the film has an authentic feel to it. He uses real-life names, that add to its authenticity. His handling of some sequences gives it a convincing look. The training in Pakistan has a real and creepy feel to it.

Performances- There are a lot of faces that one can’t recognize. Kay Kay Menon as Rakesh Maria is excellent. Pawan Malhotra, as Tiger Memon is good. Cinematography is noteworthy.

The box office success of the film seems dicey. Watch the film if you really want to re-live the bomb blasts. Otherwise it’s worth a miss. You’d be better off watching a classic on DVD.