Ghajini (2008) Movie Review (5 Stars out of 5)

Ghajini (action/thriller)
Cast : Aamir Khan, Asin, Jiah Khan, Pradeep Rawat
Direction : A.R. Murugadoss

I just came out of a theater in USA after watching Ghajini and o'boy, Amir is back with a bang! This is going to be this year's best movie I bet. A very deserving movie, classic thriller with AR Rehman rocking.

Ghajini is Aamir Khan's one more master piece playing the hero who switches from a shy, taciturn tycoon who charismatically finds love with a simple but ambitious Mumbai gal (Asin) to a vulnerable killing machine who mauls his prey like a wounded tiger. Roars and grunts, included! Aamir has hardly anything to say in the entire film. Yet, he stills the show with a brilliant performance.

Aamir plays high point as action hero, where he brings back old-fashioned physical combat to Bollywood guts and gore, but he impresses as the diffident biz honcho too who is willing to travel in buses and scootys with his buoyant Ms Congeniality. Only because she thinks he's a struggling model who might just be ready to shoot for a ‘chaddi' ad in his desperation.

Costumes…my God…Van Hussein’s design suits Amir and the colorful formals are a must to watch by IT folks and corporate guys.

AR Rehman’s music is other reason for the success of this movie…the song Gujarish is simply the best number among all others!

The other place where the film scores is in its narration. Loosely inspired by Christopher Nolan's Memento , the film moves back and forth in time, as it juxtaposes an effervescent romance in the past against a brutalized, spaced-out present. The two time zones criss-cross interestingly, leaving enough suspense to keep the viewer attentive.

Amir’s role as Sanjay Singhania speaks several minds -- with his silences, his expressions, his body language, his helplessness, his guttural, anguished shrieks and then his vacant stare again. A man who suffers from short term memory loss must not only remember the horror of his past, but seek out his beloved's (Asin) killers too and finish them off. Even though, he might just forget what he's doing while battering them. All he has to help him in his mission are a few scrawls on his body, his walls, his unfinished diaries, his polaroid snapshots, his fading memory cells and a friendly medical student (Jiah Khan). Not much to go by, especially when the bad guys (Pradeep Rawat and co.) choose to erase most of the clues, including his tattoos.

Debutant actress Asin does a fantastic job in her first brk to Bollywood with a spontaneous rendition of the Good Samaritan Mumbai girl who breezes her way through life, with a smile and a helping hand for all and sundry. She is cute and gonna be there in Bollywood for a long time.

Debutant director A.R. Murugadoss proves a point to Bollywood that Tamil directors can rock the hindi speaking world of cinema. However, the role of bad guy could have been given to some other actors unlike the b-grade movie villian Rawat.

Surely this movie is going to be widely accepted by audiences all over.
My recommendations: Grab enough popcorns and coke to enjoy this 3 hr action-thriller-drama. A must watch for all!

My Rating : ***** (5 Stars out of 5)