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I feel that the most appropriate way to begin a blog about films (reviews, culture, stereotypes, etc.) is with a review of the most recent movie that I have seen. Luckily enough, this film is the newest release starring my very favorite actor, Aamir Khan. That film is Ghajini--now one of the highest grossing films to come out of the industry commonly known as Bollywood in recent times.

I shall save my views about this industry until the next post, as they will take up considerable time and space. With this post we'll just stick with Ghajini. Be forewarned, there will be heavy spoilers in many of my posts.

Ghajini is a film about a man suffering from short term memory loss who is trying to find his girlfriend's murderer. Sound familiar? Ghajini is a remake of a Tamil film of the same title, which is in turn probably inspired by Memento. However, they are not as similar as they may sound. While I know some people who would rave about the artistic merit of Memento while criticizing a certain lack of originality in plotlines, I have to say that I liked Ghajini more overall.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Memento. It was incredibly creative, the acting was superb and it was wonderfully put together. However, my sister (a psychology major) pointed out that if he had short term memory loss of this sort, he would not know it, and in general there were many problems with this disorder in the film. Here in lies the ultimate difference between the two films I think. Memento is not about the story, it's about how it tells itself (look at me, I'm going backwards!), and while Ghajini's plotline is not straightforward, it is about the characters and how they inhabit the story that they're in. This is what I like so much about it.

Ghajini is a longer film than Memento (as Hindi films are wont to be), and therefore they have time to develop a backstory so that the events leading to the heros disorder effect you more. You get to see the story of Sanjay and Kalpana develop, but you know that it is doomed. Now, in some films this doesn't work at all (eg. Curious Case of Benjamin Button), however for this film it only helps add meaning to the pain and rage that is visualized and portrayed so well by Aamir Khan. You understand him more. Guy Pearce's character lost not only his memories, but many of his emotions as well. He's calm, collected, and while he's wistful and sad about past events, it's hard to feel attached to his character. While Sanjay turns into a kind of monster, you can't not like him and attach to him because you get to see where he's coming from. The characterization of her also helps with this--I always wanted to see more of his wife in Memento--how else can you understand why he's got the need for revenge so built up?

His character also leads me to another point, and that is he actually seems bewildered about his situation. He doesn't quite realize that he has amnesia--how could he, he can only remember things in fifteen minute increments? While there are a few plot holes in relation to this (somehow he knows his camera beeps every fifteen minutes), for the most part he is confused, and lost, and he has to start each day over again by looking in the mirror, wondering where all teh tattoos came from, what he's doing, etc. He has far more notes telling him things he should remember (such as one that reminds him to take his photographs with him--how else would he know after going to sleep that he had photos) tattooed on his foot, so he sees it before putting on his sock. There's just ultimately something a bit more believable about his memory loss than in Memento. You feel it more.

On an interesting note, many people are bashing it for being a unnecessary remake by the same director as the 2005 Ghajini, with the same female star. All I have to say to this is that in Indian cinema, I believe it has done that way often since the coming of sound. They would shoot the same scenes several times in two different languages (sometimes with the same cast if they were bilingual) to try and reach a wider audience. I can't say that I'm opposed to this. It's like going to see your favorite play with a different cast, or hearing a piece of music played by multiple performers. Each new rendition brings something new and exciting to the story.

Finally, the music is by A.R. Rahman--now increasing in popularity in the west because of his hit score for Slumdog Millionaire, but who has for a long time been one of the Indian film industries top composers. While the score for Ghajini has met with mixed reviews, the song Guzarish is a masterpiece, and one or two other songs are well done also. Other than that, the music is pretty standard (I think the sentiment was that standard was slightly disappointing from a composer who continually sets the bar).

Anyway to close off the blog, I'm going to list my 5 favorite and least favorite things about this film.

Loved:
1) Aamir Khan
2)Guzarish
3)The common romance plot that she tells someone she's dating a bigshot, then he comes to confront her, falls in love with her and they start dating without her knowing that he knows that she's lying...if you follow me.
4). The fact that he doesn't get to tell her who he really is before she dies--this would have made it more stereotypical of a love story, and the fact that he doesn't get to tell her just makes it so much more bittersweet and sad.
5) The bewilderment that he clearly feels most of the time (unlike a lack of bewilderment in Memento)

Did not love:
1) Too much screaming/rage--it was good for awhile, then it got to be just a bit much
2) Latoo--seriously, they were so hard up for a song that they had to have the med student ask the main character to stick around for her performance, and proceed to not spend much time on it at all? It was kind of pointless.
3) I think that perhaps it would have been a neater ending if he had died in the end (as far as I can tell, many Indian films have a very interesting take on the afterlife--eg. Mohabbatein--and then they could have ended up together!), after he got stabbed through by a metal pole. Oh well, the ending they have is still pretty good.
4) The scene they stole from Amelie (you know the one, where she leads the blind man to a bus stop and describe sights as they go)
5) The fact that he didn't get to tell her (so sad!!!)


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