ghajini

dissappointed is how i would summarise my experience after watching ghajini. no, the film is not mediocre in content, direction or acting. the reason for my disillusionment is sky high expectations from aamir khan.

i do not feel the need for criticism of a film if it is inspired or remade from another, what matters is what one feels after the running time, what matters is the end product because at the end of the day, every directors interpretation and perception of a script is different. 'memento' is one of my all time favourite films and it just shows  the sheer class of mr. nolan as a director...and it is here where my dismay starts. i could not help but compare mr. murugadoss to mr. nolan and the difference was very very apparent. the aim of nolan was to make an astounding, intriguing, impressive film whereas with murugadoss has dedicated himself into making a slick, action packed, masala thriller which is commercially bankable and plausible. 

do not get me wrong, i am a huge fan of mr. aamir khan's work and i firmly believe that he is the best leading actor we have in the industry today but i really really hoped that he would do a film which has an ending like 'memento' and not the tamil 'ghajini' (i guess it was not in his control). 

thus, ghajini is the kind of film that could have been a masterpiece...a film that would have always been remembered but in the end, it turns out to be a 'masala film'. i feel sad because it is one of those films that could have taken bollywood to another dimension.

aamir khan delivers one his finest performances...one can literally feel his pain when he cries and screams. he handles the anterograde amnesia character with a sublime touch and has enough charm to carry out the rich loverboy as well. he does not overact a single scene which shows the amount of control he has in his acting. asin impresses as the leading girl and has the 'je ne sais quoi' to carry out a relatively difficult role. i was not at all impressed by jiah khan and i cannot believe she is from the lee strassburg studio of acting. pradeep rawat plays the 80s style goon very well and has the presence and intensity needed for such a strong character.

the love story in the film was a pleasant surprise and i thought that asin and aamir had great chemistry. 

'ghajini' is a film that has it all...violence, romance, thrills, drama...but what it lacks is greatness; which is lost to make the film a commercial success. the film's direction did not impress me...it did not bore me either. watch it!

rating - 3/5

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

they say a director's skill is best seen when he has to deal with a weak script. adi chopra shines not only as a skilfull director but as someone who deals with emotional scenes brilliantly and who has acumen for minute detail.

the premise of 'rab ne' is not impressive and i wasn't expecting too much. but, in the end, it turned out to be heartwarming tale of a middle aged, mild, clumsy, boring, unattractive middle-class man finding in his love. it made me smile because in mr. surinder sahni's triumph, i found mine...and i am sure everyone who is not blessed with godly looks smiled too. 

'rab ne' makes you question love, "do only rich, charming, handsome men deserve beautiful women?" "is love only based on how we look from outside and not inside?". the only and probably most important thing that differentiates this film from others is that it is not 'a hero' who wins his love in the end.

shahrukh khan has always been known for his persona and stardom than his acting skills. but it is this film that shows us the evolution of him as an actor. he puts in his best performance after 'swades'. he potrays surinder sahni to perfection, from the punjabi accent to his body language, he gets everything right. sure, he hams up and overacts the role of the jat but you still cannot make out a single difference between the two. i almost believed he was a method actor after watching this film. its the emotional scenes, he deserves special praise for...he delivers every line with a heart-wrenching and superb expressions. i have to say he is the best in the industry when it comes to emotional scenes. his comic timing has always been excellent and this film is no exception.

anushkha sharma delivers a fine performance as the wife and is fortunately well cast. she handles serious scenes with maturity and i could not believe this was her first film. vinay pathak is brilliant as usual and his chemistry with srk is very good.

adi chopra handles a fragile and an implausible storyline very well, which itself is an achievement. every dialogue of the film is perfectly placed, so are the lyrics of the songs.

the film does have short-comings, like the part where you feel that the wife not being able to recognise her husband after a makeover (although srk almost makes us believe it), the pace of the second half which lags behind, the unnecessary shots of amritsar and the songs of the gurudwara.

in all, 'rab ne' is a beautiful and touching tale which is a little too long. it made me smile and i am sure you will too.

rating 3.5/5