Black (2004) - Raw, Gritty and Stylish

"Black: The man from Darkness"

Neo-noir films have that magical allure to excite people and to compel them to explore the greyer areas of the drama called life. For people that enjoy and have a sense of morbid curiosity about what happens in the darker avenues of life, this genre is a definite route to escapism.

Black is one such attempt from the famed Ranjith-Mammooty combination and I respect the superstar for choosing such a dark and complex subject and playing the role to perfection. Churned from actor Lal's own Lal Release, Karikamuri Shanmughan or Kumari is an iconic character in Mammootty's long alley of iconic career characters and holds an undoubted sense of swag to this day.

Credits - Black (Simply South)

Director	Writer	Release Date	Genre
Ranjith	Ranjith	10 November 2004	🌃🖤 Neo-noir

2004: Kochi Underworld

SI Ashok Sreenivas (played by Rahman) and Govind IPS (played by Babu Antony) have a headache on their hands, i.e to stop a group of ruffians in their tracks. The police force try and fail to subdue the criminals and finally decide to enlist the responsibility to a unique character among them, who walks around with an air of self-confidence and is a bit-part policeman / hitman on his day. Enter Karikamuri Shanmughan, armed with his black uniform, to settle matters. A sharp tongue and chops to match are Kumari's weapons.

Credits - Reddit

The fish market scene where Kumari makes his first appearance was thrilling to watch from the small screen. The swag is undoubtedly there, with the intended humor, laid back approach and fighting chops, that makes audience wonder about the aura around this character. Clint Eastwood has rubbed his influence on our hitman, with his western wear outfits and a machismo outlook to match.

The afore-mentioned ruffians are under the leash of the movie's antagonist Devin Carlos Padaveedan (played by Lal), who happens to be running in the same circle as Kumari. The character also has a grey shade to it, with the antagonist operating as a advocate by day and gang leader by night. A wonderful scene that highlights this is the church scene

Not going to lie, but Devin has that devilish edge to his character, played to perfection by Lal (with his deep baritone adding another dimension to the character). A well written character by Ranjith, in hindsight. Further indicators within the movie hint that that the man doesn't have a happy family life, and is holding back personal demons, but gets going by evil and the thrills of calling God as witness, to his acts of villainy.

Credits - Black (Simply South)

As Ashok starts his reign over Kasaba Police Station, where Kumari is his direct reportee, tensions start to flare between the two, with Ashok's attempts to school the enigmatic policeman, but to no avail. This is so beautifully captured with this scene, with Mammootty's acting prowess being brought to the fore. Such a lip-smacking scene, that establishes the character's rawness!

Credits - Black (Simply South)

A sense of regret soon envelops over Kumari as Devin's gang of goons overpower and murder the young and fiery SI Ashok. Here is where we see our hero starting to emotionally waver, as circumstances willed otherwise, failing him to protect Ashok, after giving his word to his brother.

Shanmughan then decides to change his life for better, with the entry of his biological daughter being a catalyst towards reformation and ending the terror that enveloped Kochi.

Albert Einstein once remarked, "Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous".

The lure and aura surrounding Black: A Vicennial after Release

When partaking in discussions regarding the thespian's career best performances, this flick, nor the macho character is'nt discussed enough. The entire treatment of the film was raw, showing us a glimpse of what happens in this gritty flipside of the underworld, with the beautiful intervention of human relationships and emotions totally altering the course of a hitman policeman. Black explores these arcs of life beautifully.

Ranjith's treatment of the movie receives more appreciation and another component of the film being such a gritty one to stick at the back of your mind, is magic of Amal Neerad's cinematography. Capturing the dark and gritty parts of the lively and happening Kochi, adds to the visual treat. Legendry editor Bhoominathan's cuts do require special mention,

Mafia Sasi and Thyagarajan's action choreography also deserve plaudits.

Mammooty's physique, coupled with the crew cut, black denims (that became a fashion norm years later) and overall matured handling of the role receives more praise. What a stylish man Karikamuri Shanmughan is onscreen!

A peppy dance number rendered by M.G Sreekumar lies interspersed between the movie, which is a solid foot tapper to this day. This was a small step towards churning hits for Alex Paul, during the 2000's. Rajamani's enigmatic score for Kumari is pretty memorable.

Fun Fact: Alex Paul is Lal's brother, in real life!

Still from 'Ambalakara Thechikavil"

Locations chosen to depict scenes from the film also require mention, starting from Shanmughan's dilapidated lair, the graveyard and Kochi's wonderful bridges and inner city roads and the urban chaos from the development spurt of the 2000's. It's such a treat to watch the sights from Kochi's yesteryears. Stylish filmmaking at it's best!

Credits - Black (Simply South)

I have a wish to watch this movie on the big screen. A dream that's probably not going to be fulfilled anytime soon, but there exists a group of cinema lovers who would love to get this flick remastered. Hope this dream gets realized soon.

Trivia

Black which was Mammootty's Ramzan release, opened with a record 50 prints and took a bumper opening, at that time. In Ernakulam, it played at theaters such as Shenoys and Little Shenoys and netted Rs 7,52,000 in the first week and in Thiruvananthapuram it netted Rs 7,47,000, which is not a laughable return. Shenoys is historically a favorable fort for Mammooty releases
Reading this stat never ceases to amaze me that there was a market for such a genre, back in the day. Probably it's because of the Malabar population pull, but Ramzan season has been generally lukewarm for the superstar, with 'Pranchiyettan' and 'Kasaba' reaping good returns, with forgettable flicks like 'CBI 5' and 'Acha Din' interspersed among them.
Vellinakshatram starlet Meenakshi / Sharmilee, made a cameo appearance as a dancer, in the foot-tapper 'Ambalakara Thechikavil'. Vellinakshatram released in April of that year and was a commercial success.
This was Amal Neerad's first rodeo as a cinematographer in Malayalam Cinema, after making his initial footing in Bollywood, under Raj Gopal Verma. Isn't it wonderful that Amal would go on to direct his first film with the superstar, three years later with Big B (another lip-smacking neo-noir cult classic).
Renowned director M.Padmakumar, who later went on to direct good flicks like Vasthavam, Shikkar and Joseph, operated as an assistant director for this film.
Black was Mammootty's fifth release , in an otherwise good slew of releases in 2004. Note that this was the year, where hits and acclaimed films like Sethurama Iyer CBI , Kaazhcha and Vesham gave the superstar some much needed momentum in the Box Office.

Parting Notes

As I bid farewell to this blog piece, I have a sinking feeling that I wasn't able to properly convey my respect and appreciation for this film. Probably, it's a flick whose message and aura goes beyond words and deserves a proper watch to be appreciated.

Black is one such film that Malayalam Cinema can proudly call, the best of it's own, that justifies the genre it serves and is armed with great acting performances. Our own attempt, that deserves more appreciation. The grace and machismo of Karikamuri Shanmughan will have a cult appreciation of it's own and will fall comfortably amongst other mass character depictions in our Malayalam Cinema.

Appreciation for the frames