Monday, December 29, 2008

Bollywood movie review: Ghajini

Part Memento, part Kill Bill.

By Shawn Parikh

The Hrithikization of Aamir Khan.

Ever since Oscar-nominated Lagaan in 2001, an Aamir Khan-starring flick has always appropriately garnered buzz. His release of Taare Zameen Par earlier this year is even India’s entry for the Oscars. He now stars in Ghajini and the hype could not be bigger. As a remake of the South Indian megahit, Aamir Khan has also revealed a six-pack and a body of steel.

Yes, that obviously sounds corny, but for all you non-Bollywood followers, a new trend has infected the male actors, termed the Hrithikization of Bollywood. Just a brief summary: a few years ago, an actor named Hrithik Roshan debuted and he was the first actor to have a lean, American-looking muscular body making him the newest craze. Sure, Salman Khan was muscular, but he never caused the fitness fad as Hrithik did. After this, all the actors have now been forced to shape up and get buff. Last year, India’s biggest star Shah Rukh Khan got ripped for Om Shanti Om, and now superstar Aamir Khan has been the latest to jump on this bandwagon for Ghajini. And each time this happens, it’s a big deal and you won’t see the end of it in the trailers.

Now that we are past that, Ghajini is an action thriller that enthralls for 3.25 hours. The story begins with the tale of the patient Sanjay Singhania (Aamir Khan) who suffers from short-term memory loss and can only remember things for 15 minutes. He remembers subconscious innate qualities, but it’s just conversations, actions, and directions he forgets. He carries around photos and has tattoos to help him get through the day and remember who and where everything is. Sound like Memento?

Ya, I work out.

We know right from the start that he is on a mission to kill Ghajini. Through an investigation, a police officer and a med school student find diaries that reveal in a flashback how he got the scar that affected his memory and why he is on a mission to kill Ghajini. We learn he is avenging his girlfriend’s death, caused by a group of thugs that he is killing off until he gets to Ghajini. Sound like Kill Bill, with a central male character?

Even with these similarities to Hollywood movies, the movie does manage to grasp your attention. Told in such an intense manner, you end up waiting to see the story unfold to figure out why Sanjay’s so passionately in hunt of Ghajini. Plus, the director did a great job in having those scenes where you are sitting on the edge of your seat, holding your breath like in a horror movie.

While it did manage to entertain through the end, a few things did manage to irk. The whole short-term memory loss premise was only used when convenient. One instance definitely stands out: he is in a hospital bed towards the end of the movie and the med school student comes to tell him his life story. I am all for suspension of disbelief, but since this took about 2.5 hours to tell the audience this, it makes no sense how he retained this information without interrupting and telling her to start the story over. But a few scenes after this, he loses his memory again.

Another qualm was the misplacing of a couple of songs. While “Aye Bachchu” introduced the main female character, Kalpana (Asin), it totally came out of nowhere. The same goes for “Latoo” picturized on the med school student, Sunita (Jiah Khan). Sunita is a learned lady and all of sudden she is putting on a show in skimpy clothes for her college. Thank goodness they cut most of the song out.

The face that launched short-term memory loss.

Other than these two songs, the rest of the A.R. Rahman soundtrack is beautiful. Songs are fantastically elegant and scenically eye-pleasing, especially “Guzarish” and “Bekha.” The background score was also incredibly effective, and that’s something I never notice.

The movie of course belongs to Aamir Khan, and he impresses heavily with his acting and physique. Whether he is playing the loverboy falling for Kalpana or the raging avenger, his character arc is consistent and we never get bored in following his journey. As Kalpana, Asin makes an amazing impression and naturally manages to get the audience to fall in love with her also. Quite the looker, she has such an endearing presence and matches Aamir Khan’s star power completely.

It has been a while since a good action thriller has come along, maybe since Sarkar Raj. But Ghajini takes Bollywood cinema to a new level by showing how you can tell an intriguing new story and concept and never let it lose momentum for 3+ hours. Aamir Khan has proven himself yet again.

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