Ghajini - Review

The first show experience, after a long gap.... and an evening show on a working day, for the first time. It was a different risk, eventhough we knew the synopsis of the movie. The faith reposed on AR.Murugadoss-Surya combination was the reason behind that attempt.

The pair didn't fail me. The Rs.8 crore project starts in a gripping pace.

You like it or not, you need to start with Nayanthara, the medical student, only. Her intention of taking up the case of a STML (Short term Memory Loss) patient for her project gets thwarted by her superior, citing several reasons.

There he enters... our hero Sanjay (Surya) afflicted with STML - who remembers incidents only for the next 15 minutes. The past & the reasons behind his current status, unfold thru Sanjay's diaries of few years back.

Sanjay Ramasamy, the multi billionaire and the model Kalpana (Asin) meet in a comical situation. Without even knowing his true status, she starts loving him when he proposes. Each & every meeting of theirs was a hilarious - romantic - sentimental - gripping ones. Due to some revealing facts, Kalpana becomes a target for the villain Pradeep Ravath. Result.. Sanjay gets hit badly, while Kalpana gets killed.

With his ST memory and the photos which he carries, he kills his targets, behind his ladylove's death except the main villain. There is another twist brought out here in the form of Villain's dual role, which is new to Kollywood. And the climax, is as everybody knows.. But after their death, Sanjay is let loose and goes on his way...

Surya lives as Sanjay, both as a billionaire (with that simple smile) and as a violent patient with STML. The romantic scenes with Asin are very touchy and Asin has impressed us a lot. Even at the final moment, her eyes talk. She shares the credit with Surya for both their excellent performances. She gets killed without even knowing Sanjay's actual status, which is one of the highlights in the screenplay.

Nayanthara needs to look after her weight. She has become the potential candidate to beat Namitha. Her attire and makeup in 'X macchi' were glaring so much and at times her expressions are scary to us - managable, since the movie is a thriller(!!). I am just wondering about her pairing with Simbu in 'Vallavan' and Jeeva in 'E'. For her weight and height, they may look like her younger brothers.

Pradeep Ravath is menacing in his role.

Filming of Harris Jeyaraj's songs are good. 'Ragathulla..' comes just as an introductory song (MTV style) to Asin in which she fails to impress. But later, she was convincing in the story and the other 3 songs.

'Oru maalai ...' sung by Karthik has been beautifully picturised with a nice choreography. Wow.. there is such a big difference between Surya's dance movement in 'Nerukku Ner' and in 'Ghajini'. However his dance movements in my favourite number 'Suttum vizhi sudare..' looked funny at times. For this melody, the lead pair could have simply walked instead of dance movements.

The placement of the filler song 'Rangola..' should have happened earlier than where they had fit in. Eventhough it is a dream song, we realise the danger awaiting her (Kalpana - Asin). So, that tension may not allow you to enjoy the song fully.

Strengths
1) The pace of the movie. Slick Editing by Antony and the cinematography by R.D.Rajasekar is keeping up the fast pace. (Both were part of Goutam Menon's 'Kakka Kakka' as well)
2) Surya and Asin are too good in their roles and they have lived as Sanjay & Kalpana. Most of their meetings are fun-filled / romantic except the last tensed moments.
3) Nice picturisation of songs.
4) Since I have not seen 'Memento', I wasn't under any influence and could see it from a layman's angle. Murugadoss' screenplay has made the story simplified inspite of some glitches, with only five characters - Surya, Asin, Nayanthara, PS Ravath and Manobala (as Asin's modelling director)
5) Less violent shots (eventhough more stunts by Kanal Kannan) and less glamour would make it watchable for all ages.

Weaknesses
1) Couldn't believe that Kalpana or her boss, are unaware of such a big shot Sanjay from Tamilnadu, till the last moment of hers.
2) Except, the investigating police officer Riyaz khan (who dies later accidentally), no other police officers' help is sought after in the movie. Especially, when there was a tensed moment in the climax hostel campus. [inspite of today's mobile era. Probably the director would have extended the Anna university ban to the medical college hostel also... :-) :-)]
3) There is no justification for the twist created in the Villain's dual role. Just a screenplay twist... The director could have exploited this twist in a better way for the story.
4) The climax could have been little more convincing.




Inspite of my perception as above, this movie seems to be a hat-trick from Murugadoss (after 'Dheena' & 'Ramana') and a good break for Surya. Asin has proved her place in this part of the world. I believe, Surya who had taken the Chennai distributorship and telugu rights, would definitely make a killing with this action packed flick.

While coming out of the hall, my son asked for the logic of naming the movie as 'Ghajini'. I couldn't find any, from the storyline. Can someone help?

Ghajini Review by SIFY & Indiaglitz are also linked. Glad that this time all of us had reviewed on the same lines, which was not in case of 'Anniyan'.

My Earlier Reviews - Limited edition (munch it, if you hvn't)
Anniyan / Ullam Ketkumae / Sachein
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