Movie Review -GHAJINI:

Poster of the movie Ghajini.

RATING: * * *

First, to clear the air, Ghajini is not Memento. Sure, it uses plot devices from Christopher Nolan's memorable debut thriller – Polaroid pictures, tattoos, short-term memory loss – but that's about it. At its core, Ghajini is a muscular masala film with little pretentions.

The movie's promotions promised bloodshed and, yes, there's enough blood spilled to put Rambo to shame. There's also Ravi K Chandran's gorgeously photographed locales, Peter Hein's thrilling action sequences, Aamir Khan's eight-pack physique and an unnecessary footnote performance by Jiah Khan (the movie's script and editor Anthony could have done more justice to her).

But, ultimately, what you will take away with you is not the slam-bam or A R Rahman's jazzy riffs. What you will remember is a love story with a bitter-sweet ending. The action is just the padding, Ghajini's soul lies elsewhere. And full credit for that goes to a sparkling chemistry between telecom tycoon Sanjay Singhania (Aamir Khan) and struggling ad film extra Kalpana (Asin Thottumkal).

Ghajini works best when Singhania and Kalpana are on screen, enjoying themselves to the hilt. Both of them share some laugh-out loud moments, all the more fun because that's the last thing you will expect in a fist-fest like this. Asin matches Aamir shot-for-shot and even manages to leave his character dumbfounded – no mean feat for a Bollywood debutante. It's no wonder that her murder renders Aamir's character with 'anterograde amnesia' (aka short-term memory loss) and instills in him a rabid fury to hunt down her killers. Cue, eight-pack Aamir who chews, chomps and growls through the scenery, piling up a body count that effectively covers the loopholes in Ghajini's script.

And loopholes there are many. These include a man with a 15-minute memory span having etched – by himself – elaborate tattoos on his body, villains who prefer mostly blunt or heavy objects (instead of guns) to deflect the pocket-rocket that is constantly chasing them, a medical college student – Sunita (Jiah Khan) – who is intended to be Singhania's 'memory' and much more. All these flaws combine to prevent the movie from being the slam-bang entertainer it could have been.

But that's not stopping kids, grandmothers and parents from queuing up to watch the movie. At the time that this review is being written, Ghajini is already running to full houses across India. Many websites are already doing a Shah Rukh – Aamir comparison in terms of pure box office muscle with eight-pack Aamir being well ahead of six-pack Shah Rukh. Expect the comparisons to continue with flamewars breaking out between fans of the two megastars across the internet. Also, like Sanjay Singhania, expect viewers to forget whatever they have read or heard and plan to watch Ghajini. It's that kind of a movie.

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