"GHAJINI" Movie Review
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 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.
She 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.
End Credits :
Starring : 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.
Labels: Aamir Khan, Asin, bollywood, Jiah Khan, Khalid Siddiqui, Pradeep Rawat
About the film, King (Nagarjuna) is knocked off by Swapna (Mamta Mohandas). There are others in King's family who don't want him around as he is the inheritor of a large property. King who is presumed to be dead is seen as Bottu Seenu a settlement rowdy in the city and is a potential rival to another dada Gynaneshwar (Srihari). Srihari's sister Shravani (Trisha) and Bottu Seenu fall in love unaware of each other's background. Amidst a battle of wits between Srihari, Nagarjuna and Trisha, one is treated to funny moments but fewer than you might expect from Sreenyu Vaitla.
Suneel pales in comparison to his previous film, he is wasted thoroughly. The only men who hog the show are Srihari and Brahmanandam. The latter is a lecherous music director who is not willing to be sorry and is seething with vengeance. Even parts of the film where Nagarjuna is trying to get up from the wheel chair is entertaining. The film could have been more hilarious towards the last 20 minutes but the director seems to have compromised by turning formulaic, given importance to Nagarjuna's action scenes. Nagarjuna as usual performed well did justice to what was given to him.
Plot Ravi is an Assitant Director for a big director whose film flops. Meanwhile he is narrating his own story to different producers and the lead from whom he finally gets a nod. He stays in the industry's foothold point, Krishna Nagar where his neighbor is a group dancer he likes but doesn't completely commit to because he needs to settle down in life. Yadu Anna is the local goon who fancies Sandhya, Ravi's mother is sick with cancer but does not tell her son because she does not want anything to upset his concentration or plans and various filmy characters and incidents surround the Assistant Director's journey to achieving his dream i.e., making a movie.
Performaces Raviteja delivers from the heart. He's been there, done that. He's as natural as an exuberant actor like him can be. Seiya as Sandhya is not as glam as one would wish a lead actress to be, but for a newbie, she's fine. Chitram Sreenu and Venumadhav keep the humor level up while Subbaraju as a film hero with an ardent fan club is well-cast.
They finally reach a village and seek shelter through Brahmanandam and Kovai Sarala. Now Brahmanandam as Madhav and Kovai Sarala as Radha earn the ire of Vaddivukkarasi. The old lady is constantly harassing them and wants them out of the village. There is no stopping her temper when she notices Brahmanandam and Kovai Sarala bringing them home. She is shown as hating the young lovers, a flash back reveals the reason.
Allari Naresh and the gang of thieves are stranded in a forest, they are working their way out to unearth a chest of treasure. At dawn he finds Tanya, the heroine missing, the camera takes you to a waterfall. By now you have already understood that she is bathing and what follows is a regular dream duet. There are many predictable moments like this but what makes Dongala Bandi an interesting watch is the screenplay, the breezy, light-hearted dialogues. The impromptu screams, the zany one-liners is jarring sometimes but effectively holds the viewer's interest. Don't expect anything spectacular just pick up a bag of popcorn and watch the time pass by.
One a muslim who has hair which is straight, soft and silky designed for a shampoo advertisement, he is in love with a girl so he woo's her father by feeding their dogs. The next is Yadagiri who works as a peon in a software company and has an employee rooting for him. A Sikh youth is constantly harassed for not making anything out of his life by his family. There is another person who stays put at a jewellery/costume store ogling at women. The concept of unity in diversity is poorly shown through a uninteresting flashback.