Ghajini (2008)

A lot of critics have condemned this film as being a mere remake of the highly acclaimed and popular Hollywood film 'Memento'. While there is no doubt that this film is at the very least loosely inspired from Memento, to call it a complete rip-off would not only be a stretch of the imagination demanded greater suspension of disbelief than that required for viewing either movie, but would also be unfair to the effort Murgadoss and the rest of the team have put into developing this epic for an Indian audience. Rather, it would be best to view this film as a separate entity, something not quite at the standards of Hollywood's best but certainly above the usual clichéd Bollywood fare.

Ghajini tells the story of a man called Sanjay Singhania (Aamir Khan), who suffers from a condition called Anterograde amnesia, which prevents him from forming new memories, as a result of which he is unable to remember anything for more than around 15 minutes. This condition was caused by the brain damage he suffered when hit on the head by an iron rod, during a violent attack on him which also resulted in the death of his lover, Kalpana (Asin). Haunted night and day by fragmented memories of the incident, he is driven to near-madness with rage and embarks on a quest to avenge the death of his love, by hunting down the gang behind the attack-his ultimate targets being a Mob lord about whom he knows nothing save for a single name-'Ghajini'. In order to compensate for his short term memory loss, he uses a system of notes, Polaroid photographs and tattoos on his body to remind himself of the facts he has gathered during his quest and the progress he has made. Along the way, he encounters a medical student named Sunita (Jiah Khan) who is intrigued by his condition and wishes to study him and thus ends up being dragged into his violent life. The story of Sanjay's violent quest alternates with extended flashback sequences of his happy pre-amnesiac past as a savvy corporate honcho and tells the tale of his romance with lively ad model Kalpana and the circumstances which led up to the incident that caused her death and his memory loss. Ultimately, the film comes full circle in an awe-inspiring climax when past and present collide to bring a fulfilling end to the story.

Aamir Khan proves his versatility as an actor yet again, playing not one, not two but three roles in this film. As Sanjay Singhania, the savvy corporate honcho, he is polite, yet has a brisk and efficient air to him (a lot like his real life self). As 'Sachin', a struggling actor romancing Kalpana he plays the shy and unassuming everyman, albeit one replete with both confidence and sincerity. And finally, most notably, he plays the post-amnesiac Sanjay, an almost insane inhuman monster, a killing machine consumed by rage and bloodlust, haunted by shattered memories and yet lost, confused and disoriented whenever his periodic memory loss kicks in. Perhaps one of the best scenes in the film is one early on where, waking up at home, Sanjay wanders through his house clueless, having no idea where he is, until he reaches a mirror on which is written a note which tells him to remove his T-shirt whereupon he sees the tattoos that remind him of his lover's death and his quest to avenge her and cause him to be suddenly overpowered by rage and a desire for vengeance-a transition which we observe several times over the course of the film. Asin does a pretty good job as the bubbly and vivacious Kalpana, making her a likable character who's brutal murder does create the impact on the audience's mind which makes us truly sympathise with Sanjay's quest. Jiah Khan does okay as the medical student who gets dragged into Sanjay's quest for revenge while Pradeep Rawat may come across as an over-the-top clichéd bad guy in his role as the titular 'Ghajini'-but it works well for the story, believe it or not.

This film is actually two films in that the darker 'present day sequences' of Sanjay's orgies of violence seem to belong to an entirely different genre from the lighter comedic flashback sequences, though the shattering of Sanjay's happy past life makes us understand the driving force behind his present day violence. The style of music, dialogue and even settings for both sets of sequences is drastically different as a result-where on one hand you have fancy office blocks, garden parties and the beach side, on the other hand you have seedy back lanes and darkened parking lots.

On the whole despite a few ridiculous plot holes, Ghajini is definitely one of the most entertaining, if not one of the best, films of Bollywood in recent years.