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Ghajini Review - Just An Imitation, Good In Parts

December 25, 2008


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Cast: Aamir Khan, Asin, Jiah Khan, Pradeep Rawat, Khalid Siddiqui and Others.
Action: Peter Hein.
Art: Sunil Babu.
Cinematography: Ravi K. Chandran.
Editing: Anthony.
Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi.
Music: AR Rehman.
Sound Designer: Resul Pookutty.
Director: AR Murugadoss.
Producer(s): Tagore Madhu & Madhu Mantena.
Banner: Geetha Arts.
Release Date: 24th December, 2008.

If you had seen the original, the dubbed version of Ghajini you would miss many more things other than the haunting music that trailed Surya. Surya's big, intense eyes, his shy sweet smile, his mediocre height and persona etc. Though Murugadoss said time and again that he would make changes and give the movie a North Indian feel, nothing seems to have moved except for the finale. Even the suits that lent an aura to Surya didn't look that good on Aamir. Well, even the scene in which Aamir looks zapped when Asin fakes that she is Sanjay's girlfriend doesn't ring bells.

Asin and Aamir KhanAsin looked sweet, did a commendable job but again she was just perfect in the Tamil/Telugu version, be it her costumes or expressions. Two years is a long time, and the time really showed on both the lead pair's faces. Well, keeping the comparisons aside, the story which is an Indian version of Memento has Aamir Khan clearly going that extra mile to make his character utterly believable especially in the action sequences. The hero, a patient suffers from an episodic or short-term memory loss and he overcomes this handicap of his to take revenge on the guy who killed his lover.

To elaborate he is a well to do, in fact a very wealthy bachelor and business man who falls in love with Asin and when she is murdered he struggles to find out who the killer is. The opening scene of the film has Aamir being helped in a hospital by Jiah Khan, a medical student. She is puzzled at his strange medical condition, as to why he cannot recollect events for more than fifteen minutes.

AsinShe innocently informs the villain that Aamir has already killed a few and he is Aamir's next target. The villain Pradeep Rawat lands at his home and destroys all the pictures of the people including his and renders Aamir hopelessly helpless. Jiah realises later that it was Pradeep who murdered Asin and hit Aamir on his head. She eventually helps him take his revenge.

Murugadoss has put in more effort, more passion than what he did previously and his taut screenplay, deft handling of the finale ensures that Aamir Khan has not indulged in a great gamble, it was a brilliant decision to stick to the original director and to repeat Asin as the heroine.

First thing first what grabs your attention is Aamir's tattoos, his head is not completely tonsured, you can see hair sprouting with a haphazard line running across indicative of stitches on the head after the serious injury. For those who haven't seen Ghajini at all, this is worth watching, because it's surely entertaining and well-made but those who have already seen the original, they can safely avoid it simply because the film has nothing new, it's Aamir in place of Surya and a slight change in the climax. Murugadoss FYI really tries his hardest and there's nothing you can say to criticize his direction.