| Young Michelle McNelly (Ayesha Kapoor) is a deaf and blind girl, who is completely wild as her parents are unable to understand her. So to help her frustrated mind, retired teacher from the deaf and blind school, Mr Debraj (Amitabh Bachchan), is assigned the task of teaching her to communicate with the outside world. But as expected, Michelle rebels to Debraj's unethical learning tactics. So a conflict is erupted between the teacher and Michelle's parents. They decide to send her to an asylum but Debraj stands by his promise to succeed in his training. Slowly but surely after many misgivings, Debraj manages to gain Michelle's trust. They finally become friends and the young girl learns her first word - water followed by Mama, Papa and teacher.
The film then fast forwards to a much older Michelle, a role played by Rani Mukerji. She decides to go to University to do a degree. Debraj accompanies this young lady. He becomes her sign language interpreter. It takes Michelle quite a few years to overcome one obstacle after another to achieve her dream of graduating. But during that time she looses her teacher's close company. By now, Debraj suffers from Alzheimer's disease. He has become old and has forgotten everything, even Michelle. And so begins a reverse process as Michelle tackles the impossible and that is to teach Debraj everything she has learnt from him, starting from the very first word, water. With Black, Sanjay Bhansali has reached another level of filmmaking. He has succeeded in advancing much more from his colourful Devdas production. The colonial era projected in Black comes as a nice surprise which Mr Bhansali created with painstaking perfection. Every minute detail such as the sets of the McNelly household, the mall of Shimla and the props were created with a lot of research and effort. And this shows in every frame. Cinematography by Ravi K. Chandran is up to international standards. And the background musical score by Monty elevates the film to another level. A major plus point for Mr Bhansali. Rani Mukerji and Amitabh Bachchan are simply marvellous in their respective roles. And so is young Ayesha Kapoor. A lot of hard work has gone into their characters. There are black moments in the film which make you cry. It makes you realise that a different world exists where people who are unfortunate than yourself manages to pull through life against all odds. Black is Oscar nominated material. One thing for sure, Mr Bhansali will definitely be taking the trophies during awards ceremonies this year. That applies to Amitabh and Rani too! A great piece of work from India's most accomplished directors. Hats off to Mr Bhansali!
If you really call yourself a true Bollywood fan then this film is a must see. It will not only move you deeply but the film will linger on your mind well after you have left the auditorium. Reviewed by Manish Gajjar
BBC Shropshire Bollywood | 
