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Bloggers sure have made life easier for journalists. So if you were a journalist and had to write a piece on the mixed reaction Ghajini is receiving, gone are the days you actually had to get out of your office and talk to people. Now you can just look around the internet and see what some random idiot has to say about the issue and just quote him. An excerpt from this article in Mid-Day follows :
This blogger named Deepak seems to have a taken a middle-path saying “it is not a great movie, but it is not a bad movie.”
According to him, Aamir Khan does justice to his role and Asin was probably better in the Tamil version, but doesn’t give any reason to complain in the Hindi version too.” He, however, complains about A R Rahman’s music which “seemed uninspired.”
I believe my words were :
The background music by A.R. Rahman surprised me as it seemed uninspired !
The least someone can do is quote correctly, but looks like we have to give them the benefit of doubt as this is still a relatively new form of expression.
There isn’t anything new that I am going to say if you have already read the countless reviews floating around.
Firstly, it is not a great movie, but it is not a bad movie.
As an audience I think it is important to know when to question and when not to. Some movies themselves ask to be questioned and examined (case in point Memento, Matrix), but I would rather judge you if you came up with logical flaws in a movie like Gunda (If you haven’t seen it, stop reading immediately and go watch it). This is formally known as suspension of disbelief.
Ghajini as an entertainer wasn’t something I could complain about as a whole (although I liked the Tamil version better, I don’t want to make this a Tamil Hindi conflict. I leave that to the politicians). It was a tight movie and I watched it in the same frame of mind that I used to watch those Amitabh movies on DD1 every Friday and Saturday. For each of those movies, I used to argue with my mother and all my exam marks would be cited before I would be finally given the permission to watch them; just to see some random villian bashing and action sequences, but it used to be fun. As time passed, there was the odd action movie where you really rooted for the protagonist (e.g. Ghulam) like you did in those Amitabh movies. Of course, the audience in 2008 thinks it is more intelligent which is a potential drawback, but I fail to understand how an audience is intelligent if it cannot decide correctly what to overlook and what to analyze; for the simple reason that Ghajini is not Memento although I would be glad if the makers of Memento took some action for the obvious plagiarism. Enough ranting. Movie details now.
Aamir Khan does justice to his role (but he was far better in Ghulam, another revenge saga), Jiah Khan makes an unimpressive debut (she did not debut in Nishabd, her legs did), Asin was probably better in the Tamil version, but doesn’t give any reason to complain in the Hindi version too. The background music by A.R. Rahman surprised me as it seemed uninspired ! A. Murugadoss basically has to copy his Tamil version frame by frame, and is decent.
Oh yes it had its share of cheesy lines that completely cracked me up at times :
Jiah Khan, on a bike with Aamir riding pillion : Woh log kahin ja rahe hain.
Aamir : Peecha karo !
(Don’t come and ask what was funny there.)
But overall, it wasn’t boring. It is a good movie a few years ago or a few states south. Don’t be too excited about the movie, and you won’t be disappointed.
The much awaited music of Ghajini is out. If I had written this post yesterday, believe me it would have turned out *completely* different. As you guessed it, the music is by A.R. Rahman (Mental Note : Never review a Rahman album for the first 48 hours).
I think Rahman might just have a winner on his hands here. A good overall album after Jodha Akbar (I could never warm up to Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Ya and Yuvvraaj apart from the odd Kahin To and Zindagi). The essence of Rahman is best captured in the slower tracks, and if you go through your playlist for the songs of A.R. Rahman that you still listen to, chances are most of them are the slower numbers. We have that in plenty here (although that doesn’t really guarantee anything).
It is tough to select the best track here. The first song, Guzarish, comes closest to vintage Rahman. Sung beautifully by Javed Ali (of Jashn-e-Bahaara), but the winner here is Sonu Nigam providing the background humming for the full length of the song and yet managing to elevate it to greater heights ! You have to listen to it to know why Sonu Nigam’s name is mentioned in its credits. The mandolin sounds great in this track, almost reminiscent of the Saathiya beginning (and way better than the irritating Tujhe Dekha To piece, which led me to hate the mandolin with a vengeance until I heard U. Srinivas years later).
The second track Aye Bachchu is the one that surprised me, and in a nice way. It is just magic when the background and the foreground shift to the major scale with rhythmic lyrics giving it that extra punch. The rest of this track is about okay.
The third is another slower number, Kaise Mujhe, and another nice slow number you can listen to for a few years with its typical Rahman structure (the beats, vocals and strings all coming along exactly as expected). A damn tough song to sing with notes jumping around and high, but newcomer Benny Dayal impresses with his voice and range. Understandably, the range falls right in the comfort zone of the female lead Shreya Ghosal and she does her part with ease. A piece of advice : DO NOT attempt to sing this this song without adult supervision, especially if you are trying to impress someone.
Now I might not share views about Behka with a few. I think the lyrics and the music blend in perfectly with the theme of the song, especially the start of the stanza (antara) and singer Karthik is truly perfect in every note (and there are quite a few tricky parts) and word.
Now the downsides. The not-so-good track is just the one, Latoo and I am not really going to bother about its details. The second is the naming of the tracks. Whoever thought of Aye Bachchu and Latoo !!
Although Ghajini is an album worth buying (please buy the album, do not download it from here), I am eagerly awaiting the soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire releasing tomorrow !
