Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Memory Plus - 'Ghajini'

''Like Aamir Khan in 'Ghajini', I am suffering from a short term memory loss. But I do not plan to get my body tattooed or pumped up to help me deal with the syndrome. I don't possess a polaroid camera , either. So, I guess I am going to have a pretty rough\tough time handling my life, without going on a killing spree..... like his character in the movie that aamir's friends have already declared a superhit because of its impressive advance booking over X'Mas break. I happened to watch the film at a private screening..... and fell asleep. Twice. Not because it was that boring.... but because it was that predictable. My memory - the little I still retain, nudged me strongly and said, "Memento. Memento, Memento." The original cult film on which this one is based..... though Aamir's memory (in most interviews) has no such recollection. Forget originality ( then again - with an Aamir Khan film, why should one forget something as basic?), but any revenge \action movie running for over three grisly hours, needs a lot of pruning. Guess the director forgot!! The editor also forgot. And generally everyone connected with the project also forgot. So forgetful is the entire team that 'Ghajini' seems like one of those Combo offers - buy one, get one for free. There are at least three separate movies wrapped loosely into one package, and it gets most confusing, to keep shifting ones focus from a dotty love story about a billionaire ( soooooo rich and sooooooo famous ---- that nobody knows what he looks like, not even the cops or his pretend girl friend!!). The tycoon dresses rather oddly - like a flare bar tender or a bouncer outside a trendy club downtown. And this is when he attends trans- Atlantic meetings, flying over in his own corporate jet with firang execs holding his files!! The girl friend is cute, wacky, lively.... and non descript (like a vintage version of Sridevi). Their story is charmingly narrated, but the stagey songs are utterly boring and unimaginatively picturised.
It is when Mr. Eight Pack gets into his killer groove that the yawns stretch and stretch. Give me a break, man. The tattooes should have been in hindi so that the REAL audience would get it.
The climax must have been amazing - by then I had lost interest. And yes - it takes guts to call the film 'Ghajini' - based on a minor character who is straight out of an 80's Ramsay Brothers film. Such a ham.... even a pig would feel insulted. Aamir is always excellent - no matter what the role. One expects nothing less from the guy. I bet the movie will be declared a mega hit. But a copy is a copy is a copy. Now.... let me go swallow a fistful of Memory-Plus capsules....

36 comments:

obssesor said...

with the amount of hype surrounding it..it had to be terrible!

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Harish said...

ohh then aamir khan is a true bombayite.

he also suffers from selective amnesia and bombay too.

Anonymous said...

Shobhaa,

The disappointment in yuor tone is quite evident. The problem is that there is if anything is overhyped, then it is very difficult to live up to the image.

In any case, the truly enjoyable movies are the action packed brain dead movies of the Van Damme and Steven Segal genre. Hope this turns out to be similar!!

Another Kiran In NYC said...

Since I actually fell asleep watching Momento, do I have a worse fate watching Ghajini? I may be comatose in that case. My question is does Aamir Khan revel in being a ham. Is he as tongue in cheek about it, as SRK appears to be?

Yesterday, on TV (tonight show with Leno) I saw someone who I think has the whole package to be a very, very big international star. Frieda Pinto. What a lovely, articulate and bright woman she is. Not stiff, not conventish, nice natural desi neutral accent, and has definate star quality. She was well briefed, has a great sense of humor and actually shone as brightly as Robin Williams (another guest on the show). Hmmmmmm... something to think about Aishwarya! Take a few lessons from Freida. Though I am not sure anything will help Aishwarya.

I will try catching up with Hindi Fillum watching on the weekend assuming that I have not collapsed before that from overeating at Christmas.

While I like what I will be cooking for family tomorrow (Primerib, garlic smashed potatoes, Pomogranate fennel greens salad) I really miss eating Sarpotel, sannas and plum pudding and sneaking sips of feni with my Goan buds. Who is eating that tomorrow?

Seasons greetings everyone! May all your lives in the coming New Year always be sweet as sugarplums and gulabjamuns and Mysorepak and khubani ka meetha! May you always walk as lighly as one who has relished a glass of good feni.

Sathyanarayana said...

Wow, let me give some food for thoughts- Producer from Andhra Pradesh talks to Aamir to remake Tamil movie and pays Tamil rights to original producer of Tamil movie - "Gajani" and then Original producer intellectual waits for film release dates and file a petition to pay for Telugu rights of same movie dubbing using the same name - "Gajani". This looks lot more like roller coster, but Org Producer played his card carefully to make good bucks by asking another 4cr for this.

Anonymous said...

Well we all know that the movie is not original. Of course it is a copy, but its is the Aamir Khan's performance that will run the show. I am going to watch it today in couple of hours.

By the way thanks for an honest opinion.

Have a Good Day

ShreyGoyal.com said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ShreyGoyal.com said...

I totally echo your thoughts. Turned out to be a real bummer. Read my take on it.

Unknown said...

"The tattooes should have been in hindi so that the REAL audience would get it."

That sums up your review here, sad you had to go through this ordeal. Did you too forget that you had an option to not attend it or even walkout of it!!!??

Strange even after hearing about it and watching the promos, you expected a non masala here.

Anonymous said...

"soooooo rich and sooooooo famous ---- that nobody knows what he looks like, not even the cops or his pretend girl friend!!"

hahaha - you have a great sense of humor.

"The tycoon dresses rather oddly - like a flare bar tender or a bouncer outside a trendy club downtown. "

I have watched the Tamil version, but it never occurred to me that the dress style resembles a bartender/bouncer.

Your comments will make my viewing of the movie (tonight around 9:45pm with family) more entertaining!

I'll keep these thoughts of yours in mind, and will probably chuckle while watching :)

cheers,
sydney

Anonymous said...

you hate AAmir that is why you say its boring,many of your reviews about film were quite opposite to the audience response.i think you are not eligible to review any movie of any generation,please stick to writing for newspapers and books,movies are not your cup of tea to review or even to see.i think you will be a loser if this movie "Ghajini" makes a 100crore block buster,your effort to supress the success will be kicked of by Audience likability and by repeat audience.then it concludes me that you dont have an ideaof what present generation expects and gets thrilled pleasure from a the kind of film made.you cant catch the audience thought ,so you are failed to be a movie-critic,as you have personal attitude indulging into proffesional attitude.you cant confuse you were readers,now readers are more intelligent.and thats why they are making writers to blog.

spunkyviji said...

Hi Shobhaa

I am not sure why your reviews are this bad ..I have a read a couple of your previous blogs on ur favourite movies n stuff..

well if u can truly appreciate a dostana or rab de ..i cant understand how u aint able to appreciate a Ghajini..

This movie is far better than havin a movie in which a wife cant recognise her own husband ya having the heroine expose for nothing..was wondering what was the role of a costume designer in dostana when people hardly wore them and ur reviews for that movies were mind boggling ..
guess as a writer u shud not be biased and i find ur review of ghajini VERY BIASED ,is it because SRK has agreed to be a brand ambassodor for ur cocktail saarees..huh !!!

sscribbles said...

Now that u ahd miffed SRK big time, is this a review to appease him? In no way can Rab ne... score over Ghajini. At least in ghajini the heroine does not fail to recognise her own husband just becuse he removes his moustache and gels his hair. It is a movie where the actress suddenly falls in love with her busband when she had decided to elope with her love. Ghajini is no Lagaan or TZP, but surely way ahead of the over-the-top character of raj. Please Miss De, people respect your opinions so dont be biased when you review movies.

Anonymous said...

Hey Shobhaa,

I wont disagree a bit from what you said. I havent watched this movie yet but I have seen its Tamil Version. I doubt whether this hindi version would have a slightest of the slightest improvement from that. I dont think I will make the same mistake twice in my life... Thanks for the info though

Sai

Anonymous said...

oh my! I could not get past his choice of dress in the movie.

I completely agree with the bar tender/bouncer analogy. My mother added that he also looked like the was ready to perform in some sort of strip show.

Those half-sleeved muscle-man business shirts really ruined it for me.

Anonymous said...

you make my doubted sure and confirmed that you and SRK has joined hands against Aamir khan ........ well done how much money do you get from srk for critisizing aamir ....... i had a big respect for your columes but after reading this you disapointed my expectations !

arty said...

I was planning to see this movie on Sunday with my hubby as the movie invited lot of comments.But thanks to you for this post.It avoided the hassle of one hour long drive!
Certainly I will watch this movie but not in a movie theatre!!

I like your blog and the marvellous writing skills you possess.

Aditya Mani Jha said...

Ma'am, great blog!

Ghajini has no illusions over its artistic status.....and it certainly is nothing like Memento...not that it tries...

http://passionforcinema.com/ghajini-aamir-khan-and-joie-de-vivre/

Vaibhav Jain said...

Mam, I do not know if you follow the comments in your blog and am sorry to be disagreeing with you...
in your previous review of Rab ne... you praised that movie a lot.. just becuase SRK likes you and Aamir doesnt?

The movie is fantastic and if you sleep in such kinda movies, you only deserve to watch stupid senseless movies like Rab ne..

If you shortlist so many shortcomings in Ghajini, I may count you twice the number in your SRK's Rab Ne...

Bad choices!!

Preeti said...

I actually liked Gajini better than momentoes ..and Amir's 8packs looked good ... he carried his look with ease ...love story touched few chords ...

i guess its time we give actors / directors a litle credit for what they produce ..every artist has a vision , inspiration and its not fair to judge them . We always expect Amir to deliver tare zameen pe stuff ..not posiible ...

so just go to theathre to enjoythe movie ..both gajini n rab de are nice and different ... they both have their moments ...

Anonymous said...

>>>Their story is charmingly narrated, but the stagey songs are utterly boring and unimaginatively picturised.

I agree with that :)

Altaf Merchant said...

Hello Shobhaa,

As usual you have hit the nail on the head (thankfully no iron rods as in the movie-lol). Just an overhyped grossly violent flick (the kind that went out of vogue in the late 80s early 90s). But what really caught my attention is that how easily influenced the public gets with all the hype mechanism & so called "media" influence into forming a "positive" opinion about a substandard product. Aakhir aaj kal toh sirf marketing ka zamaana reh gaya hai. Thankfully you have retained the honesty in your reviews.

Take care & keep on opinionating unbashedly. It is what makes you stand out & respected.

:)Altaf

Anonymous said...

Too fimsy comments. Looks like u have bad taste for AAAMIR rather then movie.

Anonymous said...

shobha,

you seriously in need of therapy, you praise rab ne bana di jodi and you fell asleep in ghajini. Maybe you were too drunk the night you saw ghajini. Movie was fantastic, Aamir was at his best. And the tatoos were in english as he was a educated person, unlike you who fail to appreciate good films as this.
you should write your blogs in hindi.

Toronto - Canada

Anonymous said...

Lagta hai batle Aamir ke ye blog par bahut saare chamche visit karte hai jo batle ki prashansa ke liye lukhe hai aur sach ko sweekar nahi kar sakte hai. Parantu batla toh batla hi rahega na. Dedh foot ki body par tasveerein banakar koi "hero" athva "star" nahi ban jata hai. Uske liye special "star" quality hona zaroori hai jaise ke Hrithik, Shahrukh, Akshay aur Salman mein hai. Chitrapat ka shirshak Ghajini ke bajaay Pygmy hona chahiye tha.

Anonymous said...

Amir was brilliant in his act ..but the story was bad ..songs disgraceful ..plot shamefully tacky --vendetta driven and left you emotionally drained ..with negative energy ...
Definitely not an movie i would expose a under 16 year old youngster to ....unfortunately saw this blog late else i am sure i would have skipped the movie .
thanks Shoba ..your summary is very appropriate ..

jyoti prakash mallick said...

excuse me ma'am...bt if u watch memento u will see dat ghajini isn't a copy of it...i don't think d indian audience ll b able 2 appreciate a movie like memento...and yes i do agree ghajni was bad...ghajni xplored 2 human emotions "love and vengeance" only and in memento, emotions dat r very close 2 reality are zplored...i can go on and on bt memento n chris nolan bt in a nutshell yes ghajni is nt a copy of memento...even if dey try dey wont b able 2 do it

Panduram Ganpathrao Dhule said...

hahaha....right said and well said, Ghajini is a ghajini is a memento !!!

coffeeismypoison said...

Dear Shobhaaji,
I was and am a huge fan of Aamir K, Since I was little. I had been really looking forward to ghajini...but was sorely disappointed. Being a Doctor, I was also very pissed...at the ignorance and improper depiction. It was too conveinient...the depiction of the illness.
Then again, the film does have its rare moments and I was equally repulsed by Rab ne bana di jodi...which was an inane piece of bull. His own wife didn't recognize him? please. However that film too had its few nice bits.
I'd be very pleased and obliged if u dropped by my blog and gave me your comments to help me improve as a writer.
And gingle : i pretty much am a fan of aamir, but the film really sucked.

coffeeismypoison said...

Oh yes,
one more thing.
The protagonist of Ghajini write his personal diary in hindi but tatoos in english.
thank u for ur reply ma'am!

Anonymous said...

Hard to believe, is it really De's blog - wow, should come often here to enjoy the most credential writer.

selva kumar said...

i not only fell asleep but also paranoid and disoriented and i felt strange when my family said the movie was very exciting and out of the way.( definitely, it was out of context).thank god. there's someone with the same perception. the hero was good. but, i can't understand what's so great about the story line.

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