Ghajini. And its much-anticipated release. Oh, yes! The movie turned even a disinterested viewer like me into a restless
and fidgety mess for more reasons than one. I’d seen the Tamil version of the movie and was absolutely floored by the plot, Surya’s and Asin’s acting prowess, the music, the movie. All of it. I was curious to know whether Amir Khan, or should we say Mr. Perfectionist, could outdo or at least equal Surya in his
performance. And I am happy to announce, Surya Sivakumar remains UNRIVALLED!
Amir’s portrayal of a patient diagnosed with anterograde amnesia is one of mild confusion that severely undermines the plight of someone fraught with short-term memory loss and the consequent gut-wrenching disorientation. It is amusing to see him look bleakly perplexed in scenes that required him to struggle and search desperately in his mind for some semblance of comprehension. And he tries to compensate for that by exhibiting a torrent of rage in a couple of scenes. Big eyes, gritted teeth, animalistic snarls, and prolonged screams. All those histrionics that could not provide a veneer of credibility to his dismal performance. Even if I choose to set aside Surya’s personification of the lead character and focus on Amir’s portrayal of Sanjay (the hero!) in his heydays, I have no good things to say. As a lover boy, which incidentally I thought was Amir’s forte, he iss nonchalant at best. He looks good, no doubt! I thought he even resembled Jude Law on several occasions. And those gorgeous six-packs. Bah! Only made for brilliant
publicity and pre-release marketing. But even those could not save the movie as Amir delivered his dialogues with the air of someone bored out of his wits and with the arrogant cognizance of a superstar that the general public would feed on anything he hurls at them. To claim that Ghajini is a washout would be unfair. The movie has its pluses too. The music is exceptional though I would not say the same for the song videos. Asin is flawless. Effervescent and vivacious, just like she was in the Tam version. The good thing is that she will get a lot of mileage out of the Hindi remake than the Tamil movie – better publicity, a wider audience – and I think she deserves it. The bad guy, Pradeep Singh Rawat, pulls off a more powerful performance in the Hindi remake than in the Tamil one. In the Tam version, he passed off as a mere northie goon who hurled all the maa-behen abuses at the slightest provocation. Here he is nothing short of cruel and intimidating. As for Jiah Khan, do we even need to mention her? She uses up all her screen time trying more to look sexy and less to act. The outcome? She is downright tacky. But considering that that is all she is capable of, let’s not even dwell on her lack of acting skills. But the same excuse cannot be proffered for Amir. I would never count his role in Ghajini as one among his better performances. It is bleak and nowhere close to the standards we’d expect of someone being touted as a perfectionist and who gave us Taare Zameen Par that was released on the same date last year. Which is a disaster if you realise that Amir already had a benchmark set by Surya who, when it was his turn, did not have a role model to ape. We can get into lengthy discussions about Memento and Ghajini but Hollywood and Indian movies fall into entirely different genres of cinema. No comparisons can be made even in the case of adaptations and blatant reproductions. So the debate remains restricted to Amir’s Ghajini vis-à-vis Surya’s Ghajini. The former is mostly an imitation of the latter. Perfect in the technicality of scene-by-scene reproduction but severely lacking in acting prowess. Riding high on publicity and fan following but scoring low on credibility. And the worst thing is, junta will love it. The plot is gripping, Asin is brilliant and all that. And Amir will walk away with one more accolade, though highly undeserving in this case. But try watching the Tam version. Here is the link for the movie on YouTube. It’s got English subtitles too. And come back to me with an honest opinion. Move over, Amir! You are better off being original than emulative. Out with the imposter! Asin on the other hand is sending shivers through the spines of the leading ladies of bollywood with her performance in the movie.star rating 2 1/2 of 5.