Ghajini: Aamir Khan rules!

You must have heard much about Ghajini, and now you are going to hear more (from me)! This Aamir Khan starer is certainly one of the best films of 2008, and people are appreciating it more than Shah Rukh Khan's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (will review it soon). It is a complete comedy and action mixture, which everyone has enjoyed. And another great thing is its story -- that is too good, every Aamir film contains a good story, perhaps that's why he is a perfectionist.

The film is a remake of the Tamil film with the same name, and in the lead role of actress, Asin Thottumkal is starred. Asin is a very cute actress, and she isn't a newcomer in the Film Industry because she has done many Tamil films, and this time she was accepted for a national (and international) audience by the film's director A.R. Murugadoss. The cinematography is great, and I really enjoyed it in the theatre.

The story begins with Sanjay Singhania, who owns a company named Air Voice. He is suffering from short-term memory loss, in which he cannot remember a thing up to 15 minutes. He leads a very difficult life. On the other side, there is Sunita (Jiah Khan), a medical student who tries to help Sanjay with her medical knowledge.

Sanjay was a normal guy earlier, and he was not suffering from any disease. He had a love, Kalpana, whom he was to marry but a person named Ghajini killed her (that's why the film's named 'Ghajini') and he hit a rod on the head of Sanjay, because of which he suffered from the memory-loss disease. He has notes about Ghajini, and he takes his photograph is a party. He just wants to kill Ghajini, because he killed his love.

And Sunita is the only helper of Sanjay in the whole process. Though, her role gets a little negative in the middle of the film. But 'every good thing comes to a good end' :) and that's how the story comes at a good end. Sanjay takes revenge from Ghajini and the film is finished with the song Kaise Mujhe, a perfect fit in the situation.

Do you feel the story is short? Well, the story is, but the film isn't. It is a 3 hour long film, which is a rare thing nowadays. The films releasing these days, are not more than 2 hours. But Ghajini isn't any boring in the three hours. It is a complete masala-entertainer.

To get the six-pack abs, Aamir had to work-out for three to four hours at gym everyday. This type of body needs much care about diet and excercise.

The music is given by A.R. Rahman (who is always the best, no need to tell) and the best song in the film is Guzaarish with vocals by Javed Ali and Sonu Niigaam. In the following interview, Sonu told that he sang the whole song in 2006. But the lyrics of the song had completely been changed and it had to be re-recorder. Sonu was in New Jersey then, and he couldn't make it. So Javed Ali came in.


Imagine if Sonu had sung that song, it'd have been 10 times better (not saying Javed Ali was bad). But only his humming gave the song a refreshing feel, and that's more important, right? From an interview on Sonu's site:

How come you did the "guest alaap" appearance on Guzaarish in Ghajini?
You blame Aamir Khan for that yaar! I had sung the whole song in 2007. Then, I was away in US with my wife because she was about to deliver then. Meanwhile, the song's brief changed. It was re-written. The composition was retained but they were running out of the time for the re-recording. I couldn't make it, so Javed Ali cam in. I must thank A R Rahman for retaining my alaap.. he really pushed for me there. I love the way Javed Ali has sung the track though.

The film, when released, had earnt more than 2 Crores in just two weeks. And this is the proof of people liking it. It was promoted very well on TV, Internet and at Aamir Khan's blog as well. Here is an excerpt from his post about the release of Ghajini:

Just before any of my films release I go into pendulum mode. One sec I feel very optimistic about the film and the next I’m sure no one’s going to like it. I lose my smile my appetite, my sleep. On the whole I am listless and walk around like a zombie. VVC (Vidhu Vinod Chopra), who was talking to me yesterday, accurately described it as Prenatal Depression. The film is about to be delivered and will be out of our systems so to speak. Then it will have a life of its own which we have absolutely no control over. Sigh. It too tough, making films. All the 2 years of planning, preparation, creative discussions, the struggle to shoot the film and the sleepless nights of post production ultimately culminate in a 3 hour experience in the darkness of a cinema.

Here's an interview with Aamir and Asin:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Movie Rating: 4/5 (Excellent) ****

Music Rating: 4.10/5 (Excellent)

Of course, there are a few violent scenes which might scare people (especially children), but after all this, Ghajini has a lot of things to enjoy - including the comedy, action, romance and beautiful songs by Rahman. It's a film that will never disappoint anyone, at least those who are true Bollywood fans!

Ghulam: A servant's life is worse than hell

I am doing my first review on this blog. And I've chosen Aamir Khan's Ghulam (1998) to review. Ghulam (means 'servant' or 'slave') conveys the message that a servant's life is worse than hell. Siddharth Marathe a.k.a Siddhu is a boxer, and his brother, Jai works for Raunaq Singh a.k.a Ronny.

Siddhu also works for Ronny. One day, when he's returning after doing Ronny's work, some bikers go ahead of him. Now Siddhu pulls his bike's race, and gets ahead of all of them except one -- Alisha (Rani Mukherjee). Now Siddhu sees Alisha and falls in love with her (which is called 'love at first sight' :D).

After that, Charlie, one of the boys of Alisha's group, fights with Siddhu. But cops interupt them. Then Charlie says Siddhu to come to a railway station at 9:30 and they'll play Dus-Dus Ki Daud (The Race of 10-10 (because it was played at 10 PM)). You can watch the race in this video:

We get to see a few masala (spicy) scenes like this and then the film takes a serious turn. Siddhu had a very good friend but Ronny kills him. The friend whom Ronny killed was the brother of Alisha. Alisha got angry with Siddhu on this. And Siddhu couldn't do anything about Ronny because his brother was Ronny's worker.

Then Siddhu had to lose a boxing match because Ronny told him to do so. So Siddhu felt he is living a life of servant (that's why the film's name is 'Ghulam').

Siddhu complaints his brother, Jai, about Ronny. But as Jai was a worker of Ronny, he couldn't do anything. Siddhu was alone after that. One day, he decided to meet Fatima Madam, who had always helped him in difficulties. Fatima was a Loire and Siddhu told to her everything about Ronny.

Helping Siddhu, she took Ronny into the court. The judge said that the case's result will be declared some days later. And then Ronny and Siddhu come out. Ronny started fighting with Siddhu, very badly (which you can see in the photo below).

At the end, it is Siddhu who wins and gets his love back.

There were so many famous things in this film. Especially the 10-10 Ki Daud; I know when the film was released, everyone was talking, "Oh, did you see Ghulam's race?". Another thing which became popular after this film is Rani Mukherjee. Every child, after this film, spoke just one name - Rani! The best song in this film is Ab Naam Mohobat Ke (but Aati Kya Khandala was the most famous).

Movie Rating - 3.75/5 (Very Good!). Ghulam contains a lot of things to be appreciated. And I am sure everyone who watches it will like it.

Music Rating - 3.50/5 (Very Good). Music is as good as the film. Aati Kya Khandala was sung by Aamir Khan himself. So the song is more popular. But for me, Ab Naam Mohobat Ke is the best song as it is in the honey-sweet voice of Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik.

Best Scene in the movie - The Best Scene in the movie is when Siddhu's father says the dialogue, "Chalti huye lehron ke saath to koi bhi tair leta hai, magar insaan wohi hai jo lehron ko cheer kar apna rasta banaye,"