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Rave
reviews and worldwide acclaim. But director Anurag Kashyap, whose
"Black Friday" was released last week after a wait of over two years,
says he expected more.
"People
are treating it as a good piece of cinema. There is applause and
acclamation from everywhere. All of this is good for the producers but
I expected more. Don't ask me what. I will know it when I see it,"
Kashyap told IANS.
To see if he has got the kind of response
that he expected, Kashyap is now planning to catch the movie in a local
theatre where he can gauge the raw reaction of the audiences.
"I haven't been able to see how the people have reacted to the film," he says.
Based
on S. Hussein Zaidi's book of the same name, "Black Friday" is about
the Mumbai serial bomb blasts in 1993, which shook the commercial
capital of the country to the core, killing 257 people and creating
wounds that are still to heal.
It also analyses the communal
riots that took place prior to the blasts and after the demolition of
the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya by Hindu religious fanatics.
The
movie, which was to be released in 2004, was given a red signal by the
Mumbai High Court. The court's decision came after a petition was filed
saying that "Black Friday" might make the public biased against the
accused and hence the outcome of the verdict, which was pending at the
time.
With the final verdict on the Mumbai blasts out in late 2006, the film saw the light of day Feb 9.
Though
applauded for the skilful handling of the sensitive issue without being
judgmental, Kashyap says that given a chance he would have probably
added or subtracted a couple of portions of the movie.
"There is always some space for improvement," he says, adding that the basic essence of the film would have remained intact.
"Paanch",
another one of Kashyap's movies, which was not cleared by the censor
board back in 2000 because of excessive violence, is also set for
release by year-end.
"The Indian audience has always been
mature to accept movies which talk of sensitive issues like 'Black
Friday', 'Paanch' or 'Parzania'. It's the film industry which is
finally coming of age and making more such movies," remarks Kashyap.
Among
his upcoming projects due to be released this year are "No Smoking" in
June, "Gulal" in September and "Hanuman Returns" (animated) by the end
of the year.
With strictly no time for the candyfloss variety
of romantic movies, Kashyap is eager to dabble in different kinds of
cinema, which are "real" and not commercialised.
Unperturbed by
the praises bestowed upon him from all quarters, Kashyap says that he
has "learnt to take everything with a pinch of salt".
So what's on the agenda now? "My mind is blank at the moment. I am taking each day as it comes," says the ace director.
By Azera Rahman, Indo-Asian News Service
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