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Ghajini (2008)

Rating: *****

By,

Rahul Ojha

Its one of the most hyped movies in Bollywood history and over the past eight months we’ve heard and seen it all – the hair cut, the jokes about the Aamir-ferocious-look, Aamir’s guide to get the 8-Pack abs and the brilliant marketing campaign in build up to the release, which will make for a fascinating case study for marketing students at the country’s premier B-Schools. But talking about the core product itself i.e. the movie – Ghajini, one has questions. Is it yet another cinematic masterpiece coming from the Aamir Khan school of cinema? Does it live up to the tremendous hype? Is it the best movie of the year? Unfortunately, as is often the case with over- hyped extravaganzas the answer to all these three questions is NO. But is it a bad movie? Certainly not! That this will be liked by the movie goers by and large and that it will be a blockbuster is a foregone conclusion.

First up, let’s set the record straight. Ghajini is a remake of a South Indian movie of the same name which itself is inspired (the favourite word for Indian film-makers when they blatantly copy foreign material) from Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece – Memento (2000). Therefore, you can’t credit it with any points for originality. But director Murgadoss’s ‘Ghajini’ is NOT a scene by scene copy of Memento. And how could it ever be? The film makers realise (or assume) that the average Indian movie goer is too unintelligent to grasp an intriguing, non linear type of storytelling with a twist in the end that would leave him dumb founded. Hence, to rake in the moolah, the film makers turn Ghajini into mishmash of Memento and Masala cinema of the 70’s and to add icing on the cake – action straight from the Rajnikanth School of Martial Arts. Now that is what makes for entertainment for the masses!

Ghajini’s ‘Indianised’ storyline has all the three hallmarks of a blockbuster, the 3Rs – Romance, Revenge and the Righteous ending. It has a back and forth style of storytelling which doesn’t warrant a crossword solving approach by the viewer. Sixty percent into the run time and the viewer knows what it will culminate into!

The romance element in the movie is endearing with newcomer Asin doing a great job of playing the chirpy girl next door and Aamir as the ambitious business tycoon mesmerized by her earthy ways. We break into romantic ballads courtesy dream sequences (The tracks, Guzarish and Kaise Mujhe will go down as A.R. Rehman’s best works). The romance blossoms, but the inevitable tragedy strikes and a revenge seeking animal is born.

The build up to the climax is great as the screenplay engages the emotions of the viewer making him feel the grief and pain of the terrible tragedy of the protagonist’s girl friend brutally murdered in front of his own eyes. You expect one-helluva ending, something like the ending of ‘Unforgiven’ in which Clint Eastwood left you awe-struck. But Ghajini’s climax is laughable! Aamir Khan gets possessed by Rajnikanth. Dhoom-dhaam-dhishum, bodies fly in the air at the touch of a finger! Mission Accomplished!

From start to finish, Ghajini is dominated by the one and only, Aamir ‘Ferocious’ Khan. It is the sort of role only a few can do justice to and performance wise it won’t be an understatement to say that even the toughest of men in Hindi cinema like Dharam Paaji (in his prime) or Sunny Deol couldn’t play the revenge seeking Sanjay Singhania any better than Aamir Khan! Yes, as always he successfully re-invents himself and hats off to that! But you can’t help but wonder what was his motive in selecting this role? Maybe because, its a tailor made role to get the whistles from the 'front rows' and an attempt to establish himself as the biggest undisputed superstar of Hindi Film Industry.

All the dissection done, Ghajini is an entertaining and riveting affair, a onetime watch but nothing beyond that. One expects an Aamir Khan flick to be an intelligent affair and the film-makers (Aamir included) use this image to masquerade Ghajini as a different, creative and intelligent piece of work which it is certainly not. Ghajini is conveniently contrived and has half a dozen plot holes which if given attention to insult your basic intelligence! Why the pretense? Why not sell it as a no-brainer-masala pot-boiler in the first place?

Sparks Fly!

Notorious (1946)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman

Rating: ****1/2

By,
Rahul Ojha

Sparks fly when you have the dashing Cary Grant as the egoistical lover and the vivacious but spoilt, Ingrid Bergman who in order to prove that she has mended her ways takes on a dangerous assignment of being undercover in Brazil for Cary's employer - the US Feds.

Ingrid Bergman as Ms Huberman with her tantalizing beauty is even more appealing than Ilsa in Casablanca and that, trust me is saying something! Cary, on the other hand, is restrained and intense as the jealous lover with all his passionate feelings bottled up. It is perhaps, Cary's best role and as far as suavity in a character is concerned, it comes next only to Humphrey Bogart's role in Casablanca. The dialogs are the crispiest and wittiest ever written and the exchange of flirtations between Cary and Ingrid at the lunch table and a later scene at Ingrid's hotel room where they have a tiff is a testimony to that.

And while I make repeated references to Casablanca, Notorious is not just a passionate romantic story. True thats the crux of it, but it is a great suspense thriller directed by the wizard, the one and only, Sir Alfred Hitchcock. There is a haunting eeriness in the second half of the movie which reminds one of 'Mandarlay' in Hitchcock's Rebecca. Perfectly executed, at the end of it you have only one word in your mind, the clichéd - MASTERPIECE!!

This one's got to be watched all cuddled up with that special someone on a sparkling romantic night!

An Overcooked Recipe

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008)

Rating: *****

By,

Rahul Ojha

What happens when you over cook the best recipe? Result is a cuisine that you eat when you are hungry without relishing it. The most awaited movie of the year - Aditya Chopra’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (RNBDJ)is just like that overcooked cuisine which the audience is expected to digest just because it has the magic ingredient, the Badshah of Hindi cinema Shahrukh Khan starring in it.

The plot is about the unrequited love of a geek, meek and a shy small town man who marries a pretty punjabi girl in unexpected circumstances. How will he win his love and make the only woman he has ever loved, love him in return? This interesting plot premise, despite taking off well in the first 20 odd minutes is battered, thanks to shoddy writing which lacks both conviction and logic.

The only well written and endearing character is of this geeky guy – Surinder played by SRK. The new actress Anushka Sharma comes across as beautiful, confident and charming. She fits perfectly in the role of a Punjabi girl, giving a decent but low impact performance. Raj, the cool, clean shaved and hip Jatt guy again played by SRK is a bad caricature of the romantic image of ‘Rahul’ and ‘Raj’ created by SRK and Yash Raj over the years. After the initial interest, this character too fails to make the storyline any interesting. So there you have it , when in the script two out of the three central characters are ineffective, you know it’s time to fasten the seat belt as this flight is in some trouble.

But this flight somehow doesn’t crash. What saves it is SRK who gives it his all to make Surinder and Raj as endearing as possible. He is the sole reason keeping you on board. SRK tries hard and succeeds to engage you emotionally in some sporadic scenes just like the small and few chocolate pieces hidden in a big plain biscuit. Also, the success of a romantic comedy is determined by the number of magical moments the lead pair have on screen. In RNBDJ, unfortunately these moments are almost nonexistent. But right from the last few minutes to the end of the credits the film ends on a creative, humorous and feel good note which again spares it from the wrath of the audience.

The film has only four main songs, Haule Haule and Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte being the highlights. Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte is a tribute to the great romantic heroes of the yester years and has five leading ladies of Bollywood dancing in five different segments. In segment one the duo SRK and Kajol dancing together once again shows us why they were and are still the best looking pair in Hindi Cinema. And In the same song in segment five, Rani Mukherjee looks totally out of place. Nevertheless this track is an extremely entertaining affair. The title track, Tujhe Mei Rab Dikhta Hai is a huge disappointment with the way it is picturised. Though the movie is shot well and has good production value which one expects from Yash Raj. The Amritsar setting looks very authentic.

So all in all ‘Rab Ne…’ is a watchable but underwhelming affair. Aditya Chopra is below average in his duties as script writer, dialog writer and director. Infact, after Mohabbatein, he has plummeted to a new low. There is a lesson to be learnt for directors who lack a great script and expect SRK to deliver the goods for them each time no matter how puerile the plot. And SRK needs to watch DVDs of Swades and Chak De and remind himself of what he is capable of, and in future choose roles of substance. RNBDJ is not going to be a highlight or milestone in his successful career.

A Trip to Fargo is a Must!

Fargo (1996)

Rating **** 1/2

By Rahul Ojha

The accusation that the OSCARS are often a deferred reward for past accomplishments is a statement which gets validated once you see the Coen brothers directed cult favorite - 'FARGO'. Yes these guys finally won the best director for 'No Country for Old Men' but it is baffling how FARGO missed the shot. The 90s was truly a great era for cinema and Fargo is right up there with films like 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Leon' in the crime/thriller genre. Infact I would say it is a slight notch up.

It is so much more than the run of the mill kidnapping-plot-gone-wrong scenario. The sub-plots here enrich each and every character. William Macy is one of those actors who with his antics, natural expressions, and dialog delivery really sucks you into the movie. I doubt anyone else could have portrayed the role of a man struggling financially and desperate to get his life on track that he gets his own wife kidnapped so that the rich father-in-law pays for the ransom! The real show stealer in Fargo is Frances Macdermond who plays the part of the cop who untangles the entire crime saga with her deceptive cunningness. Its one of the coolest female character ever!

Coen brothers genre of cinema uses the backdrop as a haunting background for the movie almost as another character supporting the plot. The desert in 'No Country..' showed us the despair of a man being chased and in Fargo the snow provides the chill you need in each and every one of those scenes. Overall, to say that this cult favorite i.e. FARGO will not be known as a CLASSIC a few decades down the line would be a travesty. As Chief Gunderson would say it - "Oh Yah!"

Of The Highest Quality...

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (1988), Italy

Rating: **** & half/5

By Rahul Ojha


This Italian masterpiece reminds us of the great heights that cinema is capable of achieving. It is story-telling at its sublime best. And when you cover this outer layer with magical inner layers of direction, sound mixing, cinematography and at its very core, well etched out characters brilliantly enacted, what you get is nothing short of outstanding perfection.

Portraying the journey of a man from his childhood - his innocence, his ambitions, his naughtiness, his youth, his first love, the heartbreaking heartbreak, maturity and his so called achievement of success and acclimatization to this ever progressing fake world packs in powerful and deep emotions in each and every frame. Heart warming and feel good cinema at its best, it is also perhaps the best tribute to the medium of cinema. People say - "Cinema is not life." Well, my answer to them would be "Cinema may not be life but it certainly emulates life in its most artistic and creative form." And this masterpiece is a testimony to that.

Just let the English subtitles role and enjoy!

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What could have been a Mega Extravaganza....

DOSTANA

Rating: *****

By Rahul Ojha

Welcome once again to the larger than life world of Hindi cinema. A song provides a scorcher of a start to the movie with this female celebrity who is highly popular in the UK (read Big Brother) dancing, ‘bouncing’ and lifting the curtains to this world called 'Dostana.' Here we have a smashing foreign locale in Miami where chicks roam around in bikinis as if it is their second skin and guys with chiselled bodies and offbeat professions get up in bed only to find themselves with some unknown damsel. It’s a world where a sizzling girl in her mid 20s who despite doing well in her career is looking for tenants to share her house and earn some extra income. (with the current economic recession its not a bad idea!). Enter the wannabe tenants - our two heroes who look like they have buried the ‘reel’ animosity of the past (read Dhoom)! What next? Yes here is the alleged twist as these guys fake their sexual orientation because the Indian values in our ‘Desi Girl’ will not allow two straight hunks in her Miami condo. Let us pretend at this point we don’t know who Chuck & Larry are/were! What works for this movie and what doesn’t?

Okay it is the first of its kind attempt by an Indian film-maker to touch upon and even base the main plot on this ‘homo-sexual’ angle, a subject hidden in the closet. The platform is well established with Abhishek and John being at an almost natural ease while playing their characters! These guys are the primary characters working for the movie as they infuse in every scene a sense of wackiness making you snort with laughter (or LOL). Their center of attraction Priyanka looks absolutely gorgeous in each and every frame of the movie. The treatment of the movie is just right and the sole objective is to provide the audience with insane entertainment. Enters Abhishek’s mom played by Kirron Kher, a mother horrified by the knowledge that her ‘puttar’ has become andha and cannot distinguish between a boy and a girl! Yes the laughs grow louder and louder. Insanity rules! Catchy and melodious music plays along keeping you grooved. Its all fun and games and then its interval!

Post interval time and like a ship caught in a storm this movie gets lost and takes the wrong direction. The script goes awry. Our heroes have grown weak in the knees for our heroine and the brewing love triangle turns into a triple threat match with the entry of this third gentlemen. Now, instead of letting the movie continue on the path of insane entertainment, it heads into the world of clichéd misunderstanding and sappiness. The plot becomes so contrived and the humour nearly dries out. The actors do their best to keep the fun alive but succeed only marginally. Besides the awry script, the character development also falters with a talented actor like Boman Irani ill-utilised. The zing is gone and the executioner is the story writer.

The two heroes Abhishek and John do a sparkling job with their hilariously unusual and offbeat role. Priyanka Chopra is meant to look pretty and she does a perfectly stunning job at that. It is no doubt that after ‘Dostana’ and ‘Fashion’ she is ready to conquer the queen’s crown in Hindi cinema. The costume and dresses are perfect and perfectly in sync with the theme of the movie. The music is groovy and one of the plus points of the movie. The cinematography though good is a little patchy owing to cost cutting measures by creating the Miami house in Bombay with skyscraper wallpapers on the windows!

Although only produced and not directed by Karan Johar, it bears in each frame the stamp of his brand of cinema with many references to his past works. And seeing his track record you expected something more. But yeh more nahi milega! Overall Dostana is not a bad effort, infact the movie is a fun, onetime watch but nothing beyond candy floss entertainment. The opportunity to turn it into a mega extravaganza has been lost.

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P.S. Well life has sucked big time over the past 6 months and blogging hasn't been my way of venting out the frustrations. Nevertheless the eternal optimist in me is still alive. I am back to this medium to post this movie review on 'Dostana' which I checked out earlier tonight! Anyways, Cinema is what I am passionate about and to unwind I just have to turn to my huge collection of World Cinema and write movie reviews regularly on IMDb.com. Will try to keep my blog updated.....
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