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....