Had it not been for the sheer respect of the hard work put in by the hundreds of people who have worked on ’Ghajini’ I would have no qualms about calling it a lousy movie. Sure it has become one of the biggest grossers of the Hindi film industry, but so did ’Raja Hindustani’ (I have nothing against Aamir Khan.
He is one of my favourite actors). To begin with, I can’t understand why are the makers denying that it is not a copy of ’Memento’. The basic premise is not just a copy but a complete rip-off of ’Memento’. That’s where the similarity ends.
While ’Memento’ was a taut, edge-of-the-seat thriller, ’Ghajini’ is a poor wannabe rehash and is completely devoid of the psychological twists of ’Memento’ in terms of the script. And let’s face it, despite that bulging and well-publicised eight-pack, Aamir Khan pulverising six people triple his size is just not convincing enough. It’s like watching Mukesh Rishi as the romantic lead of a film.
Some things are just not meant to be. Aamir is arguably the finest actor of his generation, but he’s not infallible. And since we never get to see his transformation from a suave tycoon to the mean killing machine that he becomes, it becomes all the more implausible.
Full marks to the technical aspect of the film. Ravi K. Chandran has done a fabulous job with the cinematography. Whether it was the soft feel of the songs (though, most of them unrequired) or the pulsating energy of the chase sequences, Chandran does remarkably well. Maybe it’s the expectations that one has of an Aamir Khan film, but it’s not exactly his best work of late.