The colours of Black

Ask director Sanjay Leela Bhansali what his next project will be and he quips tiredly: "I am totally exhausted. I just want to lie down and relax." He might be tired but he cannot hide his child-like exuberance for Black.

In the last three weeks the Rs 21-crore story of a deaf, dumb and blind girl (Rani Mukherjee) and her ageing but eccentric teacher (Amitabh Bachchan) has raked in over Rs 14 crore at the box-office.

Buoyed by its run, its producers are expecting a hit on their hands. In Mumbai, analysts say the movie that sold at Rs 2.25 crore should deliver Rs 5-6 crore from box office collections.

Says a beaming Anshuman Swami, CEO of the Kumaramanglam Birla-owned Applause Entertainment who did not shave for days before the movie was released: "The way it is going, we expect a super-hit."

A super-hit is when distributors get a 50 per cent return on what they paid.

That's not all. The company had recovered Rs 15 crore even before the movie hit the halls from hawking satellite and international rights and, of course, territories in the country.

In a market where blockbusters like Subhash Ghai's Kisna and Pritish Nandy's Shabd disappeared down the tube, most analysts feel Bhansali is treading new ground.

Says trade analyst Amod Mehra, "It is a path-breaking film and does not have the ingredients of a formula film. Unlike other art films, this one has a large budget and has appealed to audiences."

But critic Komal Nahata cautions, "It has been doing extraordinary business in big cities and multiplexes, but has had a lukewarm response in the international market. It has to be seen whether it becomes a hit."

Bhansali admits to being nervous when the response was lukewarm on the opening day, but relieved when word-of-mouth appreciation had audiences rolling up the aisles.

"In many places the audience gave it a standing ovation. I realised they were desperate to see a film that was different."

Bhansali's flirtation with cinema began when he was three years old. His father, who made B-grade films, would take him to the studio to see how films were made.

"For me, cinema is imprinting a moment for a lifetime," he says.

Throughout the 260 days of shooting Devdas, for instance, he was reminded that he was making a film that had been made 11 times before, but Bhansali remained steadfast, only to have the largest blockbuster of 2003 on his hands "" despite critics carping that he wasn't a director so much as a kitschy interior decorator with a story to tell.

The idea for Black germinated in 1994 with a deaf, dumb and blind girl who would graduate at the age of 40 as its principal protagonist. When he sat to write the script, it was done in three months.

"I had lived the story for over a decade so it was easy to put it together," he says.

And he wouldn't accept any compromises, even if it meant putting more cash on the table. When the McNally cottage (the main set for Black) got burnt in an accident within 10 days of shooting, he had it replicated down to the last chandelier.

"It was a torturous exercise and I couldn't sleep, but we needed continuity. I would not shoot if the cottage looked different," says Bhansali. There were other eccentric demands he got away with "" such as replicating Shimla's famous Mall at a studio in Mumbai.

Even the film's promos were different. Instead of the industry norm of showing 15-second promos throughout the day, Bhansali and Swami decided to make one-minute promos.

Says Swami: "Bhansali cut the promos personally and we showed them only six times a day. That made a big impact."

Black might not be a blockbuster in the mould of Yash Raj Films' Veer Zaara (which has raked in Rs 71 crore) but, as Amod Mehra says, "Black reinforces the idea that good cinema sells."