Ghajini - An Honest Review

Why did they name the movie after the villain beats me. Especially a villain who is quite simply the regular ‘black’ bad character appearing in most Hindi films – if it was someone like Sir Anthony Hopkins in the ‘Silence of the Lambs’ I could have appreciated the reason for naming the film after someone so fascinatingly cruel that it boggles the mind for days afterwards.
Moving on to the protagonist, Aamir Khan is charming BUT that’s where it ends for me. His clothes in the songs make him look like someone who dances monkeys for a living. He wears a linen trouser with an open shirt to show off his six-pack, a dupatta wrapped around his neck – seriously, I would love to use the same dupatta to strangle the costume designer who even messed up the corporate look.
Bollywood, you have no clue about the corporate world or its culture and it really comes through. When Aamir is introduced as the CEO of Air Cell mobile company, he enters the frame wearing a short sleeve shirt rolled even shorter – making him look like an undertaker or a wrestler in his formal best. He always has 3 cars following him even as he wishes to take a leak. He sends his company’s top honchos to persuade a woman to place their company’s billboard on her rooftop – and guess what, at first, they don’t even bother to find out if it’s really her home or not (that part comes in later).
What CEO goes from place to place short listing sites for hoardings? It does show him as a proactive guy, but I’m guessing he should have much important matters to attend to and not waste his time on a recce. You have qualified people to handle your advertising space.
Then comes Aamir’s speech at the office – it’s a motivational speech with no clue as to what direction the company should take in terms of future growth. I’m not expecting a whole deep dive into telecommunications technology, but a few words here and there to make me feel that the director doesn’t feel his audience is stupid and he actually bothered to do additional research would have been really appreciated. All this really distracted me from buying into the story for believing in the story. No I didn’t 100% connect to it unlike RDB.
Aamir’s acting was undoubtedly very good. The action, his animal-like anger and his show of power were scenes to watch out for. Asin’s character too was sweet and believable. She was like a much needed breath of fresh air.
In the 2nd half, the film finally got rolling as we get to the 2nd part of his love story. It did have its moments there. But overall, not what I expected from a film that Amir Khan chose to act in. I have high expectations because he’s an intelligent actor, I hope he will choose films more cautiously in future.