BLACK FRIDAYA still from the movie Black FridayDirector: Anurag KashyapStarring:Kay Kay Menon, Pawan Malhotra, Aditya SrivastavaIn an interrogation scene in Black Friday, police officer Rakesh Maria tells accused Badshah Khan that uneducated, unemployed men like him will always be fodder for criminals like Tiger Memon, who use religion as a tool to brainwash them. The scene sums up the profound irony and tragedy of the trajectory of hate, which began with the destruction of the Babri Masjid and concluded in a series of explosions in Mumbai in 1993. Thousands of people were killed, injured and rendered homeless-all in the name of God.Black Friday, based on S. Hussain Zaidi's terrific book, attempts to recreate the complex patterns of poverty, politics and corruption, which led to the Mumbai mayhem of 1993. Debutant director Anurag Kashyap does not take sides. There are few heroes here-even the police who relentlessly pursued and cracked the case are capable of frightening brutality. Kashyap creates several memorable sequences. The acting is startlingly good-Pavan Malhotra comes out of oblivion with his seething performance as Tiger Memon. And yet the centre does not hold.The film is structured, perhaps too much like a book, into chapters. The screenplay, which is done by Kashyap himself, doesn't allow his terrific characters to evolve or engage. The story has great drama but the screenplay is without a dramatic arc and eventually that makes the film static. Still, Black Friday establishes Kashyap as an impressive talent.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Feb 26, 2007 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---
