Ghajini

Gajini, Directed by A.R.Murugadhas is a action movie, this time with a story. Murugadas, RD. Rajasekar, Antony above all Kanal Kanna are the real hero's of the film in Story, Camera, Editing and Stunts respectively.

The highlight of the movie is the climax stunt between Surya and the Villain – absolutely fabulous. When I saw alavandhan (movie) I thought what else can you do to beat this kind of stunt (remember kamal vs kamal) but the vision of the director, stuntman and the visual effects is really amazing and surprisingly perfect (It took 10 days to complete the climax).

Surya has performed beautifully in both the characters. Surya, Asin pair in the movie looks fresh and good. Nayanthara trying to be sexy looks ugly in her attempt but her character is the pivot in the movie. Harris Jayaraj is looking confused in many places in the background score, he gives you a feeling as if you are seeing his earlier movie (anniyan, thotti jaya) but he has made it equal with songs specially "Sutrum Villi Sudarae" is beautifully choreographed and filmed.

A.R.Murugadhas has done the story (The knot was taken from an English film Memento), screenplay and direction very well, but the two songs (Nayantharas and the climax song) are definitely the show stoppers as they bring down the phase and the impact of the story in a descending order, must have been avoided (remember Ramana where we has effectively only 2 songs) Gajini a movie worth watching.

So the dust is beginning to settle for A. R. Murugadoss' Ghajini starring Aamir Khan, given that it had broken, and is still continuing to rake in stellar box office receipt records for a Bollywood movie around the world. For me, it piqued my interest enough to revisit his 2005 Tamil version starring Surya Sivakumar in the lead role, with Asin who also starred in both versions as Kalpana, and Pradeep Singh Rawat as the villain, curiously not called Ghajini here, but Laxman.

I shall leave comparisons with Christopher Nolan's Memento unmentioned because I've done so with my earlier review of Ghajini (2008).Instead I shall focus more on the similarities and differences in the Murugadoss films, since he crafted both the screenplay and dialogue, and directed both movies with predominantly the same leads, save for the protagonist Sanjay Ramasamy (Surya Sivakumar) inflicted with short term memory loss.

The opening credits stayed similar, and for the first half hour, I thought I would be watching the same 2008 movie all over again. I see the same policeman (Riyaz Khan) going through the same investigations and employing tactics seen before, and even the scene transitions relied on the same time lapse technique already seen. The structure of the story remained for at least two-thirds of the film, and especially the romance between Kalpana and Sanjay, except for distinct differences such as the knowledge of who the chief villain is with the possession of the all important polaroid, and spending some time showing how Sanjay had tattooed himself with the clues.

While it may be easy to work on a remake, given that you're basically rehashing what you've done before, and more so with experienced actors in the same role again, it is easy to free fall into complacency and to go through the motions with your own remake especially. But kudos to Murugadoss for identifying plot loopholes, and to make changes for the better in the Hindi version, rather than to import such flaws wholesale into the new movie. Obviously the production values were ramped up significantly from this version, but that's not the only thing that had improved. as was the editing.

The pace here is pretty much slower, and had plenty of fat which were removed in the latest version. Tweaks were done for the better in the latest, especially so in the editing department to gel scenes together much more effectively. Here, you get abrupt jumps and cuts, so the narrative turned out to be a bit choppy at times, especially so when it's time for the rudimentary song and dance sequence which pops out from almost nowhere. Sorely missed were the daily routine that Sanjay would have to relive everyday, which I thought was an important scene to reinforce his difficulty in trying to hunt down the gangsters.

The final act turned out to be an all out whackfest without too much thought put into making this film more plausible, opting instead for a pseudo-terrorist hostage situation. You could tell from the onset at this point that there were a few scenes Murugadoss would have elected to do differently, such as to avoid having Sanjay as a muscled and skilled fighter from the onset, with exaggerated Kollywood styled prowess to boot too. These were toned down for Bollywood, and having Aamir show off his six-packs from extreme training also helped to make it believable.

Murugadoss also decided to downplay and eliminate the complicated finale battle here, which made use of wire-fu, and his decision to change the that battle to that seen in the Hindi version, is much appreciated for creating a stronger sequence altogether. Even the very last scene of his reworked version fared miles better since it sent home some very strong emotional chords to the audience, rather than this version here which actually was quite creepy (my first thoughts were of reincarnation!)

Music wise, with all due respect to Haarris Jayaraj for his work here, I thought A.R. Rahman's actually worked better. The music here, while still effective, was a little downbeat, and the picturization (if that's what it's called) could have been vastly improved, many times being something like watching a tacky 80s made music video. Compare Guzarish and Sutrum Vizhi (which is my favourite song of the lot in this film), and you'll see what I mean. The placeholders for music to come on were pretty much the same, save for this version having what I thought was 2 distinct pieces reworked or removed totally from the remake for pace purposes. Sutrum Vizhi has this really hypnotic, head-banging beat to it.

My frank opinion would be to watch the Hindi version not because it's vastly superior, but for its production values as well as a more coherent story reworked for a much better result. This version is still valuable in terms of seeing how far everyone had come, and for fans of Asin, this is the film that provided her that breakthrough in her career.

The Region Free DVD by Venai Holdings is presented in matted letterbox format. Visual transfer is average at best, seemingly done off a VHS quality source. Toward the last hour there's this curious green tinge at the top right hand corner, but wasn't irritating enough to mar the enjoyment of the film. At times there were some pops and cackles in the visuals as well, but nothing too serious. Audio quality is in stereo and in the original language track, with English subtitles as an option. No other extra features contained in the DVD. Guess I shall wait for Ghajini 2008 to see if it comes with a special edition of sorts for some making of documentaries. Given the box office success, I don't see why not.

I got to tell you that this movie elevated my respect to Tamil film industry. Very rare you find such a beautiful and skillful storytelling! Most of the time the director's direction matters in the movie. He can mould the acting the way he asks for. And that's what you see from this one. Movie storyline seems to be inspired from Hollywood all time favorite "Momento". The beauty of the movie is the pace in which it goes. Each scene is worth watching. Special effects and background score is the best I have seen! Surya was perfect fit for the role and he carried it with passion and dedication. This is the first movie of Asin I have seen and Man! she rocks. None in her genre can act so real! Finally have to say, this is the way the indianized version of Hollywood flicks should be made ;-)

Of course,some readers would say that Memento(the English version of Ghajini)was better.*cough cough*EXCUSE ME?!This movie is Oscar material.Momento is crap compared to Ghajini.Guy Pierce acted like a wallaby and didn't look good AT ALL.Surya's looks and acting and Asin's cute and acting must earn this title an Oscar Nomination.Now,to the cons of the film.Nayantara's acting was........BORING!The lady has grown too fat and was also ugly.Her character was also pretty foolish and was technically not needed at all.Riyaz Khan could have taken care of the job pretty well.The villain could have been a little less gruesome.The ending,too,was very abrupt.

But two exceptionally good points about the movie were Surya's looks(he was so hot!)and graphics(awesome!).You movie buffs must catch this cool title with subtitles.The songs 'Oru Maalai' and 'Suttum Vizhi'are two wonderful songs which I really liked.I,being a girl who hates Tamil movies,think this one is definitely a winner.With a touch of romantic numbers,a hint of action sequences and a pinch of graphics,Ghajini is a must watch.

If a movie is similar to an Hollywood effort, there pops to terms. If it works out, it's called inspiration and if doesn't, it will be called plagiarism.

Never the less, this effort cannot be sidelined just for using the same ingridients as in the original. The hardwork for the homework is clearly visible in adapting and localising the script. The director's signature of perfectness in screenplay is obvious and gives us pure satisfaction upon the end card. If there's something to be complained, it's the commercial stuff like songs.

The suspense and the thrill upon it's revealing is smooth and soothing. Certain episodes/elements in some movies, helps in retaining them in our minds for a longer periods. This fits in that genre very well.