Ghajini - A Review

Here's a review on Ghajini, please proceed, none of the plot will be revealed, whatsoever.

With Aamir Khan in the lead and the celebrated eight packs and the build-up promos with Khan v/s Khan duels, this Ghajini had accrued considerable amount of hype. The hype reaching its peak with the producer of the Tamil version suing the producer of the Hindi version for copyright violation. Unlike many other movies with such inflated hype, I must admit this movie fails to disappoint.

The present Ghajini till its intermission has replicated the Tamil version in its truest form and sense; in whatever little places the movie has differed from its original it has been for the better. Most of the memorable scenes from the original are retained, thankfully, without an iota of attempt to modify. Full marks to the makers for that. This episode of the movie till the intermission is easily the liveliest stretch. I had opined in my earlier review that I would not write negative comments about Asin; but this time around I am unable to find a single flaw in her performance. I liked her and her role in this movie so much it can be an antidote for her role in Dasavatharam. My non-tamil friends with whom I watched this movie gave some comments on Asin of which I am repeating two. One, after her introductory song, "She is a chick looking girl"; Two, after her first scene with Aamir Khan, "She is expressive, the chick can act". All through, if there was one clap-winner in the movie, it was Asin. Deservedly so.

Everyone, including the director A R Murugadoss, said the climax of the Tamil Ghajini actually a no-climax and one which spoiled the entire movie. This time around the second half and the climax of the movie has been changed drastically to eliminate the feeling of bungling which happened earlier. I must say the director has succeeded in making the audience not feeling let down after an impressive first half. Most movies would have ended after the 'climax fight'; here the movie carries on to show further things which to me was the icing on the cake and to my friends it appeared like a drag. How much of these praises should go to Aamir Khan and how much to A R Murugadoss are left for arguments.

There is no Ghajini without Aamir Khan. Aamir would have been on screen for at least 95% of the movie and he has carried it so well that only superstars can do. Macho body, impressive acting, charming face, style - a treat to watch. If Tamil cinema has Kamal Hasan, Hindi has Aamir Khan. He has put in efforts and the results are there on the screen. It surely is one of his very different and noteworthy performances, but I still prefer Aamir Khan in a Lagaan or a Dil Chahta Hai over Ghajini. But one thing, just like Kamal Hasan, I can see Aamir Khan ageing - a non-missable fact from the close-up shots of the stylish CEO Sanjay Singhania.

With so much positives over the original version, I feel there is one area where the Tamil Ghajini scores over its Hindi counterpart: songs. I feel the Tamil songs (and tunes) composed by Harris Jeyaraj were much superior to the ones in the latest release. This is not to say the songs of Hindi Ghajini are bad, but they are comparatively.

Does this movie have only positives? Obviously not, there were lots of gaps in logic which only an Indian mind can digest. I am not going to spoil the fun by pointing out each of those. But errrr, some of those: an empty Mumbai-Goa second class compartment; 3 BMWs escorting the BMW in which a travels, always; a villain who kills multiple dons on surmise and who does not kill the actual threat but 'cleans up' his memories. This list is definitely indicative. Though needed for the story, the violence in the movie is on the higher side and is literally gory. I wonder why Jiah khan got the role which she played in the movie, her apathetic acting was showcased in the presence of Aamir and Asin. Reyaas Khan as Inspector was funny, a better choice could have been made there as well.

Whenever a movie is a re-make of another, comparison with the original is inevitable and this Hindi Ghajini scores over the Tamil version in most departments: Aamir better than Surya, Asin (Hindi) better than Asin (Tamil), climax (Hindi) much better than Climax (Tamil). There should not be any comparison of this movie with 'Memento' (which according to me is the best screenplay in a movie) as the story line is thoroughly different, the common thread is just the ...errr....ya..'short term memory loss'.

Overall, this is a good movie - a worthy watch in a theatre inspite of its logical gaps. Treat this as a superhero movie interspersed with cherishable episodes of romance, music and 'memories'.

Update: Article by the hero of the tamil version - Surya

Ghajini -

Please click here for the Hindi Ghajini review

Last week, I ended a six month streak of not watching a movie in a theatre. I saw Ghajini. This 'review' (nice name, eh?) will not divulge the story. You can safely go on.

I was pretty much attracted towards the movie because of various reasons: the director Murugadoss's previous two movies, Harris Jeyaraj, Surya and of course Asin. It has become a habit in Tamil cinema, or Indian cinema, that if a movie gets a lot of hype, invariably it fails to impress. Is Ghajini an exception? Feels bad to say, but it is not.

After a relatively good screenplay (what's direction?, I dont know) in both his earlier movies, Murugadoss has bungled the last half hour - 45 minutes. Even an erstwhile assistant of Balachander, whom his sisters believe is better than Maniratnam, would have done better. The first half was far better than the second, both in terms of the fluent pace and lucid details. I heard somewhere that Murugadoss has spent more than 1 year in preparation for this movie, I pity him.

Surya, I guess, is the only hero in Tamil Film Industry who gets support from each row of the movie audience, fails big time to reveal his acting prowess. After an impeccable performance in Kaakka Kaakka, any Tom, Jerry and Selva would expect a better show from him. If I have not seen Nanda, I might have rated Surya better, but as it stands, his characterisation reminds me of Nanda. Most of the time, he reminded us about his good performance in Nanda.

Asin, aah aah, full marks. As I am a theeviravaathi of Asin, do not expect any negative comment about her. She had a completely different role from her earlier movie. She has done really well in her "role", an extreme rarity in Tamil cinema. Many other actresses would have emulated Jyothika in the "Kalpana's" role, but Asin has done well not to create that impression.

Harris Jeyaraj has impressed in two of the songs: "Oru maalai pani vizhum naram" and "Sutrum vizhi sudarey". These two songs are outstanding. This does not mean the other songs are bad. I would rate them as "Good". BTW, I dont know how to rate BGM.

The nemesis of Ghajini is Nayanthra. Nayanthra should have restricted herself to sarees and never ever dream of wearing any thing else. It was disgusting to see her on screen. Especially the scenes where she runs, you would understand why she should wear only sarees! I hope not to see any other movie in which Nayanthra runs/dances.

This Ghajini might have succeeded the first time itself, but I would say it is not a deserving victory.