Black and White vs Race: NO COMPETITION

What an evil mosibat this flixter has become... since I started writing little film reviews there I have ceased to write here! now to remedy...

During the weekend I managed to watch Black and White and Race. Can 2 films be any different from one another?

Race was probably the worst Hindi film I have seen in ages. I was stunned at how little I cared about anything or anyone in the film about 20 minutes after it started. How can every single character be two dimesnional- shallow- materialistic and dominated by only the wish to place their hands on money that is actually their own already... I mean the only character that gets something in the end is Anil Kapoor. The brothers and their women already owned everything?!

The only thing I actually liked was Atif Aslam's song Pehli Nazar Mein.

I wonder how Anil Kapoor could actually take part in both these films? Shall I commend him on his diversity and acting skills? I put it to the desire to be part of a big budget, star studded, muscle show fest. The man looks good at age 50!! achhhhhh if only he didn't constantly, disgustingly munch on all that fruit. What was the point in that?


I was cautious when I started watching Black and White. A Hindi film whose main theme is modern day Muslim (global) terrorism affecting India could potentially have been an absolute piece of nationalistic, insulting, shallow crap. Sarfarosh was pretty disturbing. Fiza was beyond disturbing. Main Hoon Na was about everything other than terrorism. Fanaa... what can I say? But this film was actually engaging and very good.

It did have its nationalistic moments. I felt my body cringe when Anil's daughter played the Indian national antham on her little keyboard, among several other scenes. But overall, I found it a thoughtful and thought provoking experience.

Like many people living in this end of the world (or anywhere actually) I have thought a lot about religion, being religious, having faith, being fanatical about your faith, mixing faith with politics, terrorism and faith and what 'life altering experience' could possibly make you shift your whole persective on faith and its role in life/world, etc.

After a long build up portraying unquestionable faith and willingness to kill for this faith- including scenes where the young man is shown being brought up, trained and brainwashed in what is presumably an Al Qaida camp in Afghanistan (I am guessing here because the scenes are shown during a musical break from the storyline. My link to Al Qaida is the fact that we see the young man speaking in Farsi-Dari during several scenes spread through out the film) he decides to live and let live for now.

Setting the film in Delhi's Chandni Chowk, with the narrow lanes, little shops, endless cups of tea, crowds and constant interference, not to mention the Juma Masjed and the intensity of Islamism in the area (for me only to be rivalled by Nizamuddin!) was perfect. Some how Chandni Chowk is my symbol of Islam in India (most likely due to the fact that I haven't traveled very extensively and I only know the cliche sites) ... so the decision to make the film there fulfilled my foreigner's mental expectations. WOW! How very oriental of me... I hadn't realized that until now.

The acting was convincing. The music was great. And the stroyline?

The experience portayed in the film was not a hundred percent convincing but I am not sure anything would be... it was pretty sudden but it is clear that the young man does not have a complete change of heart. I guess he just decides there are good Hindus or non-Muslim people and he has to evaluate his faith. That's the reason I gave for his running away rather than giving himself up.

Gratefully the film never became filmy. The storyline carefully avoided romance and sentimentality. No Kajol here to challenge Aamir's faith in his 'mission'!

I was deeply, genuinely surprised by the fact that the man was not dutifully killed off as a sacrifice in the name of multicultural, multiethnic, multi religious, secular India. I had never seen a terrorist, non-secular character survive before. I wonder if the scriptwriters desperately sought ways to keep Aamir's character alive in Fanaa? or was the whole point there that he dies in love (and in protection of secular India)???

Survival really was for me the ultimate demonstration of gray within the black and white.