Millionaire Aamir and Slumdog Ghajini

First of all, a very happy new year to all those who happened to stumble across my blog. I am sure you all had a blast. Last year on New Year's Eve, I was stuck at my place in Gurgaon. My close friends had all traveled home to a land far far away (shrek-style), and, i didnt feel like attending some of the parties I was invited to. So I ordered some food, got a bottle of wine and watched movies at home. It seems prety lame - when you hear all the firecrackers blowing, the blarring music and general ruckus being created around. But, believe me, i did not have a decent option - so I had "me" for my company. The movies i watched - Taare Zameen Par and Jab we met - turned out be really good, plus the food and wine was top-notch, so all in all, it was the most quiet and fantastic New Years, I had in a while.

This year, again, i decided to watch two movies at least. I watched 'A mighty heart' (a decent movie but definitely not a New Years Eve watch) and Slumdog millionaire. I was totally stunned by Danny Boyle's Slumdog millionaire. The movie is amazingly innocent and the acting of the kids is something that lingers on .. long after the movie is over. Must say - I loved every bit of the movie. Unfortunately, I cannot say that about another movie that i was eagerly waiting for a real long time - Aamir Khan starrer Ghajini. The movie let me down so badly that i wished i had a short term memory loss myself.

Somehow, i feel like ripping the movie to shreds - and i am going to go right into it. Its my blog after all :) . First of all, the title - Ghajini. For a title, like that - i half expected the name of the herione, whose death triggers the sequence of events, to be Ghajini. But, it turned out to be the name of the lame villain in the movie. The villain was neither scary nor had a overpowering presence to have the movie named after him. Neither did Murgadoss create any amount of suspense - as to who Ghajini is. Within, half an hour, you know who Ghajini is. So the title is horribly misappropriate. We can safely ignore the title - because - there is so much else that is wrong with the movie.

Aamir Khan, as Sanjay Singhania, always moves around with a convoy of four cars (a distinct south indian hero touch here). Yet, nobody has seen a picture of him. Asin is shown to be such a nice and sweet person, that you literally fall off the chair. One scene shows her celebrating her New Years by acting like a Santa Claus and distributing gifts among street urchins, while they are sleeping. Or when she describes to a blind man, the scenes unfolding around, while crossing the street (copied from the movie Amelie). She is shown to be such a nice person, that Mother Teresa would have idolised her. Anyways, these are just some of the minor things that irked me.

The biggest difference with Memento, (and i must compare it with Memento because the film is "more than loosely based" on Memento) is the fact that while the director of Memento assumed that the audience is intelligent and will connect the dots, Murgadoss assumed that the audience has an IQ of zero. So forget the non-linear plot of Memento with scenes coming in random order, Ghajini needed somebody to recite even the linear storyline. There was a cop (who surprisingly was dressed in denims and not police wear) who was introduced purely for reading the diary. There was no need for him in the movie later, so he was conveniently killed. The diary served as the medium to recite most of the story line. Nothing was implicit. Even the scene, where they destroy the tatoos on Aamir's body as well as all the evidence, you would expect the next scene... to show that Aamir is terribly lost because he doesnt know anything more. But surprisingly, the destruction of the tatoos and evidence has no effect - as - Jiah Khan - conveniently steps in and picks up the plot as if nothing happened. There are so many things, that could have been better, that you want to go and ask Murgadoss, whether he had short term memory loss when trying to mimic Memento.

I am sure, most Aamir Khan fans would not take kindly to my comments. Dont get me wrong, i like most of his movies. But, Ghajini, after all the marketing, and, posturing as the movie of the year, sadly let me down. I wasn't expecting a Masala film. For that, i would have watched Rab ne bana di jodi. But, masala film it is. It was interesting to hear Aamir talk of Memento. I will just say - let the movie Memento be. Leave it alone. Don't embarass yourself by speaking about it. The movie of the year for me - is defintely - Slumdog millionaire :) Fantastic movie.