Its one of the most hyped movies in Bollywood history and over the past eight months we've heard and seen it all the hair cut, the jokes about the Aamir-ferocious-look, Aamir's guide to get the 8-Pack abs and the brilliant marketing campaign in build up to the release, which will make for a fascinating case study to be studied by marketing students at the country's premier B-Schools. But talking about the core product itself i.e. the movie Ghajini, one has questions. Is it yet another cinematic masterpiece coming from the Aamir Khan school of cinema? Does it live up to the tremendous hype? Is it the best movie of the year? Unfortunately, as is often the case with over- hyped extravaganzas the answer to all these three questions is NO. But is it a bad movie? Certainly not! That this will be liked by the movie goers by and large and that it will be a blockbuster is a foregone conclusion.
First up, let's set the record straight. Ghajini is a remake of a South Indian movie of the same name which itself is inspired (the favorite word for Indian film-makers when they blatantly copy foreign material) from Christopher Nolan's masterpiece Memento (2000). Therefore, you can't credit it with any points for originality. But director Murgadoss's 'Ghajini' is NOT a scene by scene copy of Memento. And how could it ever be? The film makers realize (or assume) that the average Indian movie goer is too unintelligent to grasp an intriguing, non linear type of storytelling with a twist in the end that would leave him dumb founded. Hence, to rake in the moolah, the film makers turn Ghajini into mishmash of Memento and Masala cinema of the 70's and to add icing on the cake action straight from the Rajnikanth School of Martial Arts. Now that is what makes for entertainment for the masses!
Ghajini's 'Indianised' storyline has all the three hallmarks of a blockbuster, the 3Rs Romance, Revenge and the Righteous ending. It has a back and forth style of storytelling which doesn't warrant a crossword solving approach by the viewer. Sixty percent into the run time and the viewer knows what it will culminate into!
The romance element in the movie is endearing with newcomer Asin doing a great job of playing the chirpy girl next door and Aamir as the ambitious business tycoon mesmerized by her earthy ways. We break into romantic ballads courtesy dream sequences (The tracks, Guzarish and Kaise Mujhe will go down as A.R. Rehman's best works). The romance blossoms, but the inevitable tragedy strikes and a revenge seeking animal is born.
The build up to the climax is great as the screenplay engages the emotions of the viewer making him feel the grief and pain of the terrible tragedy of the protagonist's girl friend brutally murdered in front of his own eyes. You expect one-helluva ending, something like the ending of 'Unforgiven' in which Clint Eastwood left you awe-struck. But Ghajini's climax is laughable! Aamir Khan gets possessed by Rajnikanth. Dhoom-dhaam-dhishum, bodies fly in the air at the touch of a finger! Mission Accomplished! From start to finish, Ghajini is dominated by the one and only, Aamir 'Ferocious' Khan. It is the sort of role only a few can do justice to and performance wise it won't be an understatement to say that even the toughest of men in Hindi cinema like Dharam Paaji (in his prime) or Sunny Deol couldn't play the revenge seeking Sanjay Singhania any better than Aamir Khan! Yes, as always he successfully re-invents himself and hats off to that! But you can't help but wonder what was his motive in selecting this role? Maybe because, its a tailor made role to get the whistles from the 'front rows' and an attempt to establish himself as the biggest undisputed superstar of Hindi Film Industry.
All the dissection done, Ghajini is an entertaining and riveting affair, a onetime watch but nothing beyond that. One expects an Aamir Khan flick to be an intelligent affair and the film-makers (Aamir included) uses this image to masquerade Ghajini as a different, creative and intelligent piece of work which it is certainly not. Ghajini is conveniently contrived and has half a dozen plot holes which if given attention to insult your basic intelligence! Why the pretense? Why not sell it as a no-brainer-masala pot-boiler in the first place?
First up, let's set the record straight. Ghajini is a remake of a South Indian movie of the same name which itself is inspired (the favorite word for Indian film-makers when they blatantly copy foreign material) from Christopher Nolan's masterpiece Memento (2000). Therefore, you can't credit it with any points for originality. But director Murgadoss's 'Ghajini' is NOT a scene by scene copy of Memento. And how could it ever be? The film makers realize (or assume) that the average Indian movie goer is too unintelligent to grasp an intriguing, non linear type of storytelling with a twist in the end that would leave him dumb founded. Hence, to rake in the moolah, the film makers turn Ghajini into mishmash of Memento and Masala cinema of the 70's and to add icing on the cake action straight from the Rajnikanth School of Martial Arts. Now that is what makes for entertainment for the masses!
Ghajini's 'Indianised' storyline has all the three hallmarks of a blockbuster, the 3Rs Romance, Revenge and the Righteous ending. It has a back and forth style of storytelling which doesn't warrant a crossword solving approach by the viewer. Sixty percent into the run time and the viewer knows what it will culminate into!
The romance element in the movie is endearing with newcomer Asin doing a great job of playing the chirpy girl next door and Aamir as the ambitious business tycoon mesmerized by her earthy ways. We break into romantic ballads courtesy dream sequences (The tracks, Guzarish and Kaise Mujhe will go down as A.R. Rehman's best works). The romance blossoms, but the inevitable tragedy strikes and a revenge seeking animal is born.
The build up to the climax is great as the screenplay engages the emotions of the viewer making him feel the grief and pain of the terrible tragedy of the protagonist's girl friend brutally murdered in front of his own eyes. You expect one-helluva ending, something like the ending of 'Unforgiven' in which Clint Eastwood left you awe-struck. But Ghajini's climax is laughable! Aamir Khan gets possessed by Rajnikanth. Dhoom-dhaam-dhishum, bodies fly in the air at the touch of a finger! Mission Accomplished! From start to finish, Ghajini is dominated by the one and only, Aamir 'Ferocious' Khan. It is the sort of role only a few can do justice to and performance wise it won't be an understatement to say that even the toughest of men in Hindi cinema like Dharam Paaji (in his prime) or Sunny Deol couldn't play the revenge seeking Sanjay Singhania any better than Aamir Khan! Yes, as always he successfully re-invents himself and hats off to that! But you can't help but wonder what was his motive in selecting this role? Maybe because, its a tailor made role to get the whistles from the 'front rows' and an attempt to establish himself as the biggest undisputed superstar of Hindi Film Industry.
All the dissection done, Ghajini is an entertaining and riveting affair, a onetime watch but nothing beyond that. One expects an Aamir Khan flick to be an intelligent affair and the film-makers (Aamir included) uses this image to masquerade Ghajini as a different, creative and intelligent piece of work which it is certainly not. Ghajini is conveniently contrived and has half a dozen plot holes which if given attention to insult your basic intelligence! Why the pretense? Why not sell it as a no-brainer-masala pot-boiler in the first place?