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Cast:
Aamir Khan, Jiah Khan, Mohit Ahlawat, |
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Asin Thottumkal |
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Year:
2008 |
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Music:
A. R. Rahman |
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Lyrics:
Prasoon Joshi |
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Story:
AR Murugadoss |
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Cinematographer:
Ravi Chandran |
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Presenter:
UTV Motion Pictures |
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Producer:
Allu Arvind, Madhu Varma |
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Director:
AR Murugadoss |
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| Aamir Khan,
the actor, has the habit of springing surprises. Post Taare
Zameen Par, one had assumed that he was now onto meaningful,
serious cinema. Then he springs his surprise by working in
AR Murugadoss' Ghajini, a true blue masala film. But what
Aamir manages to do, is retain his seriousness. He brings a
rare maturity and seriousness into his portrayal of the
character of Sanjay Singhania, the protagonist of Ghajini.
In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Aamir's
performance in Ghajini gives the good old masala potboilers
a much needed shot in the arm. Like all formula fare,
Ghajini's story is, in a certain sense, predictable, but
what raises the bar here is the manner in which the movie
has been shot, its screenplay, and its rivetting
performances by the lead pair of Aamir and Asin. The point
really to note here is how good intentions, backed by a
perfectionist streak, can transform even the most done to
death revenge formula into such a riveting movie. |
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The
film's USP is naturally Aamir Khan and quite
deservedly so. Except for Asin, none of the other
characters are worth more than a mention. A lot of
that, of course, has to do with their relative
importance in the general scheme of things. But the
only flaw in the film which stands out glaringly is
the lack of a suitably menacing antagonist. Pradeep
Rawat's Ghajini is hardly menacing enough to create
the perfect counterfoil to Aamir's Sanjay Singhania.
Also the clash between |
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Asin's Kalpana
and Ghajini, is weak and seems more like a rushed job, as if
the director and storywriter, could not wait to get on with
the blood and gore portions.
Despite the
film's running length of some three odd hours, director
Murugadoss manages to hold the attention of his audiences,
as the narrative moves back and forth, into the past and
then back into the present, never once losing the thread.
There has been much speculation about whether the film is
based on Christopher Nolan's Memento or not. But that fact
hardly bothers one as Murugadoss's protagonist and his tale
has the audience glued to their seats.
Ghajini is
the tale of a cell company head honcho, Sanjay Singhania, a
shy, diffident tycoon, who finds love with a smalltime model
and good Samaritan, Kalpana (Asin). Love blossoms between
the two with Kalpana never realizing that Sanjay, who she
thinks is Sachin, is actually a tycoon. She mistakes him for
a struggling model and tries to help him out with a break
for an underwear ad. However, Kalpana's clash with Ghajini (Rawat),
brings their love story to an end. All that Sanjay is left
with, is a mind that has a memory span of only 15 minutes, a
diary which details his life until that fateful day when
Kalpana was killed by the goons, some photographs and the
various tattoos on his body, which give his life a purpose
and mission, which is to find Ghajini and kill him. |
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Aamir's transformation from the shy, diffident,
mature lover boy to the superbly beefed up,
revenge-hungry Sanjay, is remarkable. The surprising
thing about this film is the fact that actually
Aamir does not speak much. He has very few
dialogues, but what he does do is speak volumes with
his eyes and his body language; even his silences
are more eloquent than the spoken word. That is what
makes Ghajini stand out, even from those early
Rajkumar Santoshi collaborations with Sunny Deol. As
the narrative alternates between the dark present
and the |
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warm memories of yesterday, one finds oneself almost
missing the shy lover boy. In fact, it's probably been
ages since Aamir has played the conventional lover boy and
he is so convincing and pleasing that one is loath to let go
of him. His stark portrayal of the revenge driven Sanjay is
of course masterly, giving as it does a neat touch to the
archetypal action hero of yore. The action sequences are
deadly and have been executed with clinical precision.
Besides Aamir,
the other loveable factor about the movie is Asin, who makes
her Hindi film debut with Ghajini. She breezes her way
through the role of Kalpana, with a spontaneity and
simplicity which is quite captivating. She more than manages
to hold her own opposite Aamir and excels in the scene when
she is hounded by the goons. As for the rest of the cast,
Jiah Khan as the helpful medical student and Rawat as
Ghajini are just about competent. |
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AR
Rahman's music is the other highlight of the movie.
Two numbers, specially, 'Behka, Behka Sa' and 'Guzarish'
really stand out. The numbers have also been
beautifully choreographed and captured on camera by
cinematographer Ravi Chandran, who does a great job
with the rest of the film as well.
Murugadoss reveals his hold over the cinematic
medium as he retells an oft heard tale in a fresh
and innovative |
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manner. Ghajini
is a commercial, masala film and it makes no bones about it.
In fact, it would be no exaggeration to say that the film
celebrates the return of the commercial potboiler. This
formula works! |
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