Black Friday

On 9 March 1993 a small-time thug, Gul Mohammed, is detained at the Nav Pada police station and confesses to a conspiracy underway to bomb major locations around the city. The police dismiss his confession and, three days later, Bombay is torn apart by a series of explosions leaving 257 dead and close to 1,400 injured. Investigators discover that the bombs were made of RDX, smuggled into the city with the aid of customs officials and the border police.In turn, the film traces the motive for the blasts to the Bombay riots, the bloody warring between the Hindu and Muslim communities from December 1992 to January 1993, which left over 1500 people dead. The Bombay riots were an unprecedented outburst of violence and abuse, resulting in enormous emotional trauma and property loss.

Tiger Memon (Pavan Malhotra) is an underworld don whose office is burnt to cinders during the riots. The suffering of the Muslim minorities in the riots incites a meeting of underworld leaders in Dubai, who then take it on themselves to seek retribution. Tiger Bhai (as Tiger Memon is called) one of the chief inflamed suggests an attack on Bombay as the strongest message of retaliation, thus leading to Black Friday 12 March 1993.Asgar Muqadam, Tiger Memons secretary is arrested on 14 March 1993. He is beaten till he provides whatever information he has about the bomb blasts and that initiates a full police inquiry.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Rakesh Maria (Kay Kay Menon) is put in charge of the case. The next piece in the puzzle is the arrest of Badshah Khan (Aditya Shrivastava), one of the henchmen who had left Bombay and gone into hiding, who was found by the police on 10 May 1993.After the blast, the accomplices in the crime are forced to lead a life of anonymity and secrecy as it becomes evident that Mumbai police have started picking up the suspects one by one. To make matters worse, their passports seem to have been destroyed at the behest of Tiger Memon. In spite of assurances to the contrary, the high command blatantly refuses any help to them once the bombings have materialised.

Tired of being let down by his own people and without a place to hide, Badshah Khan realises that there is no justification for his acts and decides to become a police witness. On 4 November 1993, the police file a charge sheet against 189 accused. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) takes over the case.Then on 5 August 1994, Tigers brother, Yaqub Memon, willingly turns himself in to the authorities. In a candid Newstrack interview on national television Yaqub states that it was Tiger and his underworld associates who orchestrated the conspiracy.

The film has been appreciated by critics all over the world. Black Friday has an 86% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Matt Zoller Seitz of the New York Times described it as epic and raw, and cut out from the same bloody cloth as Salvador and Munich. Kirk Honeycutt of Hollywood Reporter compares the films journalistic inquiry into cataclysmic social and political events to that of Gillo Pontecorvos classic The Battle of Algiers. He remarks that the film is without any lurid sensationalism and is objective.

David Chute of LA Weekly described it as a rigorously naturalistic docudrama about a complex police investigation. Ethan Alter of Film Journal International describes it as a potent reminder that Indian filmmaking isnt limited to Bollywood super-productions. According to Maitland McDonagh of TV Guides Movie Guide, its assertion that religious terrorism is about more than simply faith is food for thought. According to Ted Murphy of Murphys Movie Reviews, Kashyap keeps the action moving and the overall movie turns out to be engrossing. Black Friday received overwhelmingly positive reviews from Indian critics.

The film is widely considered to be director Anurag Kashyaps masterpiece.Rajeev Masand gave it 4/5 stars and said The actual blast scenes are shot in such a languid style, exactly the way a bystander would have experienced it. Believe me, no film yet has brought me so close to giving it a five out of five rating, but because its just a little short of true greatness, Im going to go with four of five for Anurag Kashyaps Black Friday. This is the kind of film to send to the Oscars.Taran Adarsh gave it 4/5 stars and said Some films leave you stunned and speechless with sheer power.

BLACK FRIDAY, directed by Anurag Kashyap, is one such film. On the whole, BLACK FRIDAY is an outstanding piece of work. One of the finest products to come out of Mumbai, this one is a hard-hitting film that has the courage to say what it says. Do yourself a favor: Watch BLACK FRIDAY. Hindi cinema at its best.

Nihil Kumar from Apun Ka Choice said, Taking least possible cinematic liberty and retaining objectivity throughout the film, Anurag Kashyap tells a compelling and disturbing story in ‘Black Friday'. Strongly Recommended. Sanjay Ram from Business Of Cinema said, It simply states the point and that too in a very objective fashion. Khalid Mohamed from Hindustan Times said The docu-drama structure is so skillfully employed that you're gripped.Nikhat Kazmi from The Times of India gave it 5/5 stars and said Its powerful, pointed and hard-hitting cinema that needs to be seen.

Not for entertainment, but for soch-vichar. And no, lets have no state, city, town, village, panchayat, self-appointed moral-political custodian acting as a super censor, this time please. Rediff said There are moments in the second half when the filmmaker seems to lose the vice-like grip by which he holds viewers but thats excusable since the film has to stay within the framework of its reality theme.