Story Time and Discourse Time Analysis, Black Friday

7/27/2019 Story Time and Discourse Time Analysis, Black Friday.

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Story time and Discourse time: Analysis of Anurag kashyaps Black Friday based on Saymour

Chatmans paper What novels can do that films cant (and vice versa).

I chose Anurag Kashyaps Black Friday for the paper what novels can do that films cant (and vice

versa). This is because Black Friday is an adaptation of a book: Black Friday: The true story of Bombay

Bomb Blasts by Hussain S. Zaidi. Zaidi, an investigative journalists chronicled in detail the people and

events involved in the 1993 bomb blasts the first time any city in the world was being subjected to

serial blasts.

Moreover, Black Friday (the film) remained true to the book and used names of real people, real places,

and real incidents that led to the blasts. The essay What novels can do that novels cannot analyses the

differences that takes place when a narrative shifts from one medium to another, while acknowledging

the similarities that exist in the character of the narrative. Since this was the basic argument of the

essay, I looked at the film as an adaptation and how Anurag Kashyap managed to transcend two media

(the written word and cinema) while adapting the book into a film. I have used the theories of

Narratology while analyzing the film.

STORY-TIME and DISCOURSE TIME

The essay talks about two times that exist in every narrative: The histoire or story-time, and the time in

which the narrative is being presented to the audience, also called double time structuring. Black Friday

cleverly shifts between the two, and uses a complex non-linear narrative format to tell us the story of

the blasts, from the initial stages of the planning to the blasts, and then the investigation that followed.

The film begins with a scene of the blasts. We are then shown the Police Officer Rakesh Maria is

interrogating people who are suspected to be involved in the blasts. When one of the suspects

confesses to the crime, the time again shifts into the story time, and we are shown the events that led

to the blasts, from a first persons point of view.

The narrative blends the two time structures seamlessly throughout the film. The film is divided into

chapters (like in a novel), and in many of the chapters, the two time structures are seamed and the

viewer gets the first person perspective into the events of the film.

DESCRIPTION

The film uses cinematic elements to ensure that the characters of the film are not tableau vivant. The

director has also used cinematic visual elements to differentiate in between time spaces. For example,

all the scenes involving the blasts are shot with a blue hue. The interrogation scenes are in red, and the

scenes shot in Dubai are in sepia. In a complicated non-linear storytelling pattern, these hues help theviewer clearly demarcate the shift in perspective.

The director has also avoided common gimmicks involved in storytelling. The scenes in the jail have

interesting elements. Graffiti (an element commonly found in Kashyaps films) is seen on the walls of the

jail. Though these details dont strike the audience at the beginning due to the pressure from the

narrative (as Seymour Chatman).


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Another aspect of the film was the extended blast scene. Since it was incorporated before the opening

credits, the director used a good amount of time in describing the blasts (from minutes 6.00 to 10.00).

Also in the bomb blasts, the audience is lead into the scene through a few characteristics. These

elements were everyday, common elements that one would find anywhere. For eg, the hawker, the

broker and other people who were walking into the Bombay Stock Exchange building. A sense of

normalcy prevailed for a few moments, only for the suspense to creep in, with the help of a strong,

recurring background, which was followed by the blasts. In the visuals of the blasts, all the people who

were used in establishing the normal, everyday were shown affected.

By beginning with this visuals, the director draws the audience in as an onlooker. Throughout the film,

the director has ensured that the camera is no more than a silent observer to the chaos that has

descended into the screen.

The essay gives the example of Jean Renoirs adaptation of Guy de Maupassants novel by using reaction

shots. The blasts scene also employs reaction shots, with the help of news reports, radio shows, and

other analyses that are being used in public fora.

THE VOICE OF THE NARRATOR The viewer as a silent observer

For such volatile subject matter, the film surprisingly steers clear of making any value loaded

judgements on any of the people involved in the film. This is a welcome change from the usual

stereotyping of terrorists, police officers, and politicians, that one witnesses in Indian films in general

and Hindi films in particular.

Throughout the film, the director avoids the trappings of glorification of any of the characters. When the

viewer is rooting for the police, we are shown visuals of the police harassing the family members of the

suspects. All of this is done without any values loaded to it. There is a sense of objectivity that the filmbrings in and the viewer is relieved of the pressure of taking sides with any of the parties.

The visuals of the news reports, interviews, and clippings from actual happenings further add credibility

to the viewers neutrality on the characters. The blast scenes are shown as realistically as the scenes

showing the suspects being tortured. In my opinion, it is easy for the audience to take sides when the

subject matter is so volatile, but the directory successfully manages to avoid that.

Another of the early scenes shows a friend of Tiger Memon that he wont be able to get away as the

police has started looking for him. Tiger Memon is shown flustered, and leaves the restaurant. Even

though the person telling him that was not strategically important to the plot in any way, this

establishing scene seemed like a precursor to the audience. The character was like a cue to the

audience that the investigation is now set to begin.

SOUND AS A TOOL IN THE FILM

Black Fridayhas made use of sound as a powerful narrative tool throughout the film. This can be best

illustrated in the opening scenes of the film (the bomb blasts scene). Chatman gives the example of the


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story where the details of the cart are heightened in the film. He suggests that in film as a medium,

there has to be a lot more detailing than in a novel, as in the novel, the author chooses which detail he

wants to talk about.

The blast scene shows on screen people howling and screaming, but the audio during the scene doesnt

have their screams. It has a running piano piece, which is followed by a news report that is talking of the

extent of the damage from the blasts. In this, the viewer is not actually listening to the details that are

being mentioned in the news report, but the details and facts that are being read out in the news report

further the directors effort to convey the feel of the blasts.

This can be seen throughout the film. In the scene where Officer Maria is investigating in one of the

suspects houses, the viewer can hear prayers being recited in the background. However, when the

characters are talking, the sound becomes faint, and then increases when the characters step outside to

have their lunch. In a way, the director was telling us when to listen to the sounds and when not to. The

same technique was used throughout the film especially during the chase sequences.

CHARACTERS IN THE FILM

The essay talks about a point in the story when Henriette is showing her legs, but it is not done in an

intentional way. The director uses reaction shots and the perspectives of many people to depict this

innocence. In the film, the character of Rakesh Maria (played by Kay Kay Menon) uses a technique

similar to that.

The director does not resort to gimmickry. But we are shown more facets of the police officer from the

way other people react around him. He is shown asking if his juniors had their lunch, offering tea to a

suspect in the middle of an interrogation, and then he is shown telling the media that the parents and

family members of the suspects have to be humiliated in order to elicit anything from them.

The character of Dawood Ibrahim was another example of characterization that stood out. The scene

where the smuggler has gone to meet Dawood helps etch the stature (for want of a better word) of

Dawood. We are shown that the person is rehearsing his lines and Dawood is seeing from behind the

door. All the shots of Dawood were either close ups, or shots in which half of his face was visible, or it

was in silhouettes. This drew my attention as a viewer as Dawood is a very well-known personality. The

character of Tiger Memon is also brought out through the way the people working around him react to,

listen to, or talk of him.

CONCLUSION

Black Fridayaccording to me is a very good example of an adaptation of a narrative from one medium to

another. The film, even though shot in chapters and staying true to the book with even the slightest

detail, managed to capture the narrative perfectly, thanks to cinematic elements that the director

employed while depicting it.

Documents

Story Time and Discourse Time Analysis, Black Friday