Black Stone
(Kaala Patthar)

With its Khan-Akthar screenplay inspired by a mining disaster in northern India and again produced and directed by Yash Chopra, Black Stone unfathomably remains one of the most underrated films in this period of Amitabh Bachchan’s career. Yet again, Amitabh Bachchan bears the forename Vijay, which sticks to so many of his characters. This time, Bachchan plays the role of a merchant navy captain wracked by guilt after a ship he commanded sank. Taking a job as a miner, he becomes enraged by the fate of his companions in misfortune. However, Black Stone proposes a different and possibly more mature version of the “angry young man”. JB