Ghajini

An exuberantly excessive and unreasonably entertaining mash-up of musical-comedy romance, action-Variety movie mayhem and psycho-thriller suspense.

Ghajini is an entertainer.

It has loads of action,comedy,drama and romance which makes it a family packed entertainer.

The story is good.

Screenplay is penned very well.

But the problem is that the movie is long,it could have been trimmed 15-20 minutes and the movie even gets violent at times,which could have been shortened.

Direction by A.R Murugadass is excellent.

The music is very good.

Performance wise-Aamir Khan is menacing.He is superb.Newcomer Asin is very good.Jiah Khan is perfect.Pradeep Rawat is first rate.

Overall Ghajini is an entertainer.

The tattoos on the body, the Polaroid snaps, the notes scattered around the house, and the smoking gun evidence? Short term memory loss, happening every 15 minutes. If this doesn't seem like Christopher Nolan's masterpiece Memento, then I don't know what does. Written and directed by A.R. Murugadoss, I don't see much of a nod of acknowledgement to Nolan's work, and in almost all literature, it only falls back on the fact that this is a Hindi remake of Murugadoss' own Tamil movie of the same name Ghajini, produced in 2005 (Nolan's was in 2000), which joins the ranks of films having their titles named after the chief villain.

In any case this isn't the first time that we see very obvious similarities in premise and characters being adopted for Bollywood's own productions, and the shot-in-Singapore Krrish comes to mind as well, as they had the entire setting of John Woo's Paycheck incorporated into that film. But of course in any version some merits could be found, but I believe some form of acknowledgement would be in order, other than, in this case, a quick flash of a very wordy disclaimer about Ghajini being gleaned from various short stories and material (and another paragraph which I missed given the fine print, and short duration on screen, but I'm pretty sure no mention of Memento).

Well, there are some reasons why I chose to watch this. First up, the music's by A.R. Rahman, and for all the good publicity he's getting for his work on Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, I just had to experience yet another piece of his musical magic on a film, besides one that I've watched much earlier this year in Jodhaa Akbar. One just cannot imagine how his musical talent will be put to good use in a film which looks and feels like Memento, and this being the next best thing. "Guzarish" is a track used in the trailer, and it is currently my new ear worm.

Another reason is of course, Aamir Khan. Yet another prolific actor with a penchant for perfection, it was interesting to see how his take on the protagonist's short term memory loss, would rival that of Guy Pearce's. I'm embarrassed to say I've only seen him in action in Lagaan, so this would be yet another opportunity to witness his ability which can be measured against a benchmark. But don't expect the same though, because Pearce's version was more of a thinking man who questions and second guesses himself, while Khan's version was in two parts to serve the story, one as a raging hulk monster who tears through his opponents with savage violence fueled by anger and hatred, coupled with the hurt he experienced and recalled (Hulk producers take note, in case Edward Norton decides against any more sequels, look in the direction of Aamir Khan), while the other as mild-mannered Sanjay Singhania, CEO of a telecommunications company in Mumbai.

Yes, Bollywood's version naturally comes with built-in song and dance, which for once I would have thought looked quite out of place in the movie, if not for A.R. Rahman's score and music. While half of the movie might be seen as a copy of Memento's premise and character, the other half served more to allow the audience to share the pain with Sanjay. Nolan's version had you experience the frustrating condition of the syndrome through its narrative presentation, but this one junks the reverse chronology, and plays it out flat and builds a rich back story for Sanjay, so much so that you'll root for him as he goes on his rampage of revenge. You'll find yourself entrenched in the romance between Sanjay and his lady love Kalpana (the stunning Asin, who reprises her role from the 2005 version as well), who's a model awaiting her big break, and a girl with a genuinely good heart. The plot never fails to give her numerous moments to showcase her good nature, and it's no surprise why anyone would not fall in love with her instantly. Factor in plenty of lovey-dovey moments of comedy and pursuit (under the guise of a different identity, like Shah Rukh Khan's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi) which makes it perfect for a date movie, but with hindsight that you know this love is doomed from the moment it began, which actually makes it quite sad to watch the events unfold since you know what will eventually happen to her.

Ghajini doesn't adopt or try to adopt those very cerebral mind-f* moments from Memento, but as I mentioned plays it out more like a straight forward action thriller, with a handful of inevitable moments of watching our protagonist get taken advantaged of because of his condition. No other structural styles are used besides flashbacks, where the purpose of two characters in the movie are to read the diary of events so that it could be translated visually onto the screen. However you'll still be kept in the dark for some time as to why the designated thugs of Ghajini (Pradeep Rawat) would want to exact their mettle onto Sanjay and Kalpana, and you'll be held in suspense for almost 2 hours before the reasons get shown.

I can only imagine the flak that this film might receive because of having to adapt, and not properly acknowledge perhaps that it's not original material, save for the romantic spin on it. But if you would look past those ramifications and treat this like a re-imagining of Memento in more straight-forward terms, that this would still serve as an entertaining thriller done Bollywood style.

It is very pleasant to see, in the past decade, the Indian movies has raised themselves in standards. Ghajini definitely is one of the toughest project that Aamir khan would have done, there is no doubt in that. It is not always easy to remake a hit version and alter the storyline here and there and still come out good. It is only possible through the best men in the industry. And Aamir is THE best. ARRahman - WOW!!! He made the Kaise mujhe song echo in all the audience's heart as they leave the theater. Its like "Every night in my dreams" song from titanic. Soul touching performance from the music Guru!! Overall, this movie has to be watched for its storyline, humor, sentiment, twists. Overall Ghajini is a great entertainment-packed. Go! watch it today!!!!

A lot of critics have condemned this film as being a mere remake of the highly acclaimed and popular Hollywood film 'Memento'. While there is no doubt that this film is at the very least loosely inspired from Memento, to call it a complete rip-off would not only be a stretch of the imagination demanded greater suspension of disbelief than that required for viewing either movie, but would also be unfair to the effort Murgadoss and the rest of the team have put into developing this epic for an Indian audience. Rather, it would be best to view this film as a separate entity, something not quite at the standards of Hollywood's best but certainly above the usual clichéd Bollywood fare.

Ghajini tells the story of a man called Sanjay Singhania (Aamir Khan), who suffers from a condition called Anterograde amnesia, which prevents him from forming new memories, as a result of which he is unable to remember anything for more than around 15 minutes. This condition was caused by the brain damage he suffered when hit on the head by an iron rod, during a violent attack on him which also resulted in the death of his lover, Kalpana (Asin). Haunted night and day by fragmented memories of the incident, he is driven to near-madness with rage and embarks on a quest to avenge the death of his love, by hunting down the gang behind the attack-his ultimate targets being a Mob lord about whom he knows nothing save for a single name-'Ghajini'. In order to compensate for his short term memory loss, he uses a system of notes, Polaroid photographs and tattoos on his body to remind himself of the facts he has gathered during his quest and the progress he has made. Along the way, he encounters a medical student named Sunita (Jiah Khan) who is intrigued by his condition and wishes to study him and thus ends up being dragged into his violent life. The story of Sanjay's violent quest alternates with extended flashback sequences of his happy pre-amnesiac past as a savvy corporate honcho and tells the tale of his romance with lively ad model Kalpana and the circumstances which led up to the incident that caused her death and his memory loss. Ultimately, the film comes full circle in an awe-inspiring climax when past and present collide to bring a fulfilling end to the story.

Aamir Khan proves his versatility as an actor yet again, playing not one, not two but three roles in this film. As Sanjay Singhania, the savvy corporate honcho, he is polite, yet has a brisk and efficient air to him (a lot like his real life self). As 'Sachin', a struggling actor romancing Kalpana he plays the shy and unassuming everyman, albeit one replete with both confidence and sincerity. And finally, most notably, he plays the post-amnesiac Sanjay, an almost insane inhuman monster, a killing machine consumed by rage and bloodlust, haunted by shattered memories and yet lost, confused and disoriented whenever his periodic memory loss kicks in. Perhaps one of the best scenes in the film is one early on where, waking up at home, Sanjay wanders through his house clueless, having no idea where he is, until he reaches a mirror on which is written a note which tells him to remove his T-shirt whereupon he sees the tattoos that remind him of his lover's death and his quest to avenge her and cause him to be suddenly overpowered by rage and a desire for vengeance-a transition which we observe several times over the course of the film. Asin does a pretty good job as the bubbly and vivacious Kalpana, making her a likable character who's brutal murder does create the impact on the audience's mind which makes us truly sympathise with Sanjay's quest. Jiah Khan does okay as the medical student who gets dragged into Sanjay's quest for revenge while Pradeep Rawat may come across as an over-the-top clichéd bad guy in his role as the titular 'Ghajini'-but it works well for the story, believe it or not.

This film is actually two films in that the darker 'present day sequences' of Sanjay's orgies of violence seem to belong to an entirely different genre from the lighter comedic flashback sequences, though the shattering of Sanjay's happy past life makes us understand the driving force behind his present day violence. The style of music, dialogue and even settings for both sets of sequences is drastically different as a result-where on one hand you have fancy office blocks, garden parties and the beach side, on the other hand you have seedy back lanes and darkened parking lots.

On the whole despite a few ridiculous plot holes, Ghajini is definitely one of the most entertaining, if not one of the best, films of Bollywood in recent years.