Black is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and starring Rani Mukerji and Amitabh Bachchan. Black revolves around a deaf-blind girl, and her relationship with her teacher who himself later develops Alzheimer’s disease. The film draws inspiration from the life of Helen Keller, the blind academic and activist. Black was a critical and commercial success. The movie was inspired by the 1962 movie The Miracle Worker.
The film was screened at the Casablanca Film Festival and the International Film Festival of India. It won the Filmfare Award for best film. Time Magazine (Europe) selected the film as one of the 10 Best Movies of the Year 2005 from around the globe. The movie was positioned at number five. Indiatimes Movies ranks the movie amongst the 25 Must See Bollywood Films. The film was premiered in the Marché du Film section of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. Amitabh Bachchan received his second National Film Award for Best Actor at the 53rd National Film Awards, his fourth Filmfare Award for Best Actor and his second Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for his performance and Rani Mukerji won her second Filmfare Award for Best Actress and her second Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress.
Plot
The film begins with Michelle McNally (Rani Mukerji), a blind and deaf woman, visiting her former teacher Debraj Sahai (Amitabh Bachchan), who now has Alzheimer’s disease, in a hospital. The film then flashbacks to her childhood.
Michelle was a girl who lost her eyesight and hearing after recovering from an illness at the age of two and exists in a black world where she is isolated, trapped by her inability to see, hear, and express. She grows up becoming more and more frustrated, making her a violent, uncontrollable eight-year-old child. Her parents, Paul and Catherine, are at their wits’ end trying to control her until one day, Debraj Sahai enters their lives, an elderly alcoholic teacher for the deaf and blind. Debraj is an eccentric man who takes it upon himself to build Michelle into someone who can express and communicate. He uses harsh methods that are initially disapproved by Michelle’s father, who asks him to leave. Debraj stays while her father is away on a business trip, managing to teach Michelle a few words and better manners, but has difficulty teaching her the meaning of words. When Michelle’s father returns, Debraj packs his bags. Right before he leaves, Debraj gets frustrated with Michelle’s insolent behavior and throws her into a fountain of water. This causes her to take to Debraj’s lessons; she finally understands what water is, and is able to recognise her parents and vocalise the first syllables of small words. This convinces her parents to keep Debraj as her teacher.
Many years later, Michelle has grown into a relaxed and expressive woman, and is even able to dance and expertly sign. She gets admission to pursue a bachelor’s degree with Debraj’s help, the first deaf-blind person to do so at that university. She moves away from home and lives with Debraj and one of her servants. Over the next two years, she struggles to gain her degree, failing year after year, but maintains her spirit. One reason is that she must rely on Debraj for interpretation of the material but the principal helps by preparing the first-year course of study in braille.
Debraj begins to succumb to Alzheimer’s, at one point forgetting Michelle and leaving her stranded during a celebration. Michelle reconciles with her sister Sara, who had been jealous of her parents’ affection for Michelle since childhood. After attending Sara’s wedding, she begins to wonder about love, which she has not experienced, and asks Debraj to kiss her on the lips. Debraj reluctantly does so but decides to leave her because of this and the position she has put him in. Twelve years after enrollment, Michelle manages to gain her degree, and with her proud parents looking on, gives a speech at graduation. She does not wear her graduation robe, insisting she wants Debraj to be the first one to see her in it.
Debraj is now in a mental hospital due to his near-inability to remember his past and even how to speak. Michelle visits him wearing her robe; this causes glimmers of memory to return as Debraj realises she has graduated and does a victory dance. As the window opens to the rain, Michelle reaches out to it with Debraj’s hand in hers, and the pair say the first syllable of “water”, reminiscent of the first time Michelle understood the meaning of words when Debraj threw her into the fountain. However this time, it is Debraj who is beginning to learn to speak and understand.
The movie ends with a scene of Michelle among a crowd of people dressed in black carrying candles toward a church. There is a voiceover of a letter Michelle has written to Debraj’s friend Mrs. Nair, explaining that today was her teacher’s first day of school, and that like hers, his alphabet began with “B L A C K”.
Cast
Rani Mukerji as Michelle McNally
Amitabh Bachchan (the teacher) as Debraj Sahai
Ayesha Kapur as Young Michelle McNally
Shernaz Patel as Catherine McNally, Michelle’s mother
Dhritiman Chaterji as Paul McNally, Michelle’s father
Nandana Sen as Sarah McNally, Michelle’s sister
Sillo Mahava as Mrs. Gomes
Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal as Mrs. Nair
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