The most awaited film of 2008, Ghajini is the Hindi remake of the Tamil film of same name, which is an adaptation of the critically acclaimed film Memento by Christopher Nolan. The protagonist is suffering from anterograde amnesia or short term memory loss and seeking revenge for his wife’s murder. The lead actor Aamir Khan had his head shaved almost bald with a style which became craze of the country.
Sanjay Singhania (Aamir Khan), the owner of a mobile phone service provider company falls in love with Kalpana (Asin Thottumkal) an ad film actress, though she does not know that he is business magnet. The most enjoyable moments as well as soul stirring parts of Ghajini are the comic as well as emotional scenes between Amir and Asin.
Being a do-gooder, when Kalpana successfully saves a bunch of children who were in danger, she is brutally murdered by a gang leader Ghajini Dharmatma (Pradeep Rawat). While trying to save Kalpana, Sanjay gets hit hard on the head, eventually leading him into a state of short term memory loss.
The doctors diagnose it as anterograde amnesia where a person’s memory can only last for fifteen minutes and he can’t remember any relations, nor events or incidents that have happened before in his life. Sanjay then becomes obsessed with avenging the murder of his girlfriend. To combat his disability of short term memory loss, he has tattoos spread over his body to help him remember what his aims are.
The anterograde amnesia patient is studied about and helped by Sunita (Jiah Khan), a psychology student to take revenge on the one who murdered his lover. She attempts to unravel Sanjay’s mysteries and past life. Despite initial friction between Sanjay and herself, she eventually helps Sanjay who is out to seek revenge, searching for the murderer of the one love of his life…
His story is unraveled by a police officer Fawaz (Riyaz Khan) who is hunting him for the several murders Sanjay has committed while to avenge his girlfriend’s death. In doing so, he also learns about some of Sanjay’s past life. Riyaz Khan is competent in his supporting role of a police inspector who investigates the murders by Sanjay Singhania.
The background score is well executed. The greatest part of the movie is the action. Also, the anguish and frustration of the protagonist is effectively captured. Aamir Khan is convincing even while beating up the baddies who appear too big for a man of his size. Being a perfectionist, Aamir Khan worked on his body for 3-4 hours daily for a year in the gym for this appearance.
Jiah Khan a medical student who takes up the investigation of the case of Sanjay Singhania as her project does her part well, while Pradeep Rawat as Ghajini has been offered a big break as the main villain. Riyaz Khan is fine in essaying a supporting role.
There are three memorable songs in Ghajini rendered by A. R. Rahman, where the main song “Guzarish” is beautifully shot in the Deadpan Desert of Namibia and in Cape Town, South Africa.
Ghajini, the movie is an action-thriller, with strong romantic elements in the first half. There could have been no better actor in bollywood than Aamir Khan to portray the character so well.
The surprise package in Ghajini is the fresh and spontaneous Asin Thottumkal who is debuting in hindi films.
Credits & Crew of Ghajini:
Directed by A.R. Murugadoss
Writer – A.R. Murugadoss
Produced by Allu Aravind, Madhu B, Madhu Mantena Varma
Co-producer – Allu Sirish
Line Producer – Harish Amin
Original Music – A.R. Rahman
Cinematography – Ravi K. Chandran
Lyrics – Prasun Joshi
Film Editing – Anthony
Art Direction – Samir Chanda
Choreographer – Ahmed Khan
Costume Design – Arjun Bhasin
Assistant Directors – Tess Joseph, Kapil Sharma, Vinay Waikul
Stunts – Peter Hein
Playback Singers – Javed Khan, Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam, Benny Dayal, Suzanne D’Mello
Cast of Ghajini:
Sanjay ‘Sanju’ Singhania – Aamir Khan
Kalpana Shetty – Asin Thottumkal
Sunita – Jiah Khan
Ghajini Dharmatma – Pradeep Rawat
Satveer Kohli / Kalpana’s boss – Tinnu Anand
Manager – Air Voice – Khalid Siddiqui
Journalist – Kunal Vijaykar
Havaldar Vijyanti – Vibha Chhibber
Sampat – Sunil Grover
Inspector Arjun Yadav – Riyaz Khan
Dr. Debu Mitra – Anjum Rajabali
Ghajini, movie review