Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Ghajini - Review



There are movies that remind you of your lost first love...promised so much when it started and later felled by the weight of expectations. Ghajini is a breathtaking start, a fantastic middle and sloppy end.

The story gets off to a dramatic start. Surya, a patient of brain damage who cant remember anything beyond 15 minutes, sets off to murder a few goons in a traditional blood for blood pot-boiler. However, the narrative is so dramatically picturised its a dazzling treat to watch.

The expectations are heightened by the flashback in which a witty, fun-a-minute romance between the multi-millionare, suave business man Surya and a middle-class, intelligent, witty and upright Asin is told swiftly and impressively. Their falling in love is so well picturised that one almost wishes they succeed and raise kids. Not often in the recent past has a director narrated a poor girl meets rich man spin with such earthiness, practicality and sophistication.

Asin fusses with a few dons in rescuing girls from prostitution and her multi-millionare lover also gets brain damaged in the process of trying to rescue her. It is here that the story and the narration starts taking a dip.

There are logical holes, lack of imagination when one glamour girl is replaced by another in Nayantara. Nayantara's characterisation as a medical student smacks of poverty in coception.

As Nayantara vacillates between helping the goons find Surya and Surya to find the goons, it makes one wish the movie had ended after the romance.

Surya though comes up trumps in his elegant gait as a rich man in love. His action scenes are powerful and yet believable. Asin has given a performance that will up there with the perfectly affable girl with a lot of heart. Nayantara's attempt in concealing her ever-burgeoning body in a ever-shrinking customes comes out flat. An eminently forgettable performance. She should stick to singing in saris or atleast wear dresses that dont camouflage her paunch!

The director Murugadoss can be commended for the many things that he did right forgetting the few things he didnt get right. Harris Jayaraj's hit "Sutrum vizhi chudarae" was excellent though it reminded one of "Devadaiyai Kandaen"

All in all, a movie you should watch.

Rating 74/100

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