Ghajini (2008 film)

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Ghajini

Theatrical release poster

Directed by A. R. Murugadoss
Tagore Madhu
Produced by
Madhu Mantena
Written by A. R. Murugadoss
Aamir Khan
Asin Thottumkal
Starring Jiah Khan
Pradeep Rawat
Riyaz Khan
Music by A. R. Rahman
Cinematography Ravi K. Chandran
Editing by Anthony
Distributed by Geetha Arts
India
25 December 2008
United States
Release date(s)
23 December 2008
UK
23 December 2008
Running time 183 minutes[1]
Country India
Language Hindi
Budget 50 crore (US$11.1 million)[2]
Gross revenue 189.45 crore (US$42.06 million)[3]
Ghajini (Hindi: गजनी) is a 2008 Indian Hindi action film written and directed by A. R.
Murugadoss and produced by Tagore Madhu and Madhu Mantena. It is a remake of
Murugadoss's own 2005 Tamil film Ghajini starring Surya Sivakumar in the lead role.[4]
The film stars Aamir Khan, Asin Thottumkal and Jiah Khan in lead roles while Pradeep
Rawat and Riyaz Khan essay supporting roles. Aamir Khan has stated that the original
Tamil version of Ghajini was inspired by Christopher Nolan's Memento.[5][6] Aamir Khan
spent a year at the gym, continuously training with his personal trainer for the role.[7]

The film is an action-thriller, with strong romantic elements, that explores the life of a
rich businessman who develops anterograde amnesia following a violent encounter in
which his love interest, model Kalpana, was killed. He tries to avenge the killing with the
aid of Polaroid Instant camera photographs and permanent tattoos on his body.[8] The
character of Aamir Khan also featured in a 3-D video game titled Ghajini - The Game,
which is based on the movie.[9]

Contents
 1 Plot
 2 Cast
 3 Production
 4 Release
o 4.1 Home media
o 4.2 Video game
o 4.3 Mobile content
 5 Reception
o 5.1 Critical response
o 5.2 Box office
 6 Influences
 7 Soundtrack
o 7.1 Track listing
o 7.2 Reception
 8 Awards
 9 References

 10 External links

[edit] Plot
The film opens with Sunita (Jiah khan), a medical student, and her friends working on a
project about the human brain. She wants to investigate the curious case of Sanjay
Singhania (Aamir Khan), a (former) notable city businessman, who is reported to have
anterograde amnesia. Her professor denies access to Sanjay's records as it is currently
under criminal investigation. Sunita nonetheless decides to investigate the matter herself.
Sanjay is introduced as he brutally murders a man. He takes a Polaroid picture of the
man, and time-stamps it "done". It is revealed that Sanjay has a strange form of
anterograde amnesia where his memory is wiped out every 15 minutes. Sanjay uses a
system of photographs, notes, and tattoos on his body to recover his memory after each
cycle. It is revealed that Sanjay is ultimately out to avenge Kalpana (Asin Thottumkal),
and that he is systematically killing the people who were responsible for her death. His
main target is "Ghajini" (Pradeep Rawat), a notable social personality in the city.

Police Inspector Arjun Yadav, on the case of the serial murders, tracks Sanjay down to
his flat and attacks and disables him. Yadav finds two diaries where Sanjay has
chronicled the events of 2005 and 2006. The film enters flashback to 2005 as Yadav
reads the diary. Sanjay Singhania is shown as the owner of the Air Voice mobile
telephone company. In the course of his business, Sanjay sends his men to meet Kalpana,
a struggling model, about putting up a billboard above her apartment. The owner of
Kalpana's advertising firm misinterprets this as a romantic advance, and in view of a
possible lucrative Air Voice ad campaign and other benefits, encourages Kalpana to
accept the overture. Kalpana thinks of this as an innocent prank, that may fetch her better
modeling work, and decides to play out the charade as Sanjay's girlfriend.

When Yadav is about to read the 2006 diary, Sanjay attacks him and ties him up. He
tracks down Ghajini to a college function where Ghajini is the guest of honor. Sanjay
snaps some pictures of Ghajini and decides to kill him. He meets Sunita at the function
and after some conversation, decides to befriend him. Later that evening, Sanjay
mistakenly attacks and kills one of Ghajini's goons in the parking lot. The dying goon
tries to remind Ghajini about an incident that took place two years back. Ghajini is
perplexed and fails to remind himself well enough. However he decides to find and to kill
his enemies one by one, but Sanjay is not among them.

In the meantime, Sunita visits Sanjay's flat and finds Yadav, beaten and bound. Sunita
finds the two diaries and frees Yadav. She also finds that Ghajini is Sanjay's target.
Yadav tells her that Sanjay is a known serial murderer. Sanjay arrives suddenly; he
remembers neither of them and chases them out. Yadav is eventually hit by a bus, while
Sunita barely escapes, going into a boutique. Believing Ghajini is in danger, she informs
him that Sanjay is after him. Ghajini arrives at Sanjay's flat to kill him. He destroys all
the photographs, notes and scratch off Sanjay's tattoos. Satisfied that he has neutralized
Sanjay by wiping out any trace that connects back to him, Ghajini leaves.

Meanwhile, back in her dorm, Sunita reads the diaries. The film flashes back to 2006. It
is revealed that Kalpana had accepted Sanjay's proposal. This diary ends abruptly. Sunita
investigates further, and discovers that Kalpana was traveling to Goa for a modeling
assignment by train when she came upon 25 innocent young girls being transported to
Goa to work as prostitutes and organ donors. She saves the girls who name Ghajini as the
ringleader of the racket. Ghajini kills two girls, who recognized him, and goes in search
of Kalpana. His goons broke into her apartment and wait for her to return. Sanjay arrives
there to meet Kalpana. Her last word to him was "Ghajini". The goons attack Kalpana.
Sanjay intervenes but Ghajini hit him over the head with an iron rod. Sanjay's last vision
was to witness Ghajini brutally murder Kalpana with the iron rod.

Sunita, now aware of the shocking truth, finds Sanjay in the hospital and tells him the
truth. He flies into rage and goes after Ghajini, Sunita helps him with her motorcycle.
Arriving at Ghajini's lair in downtown Mumbai, Sanjay confronts all of Ghajini's
henchmen and with superior strength, manage to disable all of them. Finally finding
Ghajini himself, Sanjay fights Ghajini hand-to-hand. However, Ghajini realizes that he is
no match for Sanjay's strength, so the two engage in a chase until Sanjay's memory loss
strikes him again. Ghajini turns about and stabs him. He begins to taunt Sanjay with the
grisly tale of how he murdered Kalpana, when Sanjay, with a sudden burst of last minute
strength, overpowers Ghajini. Sanjay kills Ghajini in the same way as Ghajini had killed
Kalpana.

The film ends with Sanjay, still experiencing amnesia, volunteering at an orphanage.
Sunita gives him a small gift which is the cement slab of plaster on which Kalpana and
Sanjay pressed their foot when Kalpana moved into a new apartment to remind him of his
fond association with Kalpana.

[edit] Cast
 Aamir Khan as Sanjay Singhania, a rich business man; the chairman of a mobile
phone company, Air Voice. He suffers from short term memory loss (anterograde
amnesia) which means he forgets all the events that had happened 15 minutes ago.
 Asin Thottumkal as Kalpana, a model by profession who gains publicity by
proclaiming herself to be the girlfriend of Sanjay Singhania.
 Jiah Khan as Sunita, a medical student, who is trying to study the case of Sanjay
Singhania and his amnesiac problem.
 Pradeep Rawat as Ghajini Dharmatma, a gang honcho and the mastermind of
many illegal and criminal ventures.
 Riyaz Khan as Inspector Arjun. A police inspector who is investigating the
murders by Sanjay Singhania.

[edit] Production
The film's shooting started in Chennai in May 2007.[10] Other filming locations included
Bangalore, Cape Town, Deadpan Desert and Mumbai.

[edit] Release
Ghajini was released on the 25 December 2008 with an estimated 1500 prints, of which
213 were released to overseas markets. The film had around 650 paid previews which
fetched it around INR 70 million. The domestic distribution rights of Ghajini were sold
by Geetha Arts for INR 530 million and home video rights as well as overseas rights and
satellite rights for another 500 million to Adlabs Films Ltd.
[edit] Home media

The 2-disc collector's edition DVD was manufactured by Big Home Video and distributed
by international distributor, Adlabs Films Ltd on 13 March 2009 with a MSRP of $19.99
USD. It received a 15+ age rating by the British Board of Film Classification for
persistent and excessive violence.[11]

[edit] Video game

A PC video game based on the film was manufactured and produced by FXLabs Studios
Pvt Ltd and Geetha Arts, and marketed and distributed by Eros Home Entertainment,
entitled Ghajini - The Game. It is a third-person action game consisting of five levels of
play, here the player controlled the protagonist Sanjay to accomplish various missions
using martial arts, weapons, and artifacts.[12] It was hailed as India's first true 3D PC game
with an MSRP of $14.99 USD, although never officially rated the distributor
recommends that 15+ year old players partake in the game.[13]

[edit] Mobile content

Indiagames Ghajini is a mobile games and applications based on the film. Indiagames
has developed 4 games and 1 application based on the title on the mobile platform. It has
different types of games like Ultimate Workout, Memory Revival, Brain Trek, and a
number of mini games.

[edit] Reception
[edit] Critical response

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Sonia Chopra of Sify gave the
movie 4 stars and recommended watching it "For the four As—Aamir, Asin, AR
Murgadoss and AR Rahman".[14] Rajeev Masand of CNN IBN gave the movie 3 stars
writing, "Ghajini isn't a particularly good film, but entertainment it delivers by the
bucketful."[15] Martin D'Souza of Bollywood Trade News Network gave the movie 3.5
stars, noting the flaws in screen play, while praising the action.[16] Taran Adarsh of
Bollywood Hungama remarked that the movie "is a winner all the way" and gave it 4.5
stars.[17] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India praised the performance by Aamir Khan as
its high point, and awarded 3.5 stars.[18] Zee News described Aamir's performance as his
best till date.[19] Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave the movie 3.5 stars, while describing the
film as "a sleek album of dark memories, which are terrifying to relive and shattering to
experience".[20] Bollywood Movies review gave it a 4 star for good screenplay, directing
and good acting by Aamir Khan and Asin Thottumkal.[21]

The film also received some negative reviews. Gaurav Malani of Indiatimes gave the
movie 2 stars, criticizing its length while praising the performance of the cast.[22] Raja Sen
of Rediff rated the movie 2.5/5 and criticized the performance of Asin while concluding,
"overwhelming feeling is one of regret".[23] Shubhra Gupta of Express India concluded
that 'Ghajini' is too long, too violent, and criticized Jiah Khan's acting and dancing skills,
but praised the performances of Aamir Khan and Asin.[24] Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL
India said, "Most comparisons often point out that a remake is not as worthy. Ghajini
however succeeds when it is compared to the Tamil version directed by the same
director."[25]

[edit] Box office

According to Box Office India, Ghajini's box-office totals were Rs. 155 crore in India,
and over 34 crore overseas, for a total worldwide gross collection of 189 crores ($42m).[3]
It is currently the third highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time according to net
collections.[26]

[edit] Influences
The original Tamil version of Ghajini was inspired by the American film Memento,
which itself was adapted from the short story Memento Mori. The film stars Guy Pearce
as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance fraud investigator searching for the man he
believes raped and killed his wife during a burglary. Leonard has from anterograde
amnesia, which he contracted from severe head trauma during the attack on his wife.
Certain concepts like writing notes behind instant Polaroid photographs and tattooing
facts on his body were inspired by the film. The lead actress and the director of both the
Hindi and Tamil versions of the movie are the same.[27] According to Aamir Khan,
"Ghajini is not a remake or even slightly inspired by Memento, but it's a remake of the
Tamil film, Ghajini".[4]

Several comical scenes in the film are similar to Happy Go Lovely (1951). The scene
where Kalpana (Asin Thottumkal) helps a blind man to cross the road is also similar to
the French film Amélie.[28]

[edit] Soundtrack
Main article: Ghajini (soundtrack)
Ghajini
 Soundtrack album by A. R. Rahman
Released 24 November 2008 (India)
Recorded Panchathan Record Inn and AM Studios
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Length 28:23
Label T-Series
Producer A. R. Rahman
Professional reviews
 Rediff link

 Bollywood Hungama link

A. R. Rahman chronology
Slumdog
Yuvvraaj Ghajini
Millionaire
(2008) (2008)
(2009)

The film has six songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Prasoon Joshi. While
Harris Jayaraj scored the Tamil version, Rahman started from scratch for the Hindi
version.[29] The soundtrack album was released on 24 November 2008 by T-Series.[30]

[edit] Track listing

Song Singer(s) Duration Notes

Picturised on Aamir Khan

"Guzarish" Javed Ali & Sonu Nigam 5:29
and Asin

"Aye Bachchu" Suzanne D'Mello 3:48 Picturised on Asin

 Benny Dayal & Shreya Picturised on Aamir Khan
"Kaise Mujhe" 5:46
Ghoshal and Asin

Picturised on Aamir Khan

"Behka" Karthik 5:13
and Asin

"Latoo" Shreya Ghoshal 4:30 Picturised on Jiah Khan

"Kaise Mujhe
Instrumental 4:01
(Instrumental)"

[edit] Reception

The album received positive reviews from critics and fans. Bollywood Hungama gave an
extremely positive review saying, "The music of Ghajini is all set to make waves way
into 2009 after the Christmas release of the film. When 'best of the best' list would be
compiled at the year end, it would be hard to ignore Ghajini."[30] Rediff.com gave it the
highest possible rating of five stars with the reviewer praising Rahman saying, "This
could just be one of his finest albums ever. Not just are the tracks great, but each one
segues into the next with perfect unpredictability."[31]

[edit] Awards
 Star Screen Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female, Asin Thottumkal
 Stardust Superstar of Tomorrow - Female, Asin Thottumkal
 Stardust Hottest New Filmmaker, A.R. Murugadoss
 Stardust Hottest New Film Award, Ghajini
 Filmfare Best Female Debut Award, Asin Thottumkal
 Filmfare Best Action Award, Peter Hein
 IIFA Best Female Debut, Asin Thottumkal
 IIFA Best Villain Award, Pradeep Rawat

[edit] References