Movie Review: Ghajini (2008)

Genre: Drama, Action
Director: A.R .Murugadoss
Cast: Aamir Khan, Asin Thottumkal, Pradeep Rawat, Jiah Khan

It was the second most awaited film this year for me (the 1st slot had been taken by “The Dark Knight”) & it definitely was worth the wait. Based on the concept of Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece “Memento”, A.R. Murugadoss’s “GHAJINI” had all the ingredients to be a masala potboiler. Aamir khan, his most talked about 8 pack abs (you should see the no. of people flocking the gym nowadays) , Asin’s bollywood debut, remake of a superhit Tamil movie, the “Memento” link & all the hype surrounding it. These were reasons enough for people to be drawn to the theatres. No, I haven’t watched the Tamil version yet & I have watched “Memento” several times.

The movie follows the story of a telecom tycoon, Sanjay who falls in love with an aspiring model Kalpana. The depiction of their sweet love story is the hallmark of the movie. However, it wasn’t one with a happy ending, as Kalpana is killed & Sanjay is severely injured on the head. Sanjay develops a case of “Anterograde Amnesia”. He can remember things for only about 15 minutes. He sets off to find the man responsible for Kalpana’s death & the only clue he has is the last word Kalpana had whispered into his ears…. “Ghajini”. It’s a story of revenge, or should I say…RETRIBUTION.

Aamir sparkles yet again in both his avatars in the movie. He plays the gentleman tycoon with flair & does an even better job playing the killing machine who has only one thing on his mind…Revenge. You can almost feel his raw animal instincts taking over every time he fights. Asin plays the bubbly & sweet Kalpana with elan. She couldn’t have asked for a better debut & we certainly would want to see more of her. Pradeep Rawat plays Ghajini, the bad guy, & he doesn’t disappoint. Jiah Khan does a decent job in her second movie (I haven’t watched “Nishabd” & have no intentions of watching it in the future :P).

A.R.Rahman has given us some great music in 2008 & “Ghajini” is probably the best of the lot. He has experimented with the songs a lot & the results are amazing. The camera work is very good. I loved the visuals of the song “Hai Guzaarish”. It has been shot in a desert, probably to draw the analogy of Sanjay waiting for Kalpana’s response as the desert waits for rain. My favourite song however, is “Kaise Mujhe…” as it leaves a haunting feeling every time you hear it.

Overall, I found the movie very entertaining. Even though it was 3 hours long, it never felt slow or boring. Found some people complaining about the so-called “excessively gory” fight scenes in the movie. Well, the answer for them is: “People, the guy can remember things for only 15 minutes. So if he doesn’t get the bad guys knocked out in 15 minutes, he might forget that he was supposed to be hitting them in the first place. Hence the work outs and hence the fast paced & severe blows. Its simple logic…..Besides, if you think THIS is gory, puhhleeezz go & watch “Sin City” or the like”.

Yes, there are loopholes in the story, but even then, the movie definitely is good paisa vasool! Go & watch it…coz if u haven’t done that till now, u have committed a heinous crime against the institution that we call the Bollywood Masala!

P.S: I am a fan of good bollywood masala movies so it might seem a bit opinionated….but this is MY blog remember!!!