stevenswind This movie is exemplary, masterpiece that is not a typical Bollywood movie.. Thia movie is just phenomenal.. Kudos to Anurag kashyap for directing this masterpiece of not merely Indian but of global cinema.. The direction of Anurag is great.. Yash Chopra, karan johar ass kissers, learn the art called cinema from this movie.. This movie is the best.. KK menon should have won the national award for best actor for his brilliant performance.. Aditya shrivastava was great.. Pavan malhotra just nailed it... In all this movie is one of the best movies

rishi1415 its one of the rare Indian movies which gets better with multiple viewings as u catch more nuances in the performances,lighting,direction et al.the best part about the movie is that it never takes any sides and it is a tall order given the sensitive issue at the crux of the movie.its the only movie which i have seen receiving a standing ovation in an Indian theater.i have watched this many more times since i saw it first and it gets better!its the kinda movie that should be made mandatory viewing for each and everyone in this country thats full of religious fanatics.the movie finds much more resonance now post 26/11.it also shows us(unintentionally)how f***kd up our governance is as the terrorists used the same sea route to wreck havoc at the same city after 15 years.and given our governance(or the lack of it) it mite happen again. @deepali-u should rather stick to candy-floss Bollywood movies.this movie generates conflicting emotions about characters as it tries to mirror the realities of the time and events.it doesn't lionize the police or vilify the terrorists/Pakistan/ISI because it depicts the events exactly the way they unfolded.thats the brilliance of the movie.you sympathize with the terrorist because u can see he is just a pawn in the grander evil schemes of tiger memon(pavan malhotra is electrifying).the movie doesn't lack a goal in fact it has an audacious goal and it achieves it....i.e to not take sides and to be totally objective. its the best Indian movie ever made...period

sumanbarthakursmailbox 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.

ankitnarayanmathur This is one of the best examples of class beating direction & execution from the Indian movie industry! Extremely distinguished, from the other "bollywood" movies. Fantastic OST. Requires that the audience be aware & understanding of the backdrop of this movie. The fact that it is based on true events makes it even more emotional & powerful. This film should be considered as a representative of our film industry.It gets a 10/10 from me!Hope Anurag Kashyap makes more of such movies!Ankit