The rules have been set . The rules have been set and the magic has begun (so to say). Swades, to me, started off a trend which the Indian movie-makers of today would be well-advised to follow. The treatment, the attention to detail and above all the ability to provide the audience with food-for-thought would eventually turn out to be the primary ingredients of successful films in the near future.
Now with Black a trend has been followed where the above prerequisites have been met to a T. The background score, the wonderful use of colours and the performances are flawless to say the least in spite of the movie being extremely straightforward and honest. There is however very little that is left to the audiences' imagination which I believe was a masterstroke as far as the director's approach was concerned. This is primarily because expecting the audience, who are slowly getting accustomed to a new form of niche movie making, to comprehend the inner meanings of films would have been a huge risk to take. So, unlike Swades Black has succeeded in directly communicating with the movie goers with a storyline that does not need to be debated or dwelt upon. However there could be a problem with the movie having too many dialogues in English which could create a communication gap (not that the director cares) of sorts.
On a different note I also believe that the Oscars should be given a taste of both the works as a living proof that Indian cinema has truly moved on from the claptrap that was once an intrinsic part of the film industry. Let the good times and more good movies roll.