Ghajini - Aamir the raging bull

After a very long time I had watched a brilliantly shot movie on screen, specially watching it in the Mecca of Chennai cinemas was even more gratifying. Only snag was me and my friends were just seven rows from the screen and we had to literally crane our head and watch the movie. Having watched the movie a lot of times in Tamil I was expecting to draw comparisons. But something made me sit up when I was watching the credits. For a start there weren’t any gimmicks when the hero's name was introduced. It was just plain Aamir Khan (When will Vijay & Ajith… leave alone the lesser bachoos… phew) and a lot of the technicians were from down south. Agreed this is a remake but still made me sit up when worthy souls were recognized. 



Now starting with the movie, as the original it starts with a bang showing the hero stomping a baddie with oodles of vengeance, and the sorry looking doctor explaining scantily clad medical students (phew.. its either overboard or students are taking to other countries a lot these days) about the Hero and his weird disease he is suffering from. Care has been taken by the director to dwell more into detailing and it’s really nice to see an Indian movie with minimum goofs. Aamir after a very long time has literally stormed into the film with his attitude and panache (later on). The attitude he shows in the movie really makes u believe he can really thrash even a goddamn cow into pieces, which is very well presented in the scene where he literally climbs on Riyaz Khan (Police Officer) during a fight. Asin to begin with does look slimmer in the face but only when she wears other dresses do we really see that she is no way near the fit and slim Bollywood heroines and Jiya Khan rightly showcases that. Drawing comparisons to the Tamil and Hindi versions it can be easily conferred that the movie has been shot brilliantly in the Hindi version and also carefully detailed. But when we come to acting part it kinda looks a little more difficult to watch Aamir romance compared to Surya. Asin in the meanwhile is overacting like hell. Man it is a performance only Jyothika from Kushi could have bet. Aamir is good on the style quotient but one thing which made me cringe was a seeing a Chairman wear an overcoat over slacks where it is deliberately folded to show the sinews in his arms. Tamil movie makers and actors (Ajith from Varalaru and Vijay from ATM) should learn from AR Muragadoss, Ravi K Chandran and Aamir on how to showcase different avatars of a single actor on screen and make it look extremely believable, the song (Bekha) was the best shot. Movie as a whole was long and could have been cut down and would have made the thriller more interesting. Comic elements were mainly till the first half and were spoilt by the overacting Asin and the make shift Sanjay Singhania. Sathyan in Tamil version literally blew us off the seats with his dialogues and mannerisms in that character. Music on the whole was good; songs were both pleasing to the ears and eyes (kudos to Ravi K Chandran for this). But on the background score Rahman I believe had lost his chance to excel. This was the movie where he could have created a score equaling Bourne Ultimatum. But he was miles away from that, maybe too much concentration on the Slumdog Millionaire (btw Salute the man for bringing India honors from the Golden Globe). The rest of the characters chipped in and moved away. Jiah Khan was good to watch mainly coz she didn’t overdo her part and was the oomph factor (but more than half the theatre was livid with the director for just showing a minute of the Lattoo song were she was super hot). Violence being the main ingredient for the vengeance Aamir carries was portrayed well, but an outcry to the public. Please leave your toddlers back home for movies (at least movies like this), coz it’s really a pain to hear wailings whenever a goon is hit or when the BGM is on Ur nerves. Climax thankfully has been changed and was a nice attempt. 

Summing up the movie is a must watch, not coz it’s the best, but coz it has all the items listed below

1. Flair

2. Excellent Cinematography 

3. Good music 

4. Great attitude and acting by Aamir (specially after Hrithik and John this is the only guy who can carry of a Six pack or an Eight pack and look extremely comfortable with it. Ask SRK and he would tell u how not to do it) 

5. Excellent detailing and Stunt sequences. 

On the flip side 

1. Asin's overacting irritates 

2. Film's length is a hindrance 

3. Lack of creativity from Rahman on the background score in some places drops the effort delivered on the screen. 

A three out of five star for the movie. And Bollywood is thanking this for raking all the moolah both in and around the country. What are you waiting for? Rush in for the movie.