I watched Memento before Ghazini. I love original ideas and after all that ultra hyped Ghazini touted as being 'loosely' based on 2000 released Memento, I just wanted to put a cap somewhere.
And after watching both, I have one word that fits my experience .
Memento ..."Mindboggling"
Ghazini..."Mindblowing"
Ya, you can make out the difference. For, the original movie retains the flavour of the original idea about a man suffering from short term memory loss. It stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance fraud investigator searching for the man he believes raped and killed his wife during a burglary. Leonard suffers from anterograde amnesia, which he contracted from severe head trauma during the attack on his wife.
This renders his brain unable to store new memories. To cope with his condition, he maintains a system of notes, photographs, and tattoos to record information about himself and others, including his wife's killer. He is aided in his investigation by Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) and Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), neither of whom he can trust.
The movie is shot in a bizarre manner, enough to keep you frowning and riddled with puzzles throughout the length of the story...and even in the end you feel like cheated, tricked, thirsty.
Now ....that is some sort of pathbreaking formula of movie making. So you can applaud the effort Though even after a repeated watch, your frowns retain their original position.
Anyways, there's the point. The idea was so strong that it 'inspired' a South Indian filmmaker to make a full length Tamil film with its tollywoodism. And then after its huge success down south, he decided to make it into a Hindi movie. Not a great idea. But until you had Amir Khan. Because, if you have him, you can be sure the idea could be turned into something incredible.
You have seen that in Lagaan, Taare Zameen Pe.
Still, I wanted to see how Amir would do justice to Guy Pearce' s character.
But 15 minutes into the movie, I was too engrossed into the drama unfolding before me ....the refreshingly beautiful romantic plot between Amir and Asin that just didnt allow any space for comparisons.
It was the lively, bubbly act of Asin that completely left me (and ofcourse ,Amir) smitten by her exuberance.
Her expressions initially seemed overacted but soon she became the most adorable onscreen performer I have seen in any recent movie.
The plot developed into a blooming and flowering romance between the effervescent Asin(an ad film wannabe) and the coy Amir(as a businees tycoon).
She just stole the show (and time) and in some of the scenes, outclassed Amir. The particluar one where she gives him a bundle of notes in the midnight believing that Amir needed it more than her long cherished dream of buying three Ambassadors.
Sheer magical moment with the song that follows through ..it could not have been better.
The highlight of this performance is that you actually fall in love with the character she plays ...you actually feel Amir's pain when he sees her being murdered. That scene , that horror was bulit incredibly.
So as the plot progressed towards some intense performance by body bulging , revenge seeking Amir unleashing his fist of fury...you are actually 'into' it.
I could hear his moans and groans , feel his punches and pain...the dramatization of the events leading to his memory loss were so strong and gruesome that if it had been me, I would have punched harder ..much harder than I can imagine. Kudos to the Director and extra-ordinary performances by Asin and Amir, everything looked justified. The over-hyped violent action, blood and gore, some weird logical flaws, some technical hitches and glitches...these all get ignored in the long run, because, personally , I simply loved the love story ...so much so ...i would call this a romantic film rather than a revenge drama.
I am impressed. Not because it borrowed an original and tested idea, but because it maintained it, improved it and most importantly , simplified it in an interesting manner , with just the rght dose of Bollywoodism.
Another great ingredient is the splendid music by meastro AR Rehman which vowen with some superb cinematography and song picturization make it a treat for eyes and ears.
I would rate the song 'Kaise Mujhe tum mil gayee' as the most romantic song of the last year
( I just cant stop listening to it ) and I am gonna cover it in some other post on the blog.
The only disappointment was Jiah Khan who failed to convince with her acting skills and looks.
She has a lot to work upon.
As for the Man who played Ghazini, he looked deadlier , savage and ugly.
So, if I try to forget why he kills Asin, I would never forget how he killed her.
Not even if I suffer from short term memory loss!
1 comment:
Excellent Review!
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