Ghajini was killed

Find him. Kill him.

Revenge! Mr. Murgadoss, I want revenge! You've murdered Ghajini. Brutally.

Now I know why the usually reclusive Aamir went crazy with the publicity campaign of this movie. It simply wouldn't have survived otherwise. As it is, there always is a keen anticipation for the annual (now a carefully worked out pattern) Aamir Khan movie. Add to that a super-duper hyped massive publicity campaign. Get Aamir on the airwaves to talk about anything and everything, even if it is something as stupid & banal as look-look-I-pumped-iron-for-18-months-every-single-day.

I mean, come on. You expect some more class from Aamir. Over the years, for good reason, Aamir has become synonymous with quality cinema - right from QSQT to TZP, his resume sparkles with some absolute gems. Agreed, there were duds too, but the sincerity of the effort was always there. The reason why a particular movie was being made was genuine, 9 times out of 10. Mangal Pandey was a disaster, but Aamir gave 4 years of his absolute prime to the movie. Such was the effort.

Ghajini, am afraid, is a big, big blot on an otherwise impressive resume.

The intention here clearly seems to be to only pure commercial success. While that's a fair deal in its own place and the movie has clearly managed to achieve that goal, seeing Aamir jump on the bandwagon is a little hard to digest. And kinda sad too. 

The movie has no consistent graph, the characters are massively poorly sketched, the loopholes are of the glaring-in-your-face variety (lets not even get talking about these) and overall, the movie just fails to grip you as a viewer. You don't even feeling like rooting for the protagonist or don't care if the villain gets bumped off in the end - both these qualities darned essential for the so called 'masala action' movie genre Ghajini claims to be a part of.

The romance is wafer-thin. Absolute zero chemistry between Aamir and Asin, who for some reason is a tone or two louder than the scene demands. Maybe the director asked her to continue in the same vein, as she did in the Tamil version of the movie. Mr Murgadoss, when you remake a movie in Hindi, it isn't just about changing the dialogues to a different language, the characters also need to be reworked to adapt to the new audience you are trying to cater to. Lessons learnt the hard way, I guess.

And then there's Ghajini - the baddie. For a movie that places so much importance on the titular bad guy, the choice of the actor had to be absolutely spot on. And they choose Pradeep Rawat? He's the same guy who played Sultan in the brilliant Sarfarosh and the Teja, the sardar fast-bowler in Lagaan - while he is a fine actor in such bit and piece roles, to say that he is simply miscast in and as Ghajini would be an understatement.

For a role that is supposed to justify Aamir beefing up to eight pack abs and transforming into a man possessed, the movie demanded a villain who could induce the kind aura and wrath that Ghajini is supposed to. If I were to think of casting this one, a few names that come to mind - the first name that springs up is Irrfan Khan, perhaps a KK Menon could work too, Nana Patekar too would be a decent choice I guess. Or how about choosing another mainstream A-list actor - say an Ajay Devgan? Or bring back a forgotten actor - Ashish Vidyarthi, where art thou? 

Or if you really wanted this to be a good v/s bad quintessential Hindi movie, just go back to the old tried, tested and spectacular 'bad man' himself, Gulshan Grover? 

But not Pradeep Rawat man. No way. And also, like Asin's character, I think Ghajini's character should also have been plotted differently. The loud, gold-chain-hanging-around-his-neck, white trousers-and-shoes-to-match look just doesn't work. Ends up looking more like a caricature than a goon. And what's with the totally out of place UP-Bihar accent? Sheesh.

And how can I forget the perfectionist himself? Mr. Khan, as much as your dedication to the craft is tremendously commendable, do you really think this role demanded sculpting a body like you have? Alas, the movie just doesn't end up doing justice to the blood and sweat you've dripped by the bucketfuls in the gym. 

While Aamir's acting is pretty decent, we've been accustomed to expect much more. Stories of his total involvement in all departments of the movie are legendary and perhaps that's why, Ghajini's failure on the character, script and screenplay level hit me real hard. 

After watching this movie, I couldn't help you-tubing for the Tamil counterpart. And while I just watched about 10-12 minutes of the same, that movie appeared so much more gripping. I guess mainly because the Surya-Asin jodi seemed so much real. This role clearly needed a younger actor - Hrithik, perhaps? John, well, maybe not? May be a brooding Abhishek? Or a toned-up Imran Khan for all you know! Who knows, the movie could have just worked.

Another thing that stood out was how well lit the Tamil shots were as compared to Ravi Chandran's work for the Hindi version. The cinematography is perhaps over-done, with too much emphasis on dark, grey and dull shots to convey the movie's tone. The background score too appeared more in-sync with the visuals in the Tamil version.

Reasons aside, Ghajini, as a complete package, just didn't work for me. At the end the movie, I had to really pinch myself to believe that this was supposed to be the most awaited movie of the year! What a letdown man, what a let down.. 

 

I guess I will have to watch a Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Sarfarosh or an Andaz Apna Apna (all so-called masala flicks in their own right, mind you) to cleanse my system & reinstate my belief in Aamir Khan, the actor. Ghajini has dented that with the blow of an iron-rod.

Sameer's Stars - 1 on 5.