'Black Friday' lauded, but Kashyap wants more

New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) 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.

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Black Friday