GHAJINI: A complete mish-mash of plagiarism, action, and romance

DIRECTOR: A.R Murugadoss
STARRING: Aamir khan, Asin Thottumkal, Jiah Khan, Pradeep Rawat

REVIEW: The highly anticipated, mega budget 'Ghajini', first of all, proves to be very surprising. No one might have ever seen Aamir in an image even near to which he is seen in this film. The 3 hour-plus movie is full of violent and senseless goon-bashing, which has a trademark south Indian look, apart from a couple of flashbacks, which narrate a romantic tale.
The plot is simple, and anyone expecting a twist would be utterly disappointed. It centers around once-rich business tycoon, Sanjay Singhania (Aamir Khan), who suffers from short term memory loss, which means that he can remember things only for fifteen minutes at a stretch. He contracted this disablity while encountering goons who murdered her girlfriend, Kalpana (Asin). His aim is to take revenge for Kalpana's murder, despite of his shortcomings, with the help of tattoos, Polaroid snaps, and notes. In his hunt for his girlfriend's killer, he also finds a friend in the form of medical student Sunita (Jiah Khan).
Clearly inspired by Hollywood cult classic 'Memento', Ghajini fails to hit the bull's eye. It can neither attain a cult status, nor can it be remembered as a psychological thriller.
Director A.R. Murugadoss seems to have taken the unique and innovative part of the plot from 'Memento', such as the concepts of short-term memory loss, Polaroid images, and tattoo printing, and adding the rather stale and tried and tested part, that is the romance angle, and the sheer violence.
The movie uses the flashback form of telling its story, which I personally like very much. But even the flashbacks stretch on for too long, and become highly predictable and boring after a certain limit. Apart from this, the plot has major loopholes, which have been tried to cover up by swift camera movements, and a fast moving storyline.
Songs have been badly placed, and don't lubricate the flow of the plot. Only Kaise Mujhe and Gujarish are songs worth listening. Others, sadly, fall short of songs of A.R Rehman's standard.
Logical errors in the storyline is one thing which you must be accustomed to, if you are planning to watch this film. If you leave out that little snag, then you might even be able to enjoy the film.
As for the acting department, Asin acts decently and gives a promising debut. She has a bright future, a far as her career in Bollywood is concerned.
Aamir has his usual charm as the rich businessman Sanjay Singhania. But he disappoints in the later, transformed avatar, and acts as if he not only has short-term memory loss, but also paranoia and anger related mental problems. This I say because he has been shown shrieking with anger, and pain (or both!) without any evident reason, for about hundreds of times throughout the length of the film. Nevertheless, the way he has carved his body to perfection is appreciable. Aamir's fine cut body is one of the only plus points of the film.
Maybe its not an error in Aamir's acting, but in the director's way of portraying his character on the screen. As for Jiah Khan, though she has a pivotal role in the plot, she is forgettable and fails to leave an impression on the audience's mind.
All-in-all, watch 'Ghajini' if you have 3 hours nothing else to do, and if you prefer brainless fighting and south-Indian flicks. Its also recommended for die-hard fans of Aamir Khan.

RATING: An average 2.5/5 for some quality action and passable acting.