Ghajini’ A Surefire Hit
By P. Sreekumaran
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com
Dame luck is smiling on Tamil hero Surya. His latest film, Ghajini is on the way to becoming a big hit, justifying the pre-release hype. Reports have it that tickets for the first week had been sold out.
Only Rajnikant?s Chandramukhi and Vikram?s Anniyan have enjoyed that kind of advance booking. In other words, Ghajini, which means victory, has ensured for Surya his big ticket to superstardom as well! In real life too, Surya is all set to marry his long-time girl friend Jyothika. All in all, the going has been good for the action hero both in real life and on the reel.
This
time around, Surya has played his cards well. His choice of Murugadass as the director was a step in the right direction. Muruga is known for his Midas Touch, having proved himself in earlier suspense thrillers like Ramana and Dhina.
In Ghajini too he has come up trumps, thanks to the superb support from the cast that includes, apart from him, Asin and Nayanthara. Excellent performance from the cast, backed up by mellifluous music by Harris Jayaraj, especially the background score, and terrific action scenes by Kanal Kannan — these are the ingredients that have made Ghajini what it is: a surefire hit.
Murugadass, who has also penned the script, has borrowed liberally from the Christopher Nolan classic ?Memento?. But to his credit, Murugadass has made it very much Indian with his own interpretation of the English version. Ghajini is also notable for the back and forth style that Murugadass employs to tell the story.
Sanjay Ramasamy (Surya) is a big businessman who falls in love with a model Kalpana (Asin). Like Sanjay, Kalpana also espouses the cause of the poor. No wonder, she runs into trouble with a gang that supplies girls to Mumbai as she exposes them. A retaliatory attack by the gang led by Lakshman (Pradeep Rawat) kills Kalpana.
Sanjay, who tries to save her is hit on the head, which causes a memory loss. He can remember things only for 15 minutes. So, Sanjay, who is on the lookout for the killer gang, tattooes the names, mobile numbers, addresses, etc. on his body and takes photos with his Polaroid camera to remember things!
Sanjay is helped by medical student Chitra (Nayanthara). Though she wants to study Sanjay?s case in detail, her professor tells her not to do so as there is a police case against him. How he manages to get even with the gang forms the climax.
Surya is the pivot around which the racy thriller revolves. His performance can be described in one world: rivetting. Asin as the lover has acquitted herself well. The onscreen chemistry between the lovers is electrifying. Nayanthara, however, fails to impress, though she is not to blame for that. Her role has not been properly fleshed out. That is a major drawback of the film.
A highlight of Ghajini is its music, especially the background score. The songs, ?X-Machi? and ?Suttrum Vizhi? have become popular. Bombay Jayashree has rendered the second song extremely well.
At the end of the day, full credit to Murugadass for fashioning a fabulous film in the thriller format, laced with suspense and action.
Ghajini is good.