Ghajini

Ghajini is a simple and straightforward revenge story, but Aamir Khan`s bravura performance makes it an extraordinary watch. The film brings back the popular theme of the `80s and early `90s - revenge, romance, action and thrill with a nice touch of humour.

Just like Christopher Nolan`s Memento, the past and present are juxtaposed neatly in Ghajini that has great action scenes excellently choreographed. Director A.R. Murugadoss maintains the thrill till the end.

After playing a sensitive teacher in Taare Zameen Par, Aamir goes for a role reversal in Ghajini and impresses as an amnesiac killer. His agility and ruthlessness in the action scenes make it a compelling watch.

Now the flaws.

In terms of script, the film has nothing new to offer. What actually plays spoilsport in the film is the romance sequence. Although love forms the basis of the revenge that the protagonist seeks, the romantic scenes are neither written properly nor executed convincingly.

Also, Asin`s character is not etched out properly and her acting skills are not impressive either. She looks good in a few scenes, especially in song sequences.

Comparatively Jiah Khan, who has a sizeable role, does a better job as a medical student. She looks quite hot in the Lattoo song.

Sanjay Singhania (Aamir), a businessman tycoon who owns a cellular phone company named Air Voice, falls in love with Kalpana (Asin), a struggling model who fabricates a story that she is dating Sanjay in order to get big offers though she has never met him. She goes to the extent of giving an interview about her relationship with Sanjay to a magazine.

Irritated by Kalpana`s lies, Sanjay decides to confront her. On his way to meeting her, he sees a young girl (who happens to be Kalpana) helping handicapped children. At the studio he is pleasantly surprised to realise that Kalpana is the same helpful girl he had seen. He chooses to hide his identity.

Thereafter Sanjay keeps meeting Kalpana and their romance blossoms. He never reveals his true identity. The two decide to get married.

Meanwhile, Sanjay has to go to London on some business deal. While he is abroad, Kalpana saves a group of young girls from flesh traders led by the don, Ghajini (Pradeep Rawat). When Ghajini comes to Kalpana`s house to avenge the loss and embarassment, incidentally, Sanjay too arrives.

Ghajini kills Kalpana and injures Sanjay with a heavy iron rod that causes him to lose his memory.

Apart from Aamir`s admirable performance, the film`s editing and music are excellent.

The film is good in bits and pieces. There are several loopholes in the film and scenes that leave many questions unanswered. The director takes an easy way out by not detailing the scenes.

Undoubtedly, Aamir is the highlight of Ghajini, and it is worth a watch for his sake.

Ghajini is the Hindi remake of Murugadoss` award-winning 2005 Tamil hit by the same name. Aamir has teamed up with Asin, who was also in the original, in the much-awaited film.

`Ghajini` is an action film, but it has a lot to do with human emotion. It`s actually a beautiful love story. I hope the audience loves and enjoys the film. We have worked very hard for it, said Aamir.

Aamir and his team painstakingly sculpted those eight-pack abs.

It took Aamir 13 months of workout, with a daily regime of about four hours, to achieve the next-to-impossible look for `Ghajini`. He used to get tired exercising and sometimes even used to shriek in pain and cry doing the stomach crunches, but he did not skip a single day. Every week his body used to show results and that kept him going, said Satyajit `Satya` Chaurasia, who trained the actor for the film.

The story revolves around Sanjay Singhania (Aamir), a rich businessman and the events surrounding his relationship with a model, Kalpana (Asin).

However, what is drawing the audiences to the theatre is the unusual plot according to which Kalpana is murdered by a goon and Sanjay is hit on the head by an iron rod when he tries to rescue his beloved.

Though Sanjay survives the blow, he suffers short-term memory loss. At any given time, he only remembers what happened in the last 15 minutes, though he has stark visions of Kalpana`s murder.

The rest of the film is about how he teams up with a medical student Chitra (Jiah Khan) and goes about finding the goons responsible for Kalpana`s murder.

Aamir`s rigorous workout for 13 months in the gym to achieve the muscular look for Ghajini and his buzzed hair look has already become a rage among audiences across the country.

Ghajini has a longer story to tell than is considered healthy for multilplexes. The action-thriller`s playing time of three hours makes it the second-longest film of the year after Jodhaa-Akbar. But the producer is unperturbed.

It`s not the length. It`s the performance. You could have a really boring two-hour film. On the other hand you could`ve a really gripping film that`s three hours long, said Madhu Mantena, who also co-produced the super hit Tamil version of Ghajini with Alu Arvind.

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