Wow! Such a good movie.

one of my absolute favorites!

Good start, but then it gets ruined

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

This film is pretty unusual for a bollywood film because it stays true to its content, but nevertheless tempo fades out as the movie progresses. THe direction was not upto the mark which you could see because it does not let you to be involved with the characters and even the characters are not given proper introduction so it becomes difficult to understand which character is narrator talking about. The music is just average. There should have been a little more tension but it does not happen. Even the editing is not done properly. It seems as if you missed something but actually nothing happens. I loved the scene where the bomb explodes in the initial scenes. But overall a good attempt considering it is a difficult film to make

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.A message of Mahatma Gandhi, the line that begins the movie is all about the very essence of it. As per records, it's a 2004 film but it is sad to know that the release of this was delayed till Feb 9th 2007. Such is our censor board and government that was afraid of releasing a film that takes names of all involved in 1993 Bombay (now Mumbai) Blasts.Bravo Anurag Kashyap for directing this uncompromisingly with a vision that is so very rare in an industry like us. It's surely the most courageous attempt to make a film on an account of a real crime happened in 1993. More kudos to Hussain Zaidi, the original writer of the book who wrote actual facts and presenting reason for each doing of a character.The film is about investigation's done by Mumbai Cop Rakesh Maria (Kay Kay Menon) that unravels the Mumbai blasts plot setup by the dastardly un human Tiger Memon (Pawan Malhotra). Everything about the film is purely raw and makes you not audience but a participant of the activities happening on screen, they make you feel as a bystander on a blast as a silent observer of an investigation.Everything is right about this movie, the emotions portrayed by the accused Asgar Muqadam or Badshah Khan or those by inspector Dangle or MN Singh everyone brought life to the character they played.Anurag, the director captured every emotion be it trauma or a feeling of guilt or even of triumph everything was brought out well. The screenplay goes so very intelligently taking you through the whole incidents and the cinematography and art direction transform you to an era that you will believe is Bombay of 1993 where there were no mobile phones, no communication channels as email. And yet, so much was to be communicated in so little time from dubai to Pakistan to India's bombay.The best scene for me was Dawood's entry. It lasts hardly a minute but the impact it made was terrific.The music, oh my god he used it so very effectively be it a Bharam Bhaap Ke or a Bande ( a subtle message oriented philosophical song for end credits) or the whole background music, just beautiful may be the right word.The monochromatic red interrogation scenes make you feel eery and present an insight to the minds of all those doing it. All are great dialogues and apt ones but the most impact making one comes from Kay Kay when he describes that the culprits are actually victims.The editing had to be sharper coz at 2 hours and 40 minutes, the viewer may tend to slip off but this drama held me so very tight that I watched it for 3rd time without moving elsewhere. Be it a theatre or my computer, it just makes me sit and watch. This is how a gripping drama should be told.I dare say, in last decade, I have not seen a movie more raw, more realistic and more dramatic than this.When I first saw this film on first day in Fame Theatre in Pune, I remember that hardly 10 people would have seen this. Such is our appreciation for a movie that's easily one of the best made films. Having said that, so be it as long as there are movie goers who are passionate in watching films, this shall be remembered.I rate this 5/5 and give it best film made from 2000-2010. How many ever may come and go. This shall remain in memory for a long time, if seen once. This is the kind of film we should be nominating for every foreign award including Oscars. Sadly, our government has a different view on such films that are straight telling and bold.Thanks all for making it the film it stands today and I will revisit this again later.

I watched Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday, a film about the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai and I've decided it's one of the best films I've watched in recent years.The film is based on journalist Hussain Zaidi's heavily researched book by the same name, and what makes Black Friday so controversial - and the reason why it was such a battle to bring this film to screen - is because it takes names. It's a brave film that documents exactly what happened, based on extensive research and interviews. No names have been changed, no imaginary characters have been created. The film centers around police commissioner Rakesh Maria's investigations on the blasts.We learn that the blasts were executed by Tiger Memon on the instruction of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. The remarkable thing about this film is that the director makes a concentrated effort to provide us several points of view including those of Rakesh Maria, Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and one of main bombers Baadshah Khan. Now you need to understand, it's never easy doing justice to so many viewpoints, it's always tricky because you tend to suffocate the voice of some characters, while the others get a glowing presence.But that's not the case in Black Friday. Anurag Kashyap manages to tell each character's story quite well and he even succeeds in capturing what's going on in their heads. Just look at the way he translates the restlessness and subsequently the feeling of betrayal that bomber Baadshah Khan feels after he's planted the bombs and fled from Mumbai. We tend to use the word 'realistic' very generously when we're talking about films. We describe Madhur Bhandarkar and Nagesh Kukunoor as realistic filmmakers, but truth is most of their films are exaggerated to a great degree to create drama. Now of course that's not a bad thing, because it's the drama that grips you and engages you in most of their films.But if you want to see what realism is really about, then Black Friday is the perfect example because Anurag Kashyap shoots the film in actual locations and he shoots it in such a natural, everyday manner that you feel like you're watching the news and not a feature.It can't be easy recreating the Bombay of fourteen years ago, before the mobile phone revolution, before the satellite invasion, before the city was plastered with hoardings.But Kashyap does it all so well. He takes these crane shots in a manner that you're looking down at the goings-on in these chawls and these bastis, he uses lighting so well, especially in those mono-chromatic interrogation scenes.The actual blast scenes are shot in such a languid style, exactly the way a bystander would have experienced it -a sudden explosion disturbing the everyday routine of life in that location.One cannot say enough about the actors cast to play all the central roles in this film. Kay Kay Menon as Rakesh Maria is just spectacular, as are Pawan Malhotra playing Tiger Memon and Akash Srivastava playing Baadshah Khan.The resemblance that Vijay Maurya bears to Dawood Ibrahim can only be described as frighteningly close, and the scene in which Dawood is first introduced to us in the film, is nothing short of genius.To be honest, it's not just the leads, but every single actor even in bit roles who bring so much to the film. Kashyap uses music magnificently, and the haunting rhythms of Indian Ocean truly reverberate, especially in the film's closing credits.You know, very few films are able to balance solid content with technical superiority, and Black Friday is definitely one of those rare films that succeeds in transporting you to its world while you're in the cinema watching the film. The real success of Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday lies in the fact that unlike some other very good underworld films, it doesn't sensationalise, nor glorify crime and violence. The director doesn't shoot the film dramatically, yet there is so much drama in the plot that it feels like a roller-coaster ride. Remember, it's a film that doesn't shy away from pointing fingers. Now although much of the credit for that must go to the source material - Hussain Zaidi's book - you cannot deny that film brings to life that horrible incident so much more effectively than words on a page. If there is a problem that I have with the film, it is the fact that it is too long. Post intermission, Black Friday drags its feet and you find your attention wavering. About a half-hour shorter, this film would have been magnificent. As it is, in all its two-hours-forty-minute glory, it is still quite fantastic.Believe me, no film yet has brought me so close to giving it a ten out of ten rating, but because it's just a little short of true greatness, I'm going to go with nine of ten for Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday. Please don't dismiss it as a boring art film, don't confuse it for a documentary, it's a dramatic feature that will rock your boat. This is the kind of film to send to the Oscars. This is what we need to show, we're capable of.

I just watched Black Friday last night at home and didn't feel like missing a single scene or even a shot of the movie. I was totally concentrated and lost in this movie. I felt how a genuine, appreciable and real effort can go wasted on box office. Such movies should run well even on box office as well as in award functions.Kay Kay Menon is one of my favorite actor as well as Pavan Malhotra in his intense role playing. Hats off again to this movie from 1st scene to last one. The sequence of Badshah Khan moving Rampur to Jaipur to Kolkata and back to Rampur is truly worth-watching. I know this movie didn't mean to earn profits or a MASALA FLICK that's why it became a serious cinema and worth watching.Anurag Kashyap has really done a brilliant and hard-hitting job. I wanted to see this movie from the moment I came to knowledge about it. I really enjoyed every moment though I found there were many censor cuts during the movie and BEEP tones during bad words speaking. Anurag made it hardcore real.I am not here to reveal or tell the story as it will spoil concentration and excitement of the watchers who didn't watch this movie yet. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND BY BEING A REAL MOVIE-WATCHER TO SEE THIS MOVIE ANY WAY YOU CAN GET IT.I learned that because of politicians' dirty plays, games and just because of their selfishness such incidences happens frequently in our country and which interrupts India to move further progressively. Such degressing tact, cheats and bad intentions of our politicians ruins peace between 2 religions and whatever they do they do just for their own benefit. How many innocent people were killed during such riots and blasts that's nightmarish thought and DID THIS POLITICIANS EVER THINK ABOUT THEIR INNOCENT FAMILIES WHILE PLANNING SUCH THINGS? My anger is purely towards THE POLITICIANS not to any Hindu or Muslim. Now our young generation must come up with their new ideas, intelligence and unity to fail such bad and dishonest intentions of Indian POLITICIANS.BLACK Friday is most worth watching that's all.