Actors Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji went down memory lane on Thursday as their 2005 blockbuster Black completed 16 years. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, also starring Ayesha Kapur, Shernaz Patel, Dhritiman Chatterjee and Nandana Sen, revolved around the relationship between a blind and deaf girl and her teacher.
Amitabh Bachchan, who played the role of Debraj Sahai, the alcoholic teacher who later develops Alzheimer’s disease, called the movie “way ahead of its time”. Big B took to his Instagram handle and shared two photos from Black. He captioned the photos, “It has been 16 years…since Debraj Sahai. Black…a movie way ahead of its time. Every dialogue, every instance in the movie was so beautifully crafted, that it has engraved its existence in everyone’s heart, including mine. #16YearsOfBlack #RaniMukerji #SanjayLeelaBhansali @bhansaliproductions.”
Rani Mukerji portrayed Michelle McNally, the disabled girl who finds solace and support in her teacher Sahai. Remembering how she had doubts about playing the role, Rani shared that she had never envisaged anything like this in her life.
“I was quite intimidated actually at first, but it was entirely Sanjay’s belief in me as an actor and Sanjay’s belief in himself as a director that helped us make Black. I actually went through intense training and learning the sign language and interacting with all the impaired people for 6 months and that’s how I was able to then get into the character of Michelle,” Rani said.
Bhansali Productions also marked 16 years of Black with a tweet that read, “A teacher’s dream. A student’s miracle. Celebrating the journey from darkness to light.”
