Ghajini (Hindi: घजनी) is a 2008 Bollywood film directed by A. R. Murugadoss and produced under Geetha Arts. It is a remake of the Tamil film with the same name, which was also directed by Murugadoss. The plot of Ghajini is based on the Hollywood film Memento, written and directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Aamir Khan and Asin Thottumkal in the lead roles while Jiah Khan, Pradeep Rawat and Riyaz Khan essay supporting roles. Aamir Khan spent a year at the gym, continuously training with his personal trainer for the role.

The movie is an action-thriller, with strong romantic elements, that explores the life of a rich businessman who suffers from 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. The character of Aamir Khan will also feature in a 3-D video game titled Ghajini The Game, which is based on the movie.

Synopsis

The film opens with Sunita, a medical student, and her friends working on a project about the human brain. She wants to investigate the curious case of Sanjay Singhania, a (former) notable city businessman, who is reported to be suffering from 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 another 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. Every morning, when Sanjay goes to the washroom, he sees a note next to the faucet saying "take off shirt". When he takes it off, he sees a series of tattoos on his chest. When he sees the tattoo "Kalpana was killed", and it is revealed that Sanjay is ultimately out to avenge Kalpana, and that he is systematically killing the people who were responsible for Kalpana's death. His main target, evidenced by several notes and tattoos, is "Ghajini". It is eventually revealed that Ghajini is a notable social personality in the city.

Mumbai Police Inpsector Arjun Yadav is on the case of the serial murders. He tracks Sanjay down to his flat and attacks and disables him. Ajay Yadav is shocked by the extensive set of photographs and notes. He finds two diaries where Sanjay has chronicled the events of 2005 and 2006. The film enters flashback to 2005 as Yadav reads the 2005 diary. Sanjay Singhania is the scion of a reputed business house that owns the Air Voice mobile telephone company. He has finished his education abroad and returned to take over the family business. In the course of his business, Sanjay sends his men to meet Kalpana, a struggling actor/model, about putting up an Air Voice billboard above her apartment. The owner of Kalpana's modeling/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. He promotes her to become the lead model. Kalpana is generally sweet and kind. She decides this is an innocent prank (that may fetch her better modeling work) and begins to play out the charade as Sanjay's girlfriend.

Sanjay eventually meets Kalpana, but tells her that he is Sachin, a simple fellow from a small town, looking to make a new life in the big city. Kalpana lands him some small modeling gigs. She is eventually enamored by his charms and Sachin is swept by her kindness and grace. (He notices on more than one occasion that she is always ready to help the invalid, the poor, and the destitute.) They fall in love, and Sanjay eventually finds the courage to ask her to marry him. She asks for some time to consider his proposal. Sanjay decides that if she accepts, he will reveal his true identity; and if she declines, he will quietly back off with no harm done.

The film returns to the present day when Yadav is about to read the 2006 diary. Sanjay comes to, attacks Yadav, 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 (although he does not know why) to kill him. He meets Sunita at the function; she recognizes him from the cover of his files and decides to befriend him. Later that evening, Sanjay attacks and kills one of Ghajini's goons in the parking lot. He lays in wait for Ghajini but ultimately decides to launch his final attack at another time. The dying goon tries to remind Ghajini about an incident that took place two years back, in which Kalpana was killed, and Sanjay became a patient. Ghajini is perplexed and fails to remind himself well enough.

In the meantime, Sunita visits Sanjay's flat and finds Yadav, beaten and bound. She also finds that Ghajini is Sanjay's target. Yadav informs her that Sanjay is a known serial murderer. Sunita finds the two diaries and frees Yadav. Sanjay arrives suddenly; he remembers neither of them and chases them out. Yadav is eventually hit by a bus, and Sunita barely escapes the crazed Sanjay. Believing Ghajini is in danger, she informs him that it is Sanjay who is after him. With this named target, Ghajini arrives at Sanjay's flat to kill him. He destroys all the photographs and notes, and has his goon subdue Sanjay and tattoo over (thus scratching off) all of Sanjay's existing 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 2006 diary. 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 at some point in 2006, Kalpana was unwittingly pulled into a sinister prostitution racket. She was traveling to a modeling assignment by train when she came upon 25 innocent young girls being transported to Goa to work as prostitutes. She saves the girls. But the girls name Ghajini as the ringleader of the racket. Ghajini uses his ways and means (through corrupt cops and politicians) to silence the girls, and personally goes in search off Kalpana. Ghajini and his goons had broken into Kalpana's apartment and waited for her to return. Coincidentally, Sanjay arrived there to meet Kalpana. Her last word to him was "Ghajini". The goons attacked Kalpana. Sanjay was about to intervene when 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 and tells him the truth. He flies into an uncontrollable rage and goes after Ghajini. Arriving at Ghajini's lair in downtown Mumbai, Sanjay systematically and brutally kills all of Ghajini's henchmen and launches into a vicious chase-fight after Ghajini. He is about to kill Ghajini when his memory loss cycle kicks in. 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 killed Kalpana.

The film ends with Sanjay, still suffering from the amnesia, volunteering at an orphanage. Sunita gives him a small gift which is the 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. It is left to the viewer to decide whether Sanjay regains his memory or not though the last scene, showing him reminiscing his past, strongly suggests the former].

Cast

Aamir Khan as Sanjay Singhania. Sanjay Singhania is a rich business man; the Managing Director of a mobile phone service provider company. Sanjay falls in love with Kalpana, who later is found. In the same incident, Sanjay develops a type of amnesia which makes him forget all the events that had happened 15 minutes ago following a firm blow to his head by an iron rod. After undergoing rehabilitation, Sanjay Singhania becomes obsessed with avenging the murder of his girlfriend and to combat his disability, he has tattoos spread over his torso to help him remember what his intentions are. Aamir Khan went through a tough fitness regime for the right physique for the role, and trained regularly with a personal trainer in his own home gym, resulting in the perfect physique in which he spotted 16 inch arms and 8 pack abdominals.

Asin Thottumkal as Kalpana. Kalpana is a model in fashionby profession and gains publicity by proclaiming herself to be the girlfriend of the successful entrepreneur, Sanjay Singhania. She later unknowingly falls in love with Sanjay, mistaking him to be a normal man, Sachin. Kalpana, showcased as a kind-hearted person, becomes involved with Ghajini and his henchmen after foiling their plot to sell the kidneys of girls . Kalpana is dead in front of Sanjay by , and subsequently so creating the theme of avengement, which forms the crux of the plot.

Jiah Khan as Dr.Sunita. Sunita is Sanjay's therapist, who even though not given permission to, tries to study the case of Sanjay Singhania and his amnesiac problem. She appears throughout the film as she attempts to unravel Sanjay's mysteries and past life and goes places to find more information about the psychiatric patient she wants to meet. Despite initial friction between Sanjay and herself, she then helps Sanjay meets Ghajini.

Pradeep Rawat as Ghajini Dharmatma. Ghajini is the serial killer who brutally killed Kalpana for insulting him and ruining his plans. He is a gang honcho with lots of contacts and minions. In the movie, he is depicted to have been the mastermind of many illegal and criminal ventures.

Riyaz Khan as Inspector Arjun. Arjun plays the cameo of a police inspector who investigates the murders by Sanjay Singhania. He also learns about some of Sanjay's past life but is killed in an accident, later in the movie.

Release

Box office

Ghajini was released on the 25th of December 2008 with an estimated 1500 prints, of which 213 were released to overseas markets. The movie 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 690 million to Adlabs Films Ltd.

According to Box Office Mojo Ghajini's box-office totals were about Rs.280 crores ($54,316,564 USD) worldwide as of 29th of January 2009 with a total run of 37 days / 5.3 weeks , making it Bollywood's highest grossing movie of all time (unadjusted for inflation).

The 2-Disc Collector's Edition DVD was manufactured by Big Home Video and distributed by international distributor Adlabs Films Ltd on March 13, 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.

Critical reception

The film has received positive reviews from critics. Sonia Chopra of Sify gave the movie 4.5 stars and recommended watching it "For the four As—Aamir, Asin, AR Murgadoss and AR Rahman". 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."Martin D'Souza of Bollywood Trade News Network gave the movie 3.5 stars, noting the flaws in screen play, while praising the action.Taran Adarsh remarked that the movie "is a winner all the way" and gave it 4.5 stars. Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India praised the performance by Aamir Khan as its high point, and awarded 3.5 stars. Zee News described Aamir's performance as his best till date.Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave the movie 3.5 stars.Bollywood Movies review gave it a 4 star for good screenplay, directing and good acting by Aamir Khan and Asin Thottumkal.Shubhra Gupta of Express India concluded that 'Ghajini' is too long, too violent, and criticized Jiah Khan's acting and dancing skills, but praised Aamir Khan's and Asin's performance.

However, there were some negative reviews too. Gaurav Malani of Indiatimes gave the movie 2 stars, criticising the length of the movie and praising the performance of the cast.Some critics criticized Tamil style action and fight scenes. Raja sen of Rediff rated the movie 2.5/5 stars criticising the performance of Asin and concluding "overwhelming feeling is one of regret". Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India says, "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."

On IMDB, Ghajini currently has a 6.9 user rating.

Inspiration

Ghajini and the original namesake film in Tamil were both based on 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 suffers 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.

Music

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 this Hindi version.

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." 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.

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