My friend anupsar would say that I always comment at length on films that have been, had their share of fervour and are almost forgotten by everyone. So it seems, for here I am with Ghajini – last year’s hit movie starring Aamir Khan and Asin, the remake of the Tamil movie(2005) by the same name, however I doubt it is yet out of the peoples’ minds.

I cannot comment fully and with confidence on the movie since I saw it only in bits and pieces when it was played in NDTV Imagine last week – surely the mother of a three-year-old is not allowed the luxury of watching a complete movie, when her son is at home. Between running after his mischiefs and getting my way past his cartoon channels, I almost lost touch with the story, but I did manage to sew together the snippets and make a complete film.

The movie is entertaining without a doubt, but the violence was too much for my weak heart. But the story is based on that violence, the result of which damaged the brain of Sanjay Singhania (Aamir) to make him remember not more than ten minutes into his past. In spite of this short term memory loss, he manages to get to the villain who murdered the woman he loved (Asin) by making use of tattoos all over his body which remind him that “Kalpana was killed”, “Find Ghajini”, “Kill Ghajini” and so on.

This film is a direct remake of the Tamil film Ghajini starring Surya and Asin, and I am told that the plot is based on the Hollywood film Memento. My nephew who has watched the Tamil version has the opinion that Surya has done a better job – but not having seen it myself, I cannot comment. Aamir the perfectionist, is very convincing as the wealthy CEO of a company, used to posh lifestyles, as the gentle lover, and finally as the tough guy who takes on the baddies in the end. Simply put – the guy is amazing. (No one has yet forgotten his hit film of ’07, Taare Zameen Par.) Asin has also done a good job, though I doubt if this has been a very challenging role for her. However, this film has catapulted her into the dizzying summit of Bollywood, and has made her the new heroine everyone is talking about.

This is perhaps the first film (within the ambit of my memory) that has been named after the villain.

Somehow, the film reminded me of Ghulam (1998).