Ghajini

Gajini, Directed by A.R.Murugadhas is a action movie, this time with a story. Murugadas, RD. Rajasekar, Antony above all Kanal Kanna are the real hero's of the film in Story, Camera, Editing and Stunts respectively.

The highlight of the movie is the climax stunt between Surya and the Villain – absolutely fabulous. When I saw alavandhan (movie) I thought what else can you do to beat this kind of stunt (remember kamal vs kamal) but the vision of the director, stuntman and the visual effects is really amazing and surprisingly perfect (It took 10 days to complete the climax).

Surya has performed beautifully in both the characters. Surya, Asin pair in the movie looks fresh and good. Nayanthara trying to be sexy looks ugly in her attempt but her character is the pivot in the movie. Harris Jayaraj is looking confused in many places in the background score, he gives you a feeling as if you are seeing his earlier movie (anniyan, thotti jaya) but he has made it equal with songs specially "Sutrum Villi Sudarae" is beautifully choreographed and filmed.

A.R.Murugadhas has done the story (The knot was taken from an English film Memento), screenplay and direction very well, but the two songs (Nayantharas and the climax song) are definitely the show stoppers as they bring down the phase and the impact of the story in a descending order, must have been avoided (remember Ramana where we has effectively only 2 songs) Gajini a movie worth watching.

Long time back I watched Memento, which was a masterpiece in the thriller generation. It was (and is) one of my all time favourite thrillers. After watching it I became a great fan of Christopher Nolan who also later provided us two Batman movies so far. Now after a long time again I had to see Indian version of Memento. Here Indian in the sense doesn't always mean of Hindi film industry Bollywood. It can be of any industry, and let's take here Tamil film industry Kollywood since Ghajini is originally made in Tamil as well dubbed in Telugu.

I must admit that I caught this Ghajini just by its subtitle since I cannot understand any of Southern Indian languages. Just after learning that it was inspired from Memento I decided of watching it, but neglected again and again. And so now I am commenting on this impressive title Ghajini after finally grabbing it.

In Memento Christopher Nolan used a unique storytelling technique which was not used before by any other director, and made me to watch it thrice to understand the whole story. But although Ghajini is not exactly a carbon copy of Memento, it has the similarities of the lead role suffering from 'anterograde amnesia' and following the incidents of written notes & tattoos corner by corner in his body as reminders. Still then the main theme was on taking revenge of his lover's murderers. The rest of the story is from itself.

Murugadoss did a memorable job by making an Indian version of Memento in his own way by using his own talent and not fully depending on Hollywood. Nevertheless, Surya Sivakumar is really impressive in both roles – as a rich, cool and romantic businessman lover as well as a serious amnesiac running after murderers for revenge. And most important to mention is the name of Asin who performed a tragic but marvelous role as Kalpana. Pradeep Rawat's double role was so boring, and I guess it was created just to spark in the running story, nothing else than this. I watched him first and last time in super hit Sarfarosh as illegal weapon supplier Sultan, and now again.

I equally noticed some unnecessary issues like police officer's role performed by Riyaz Khan. His role was not that important for the story but he appeared in the movie as if he is born simply to die from an amnesiac patient. After his first appearance I expected as if he has a strong significance in making the story sharper. Besides, many songs were also not important for showing the tragic romance between Sanjay and Kalpana, and could easily be avoided.

After all I wish to give only 7 out of 10 for lacking of originality in the action scenes. During running of the movie only the fact that made me bored were the action scenes by which I felt as if I am watching some cartoons in Cartoon Network or Pogo. I know most of the Indian action scenes are made in this sense just to turn a superhero for some time. That's why Ghajini could have been a superb heart-touching and entertaining if important action scenes are presented more realistically than they are.

If a movie is similar to an Hollywood effort, there pops to terms. If it works out, it's called inspiration and if doesn't, it will be called plagiarism.

Never the less, this effort cannot be sidelined just for using the same ingridients as in the original. The hardwork for the homework is clearly visible in adapting and localising the script. The director's signature of perfectness in screenplay is obvious and gives us pure satisfaction upon the end card. If there's something to be complained, it's the commercial stuff like songs.

The suspense and the thrill upon it's revealing is smooth and soothing. Certain episodes/elements in some movies, helps in retaining them in our minds for a longer periods. This fits in that genre very well.

I got to tell you that this movie elevated my respect to Tamil film industry. Very rare you find such a beautiful and skillful storytelling! Most of the time the director's direction matters in the movie. He can mould the acting the way he asks for. And that's what you see from this one. Movie storyline seems to be inspired from Hollywood all time favorite "Momento". The beauty of the movie is the pace in which it goes. Each scene is worth watching. Special effects and background score is the best I have seen! Surya was perfect fit for the role and he carried it with passion and dedication. This is the first movie of Asin I have seen and Man! she rocks. None in her genre can act so real! Finally have to say, this is the way the indianized version of Hollywood flicks should be made ;-)

Agreed that the core theme (Short Term Memory Loss) of Ghajini is taken out of Memento. It is also to be agreed that almost all of the movies, including those from Hollywood (come on guys, what about "The Departed"?), draw inspiration from some other (whether it be a movie or something else).

However, kudos to the director Murugadoss for molding the movie so well. Look at how he brings in the regional flavor. I liked the movie a lot. The motive is to reach any common man which is what Ghajini achieves but which is where Memento fails at. Music by Harris Jeyaraj is a big plus.

P.S. I'm quite surprised looking at so many comments hinting negative connotations. Of course, everybody has a right to express and I'm not challenging anyone. It's just that I'm surprised...