This movie started of real well but lost its plot in the end. The second half was totally unbearable. It is inspired by Memento but in no means on the same level. The explanations are more plausible in Memento. Too many plotholes in Ghajini. I would say the weakest climax in tamil movie history belongs to this movie. I wonder how a movie that could start so well fizzle out so bad in the end.
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It made no sense for one. It was extreeeeeemely dramatic. Too much exagerrated action sequence. And the heroine and her fickle mindedness. Yucky! First half worth seeing second half go home and have a nice nap.
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There was nothing unbearable about the ending in particular, it was the entire movie. Ghajini and Memento are two different movies, the only link being both the protagonists suffer from short term memory loss. I'm not sure if people who compare the two understand memento. Memento is not about revenge. Nobody knows who killed Lenny's wife or whether her attackers were avenged. Its the story about people trying to set up Lenny and the ploy backfires.
sharei think ghajini is a very good film. yes, u may say the second half is borng. but compare it to other tamil films and ghajini comes out top.
surya and asin gave wonderful performances and wahtever u may say, the picture is still one hell of a hit. there might be a few silly parts, but come on, its a tamil film, not an english one. so u cannot hope it would be of very high standard compared to other films.
overall, i think the film is fantastic and whatever u may say, its still a hell of a blockbuster.
yes ghajini is good film ...much better than many masala indian films though it is inspired by memento it is worth watching!
much better than other south indian films!
I too believe that it is a nice indian-ized version of Memento!
shareI think all of you should watch Memento atleast once. I risked a heavy traffic in chennai and rushed to the theatre to watch this movie cos I am crazy about Surya. But damn... its the sickest theatre experience i ever had. He was good. But the movie was nothing but crap. I am not saying that Memento was better or that Ghajini should have also included Memento's BRILLIANT MOST INTELLIGENT way of showing the sequences and all. All that I am saying is... yes... they have copied Memento. But they have left out several wonderful elements of the movie. The suspense that clouds Memento, the real mystery behind the movie, the way director uses his illness in manipulating the movie... Oh my god... Its such an adrenaline pumping feeling. Instead of that they have killed the movie and inserted a badly formed climax, showing a repulsive villain (that too twice!!! grrrr...) and a 20 min long fight in water which simply puts down Surya's action talents and makes him fly all the time like a man on spring and ropes.
You may all be wondering whats sooooo good about Memento that this guy is making so much fuss for. For those who wont watch Memento... there is one small scene...
MINOR SPOILER FOR MEMENTO:
They show the hero running. He asks himself.
"Ok. So what am I doing?"
He looks at a guy who is running behind a caravan.
"Oh, I am chasing this guy."
He runs towards him to continue his "now-remembered" chase. but to his surprise that guy runs towards him, fires a bullet which misses and our hero escapes back and as he runs telling himself.
"No. He is chasing me."
MINOR SPOILER ENDS......
You must watch this scene happening. Then you will know why I am so fussed about missing such great scenes in Ghajini. Instead of this there is a funny scene where he tells Nayanthara. Oh you are sweating, you must be running... :)))))))) comon!!!! and the worst of all. he has a timer in his hand cos he remembers only for 15 minutes. ha ha ha.... short-term memory has nothing to do with 15 mins or whatever. this movie has fooled tamil audience to the best possible. and have succeeded too. Oh what more can i say... I hate this movie to the core. I wish someone will realise this and make Memento in a much proper way for tamil audience. Just like the way "exorcist - the dominion" was made after "exorcist - the beginning" proved that it was a disgrace to the original. It will be good if Surya acts in it and redeems himself of the mistake he was a part of(knowingly or unknowingly), degrading a wonderful movie.
I have written enough about it on my comment. Many of you will still keep saying Ghajini is good and all. I know. But none of you will ever understand or able share my feelings unless and until you watch Memento.
Nevertheless, I sincerely appreciate the way all the romantic scenes were filmed. They were beautiful and unforgettable. But they could have extended it and made a movie on that story line and made a superb romantic movie with a brilliant twist followed by some earthshaking action scenes - with none of them having even the smallest trace of Memento in it. Isn't it better than mutilating a movie masterpiece? :)
Please think about it. But watch Memento before you do. Thank you.
Vaasan
There is no spoon.
(Those who don't understand this... watch "The Matrix")
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I totally disagree with Xvaasan. He has his notion of how Ghajini SHOULD HAVE BEEN. His assumption that nobody here has seen Memento or that people who have seen Memento will not enjoy Ghajini is just weird. I saw Memento a long time back when it was released way back in 90-something. I can't even remember. I have seen so many movies, not just English ones but I am a big fan of world cinema. So I know what movie making is about. I have seen loads of world class cinema from the greats like Akira Kurosawa, Almodovar, Bergman... etc.
However, all this does not stop me from watching mediocre Bollywood films or Tamil films for that matter. The director made a film inspired from Memento. He tried to make a masala film for the Tamil audience and in that regard he has succeeded. He wasn't even trying to make a movie in the same breath as MEMENTO. His aim was totally different as can be seen from the final product.
I really enjoyed it eventhough I like to watch quality movies too. You don't go into a Tamil movie made by Murugadoss expecting to see a masterpiece like Memento or Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love. This is plain ridiculous. I am surprised you didn't make a fuss that Murugadoss put in songs in the movie.
I am sure Murugadoss could have done a scene by scene lift of the movie if he wanted. Better still, he could have modified it and gone a bit further by adding more creative scenes but he didn't want to do that because he had a specific audience in mind. People go to Tamil movies to watch the hero and heroine dancing and singing. The overly long fight sequences are essential too in a Tamil movie. Even class acts like Maniratnam puts in songs in his movies. Maniratnam can do better but he has to think of ways of earning back the money for the producers too. Classy movies made in the fashion of Satyajit Ray will never make any money in India. If producers aren't backing it you can't make movies. It's as simple as that. If Murugadoss moves to Hollywood it would be a totally different story. Maybe, he'd get to exploit his potential more. Who knows he might be able to make a better movie than Memento. One thing's for sure, Murugadoss is one of the most talented Tamil directors around. Well done! Keep up the quality work. Ghajini is definitely a cut above the rest of the garbage that Tamil cinema churns out year after year. At least, he dares to be a bit different from the other mediocre Tamil films despite having to please the Tamil audience and his financiers or producers.
I agree with maestraw-1. One should not assume that an audience that appreciates a quality movie like 'memento' would not enjoy a movie like Ghajini. The character of Sanjay Ramasamy may have been inspired by Guy Pearce's character in Memento. Nevertheless, it wasn't the intention of the director to make a cookie-cutter movie of it. The title 'Ghajini' itself should be informative on the focus of the movie. Sanjay makes repeated attempts to avenge the wrongful execution of his love by going after the baddies. It doesn't matter how many failures he's had, how long the attempts take, and no matter the HUGE obstacle of having to work from scratch EVERY SINGLE TIME. It is a parallel of the infamous Ghajini Mohammad of yesteryer, who made 18 attempts to plunder India's wealth centuries ago. That's what the director attempted to show - that this man's love was so great that he stubbornly refused to give up. Sanjay's tenacity was a reflection of Ghajini's. That's the context you should focus on. And i believe that the director has brought that out very well. Surya, with his superb acting has done justice to the role. Asin is engaging and a bubbly counterpoint to the business tycoon Sanjay's character, and as such makes the audience understand his undying love for her, and his need for revenge. One should not criticise the director's attempts to bring something unique to the Indian audience whilst needing to make it commercially viable. Afterall, he needs the financial backing to make the movie, and i can only imagine what the outcome would be if his proposed story was a carbon copy of 'Memento'. I am absolutely certain that unless he was prepared to fund this movie and market it by himself, he would not have been even able to take it past the drawing board. Just my 2 cents worth.
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Well it is not a remake. There are 2 kinds of remakes now being made one in india.
Scene by scene remake (e.g. chocolate , Zinda )
Mish mash of concepts / scenes from 2-3 obscure movies. add a indian touch and serve it as original concept. (Ghajini , Rang de basanti etc)
One thing is common some times they do make a good movie . But in no sense it can be called original.
Watch Kaante you will admire it .Then watch reservoir dogs and Usual suspects and you will find how much is original in that.
In the same vein Ghajini is not original. It does not have great acting . Surya and Asin are just adequate. I liked Asin though. Music is good. And story flow is drab. Even if this were an original movie still it would have ben a below average movie.
to masterrat17:
if i had never watched memento, i wud hv seen ghajini as a completely new venture to tamil cinema. i wouldn't have liked 15 mins, Nayanthara, the villain and the last fight. but i would have liked everything else. i agree. at the same time, i would have also checked it on IMDB and Memento would have been right there even if no one would have talked about it. (Look below the main page of Ghajini). I, being a fan of watching originals, would have watched Memento anyway... and would have finally drawn into the same conclusion as I have drawn to now. Once you watch it, its difficult to find any other movie using its storyline to make a masala. But I like the way you have put it. For your question, I would definitely agree that if I NEVER had watched Memento, I would have definitely liked Ghajini cos its a great masala movie with an new story line, wonderful romantic scenes and my fav hero in it. :)
to maestraw-1:
I appreciate your opinion. It was very well written. But I dont agree that Murgadoss is a good director or whatever. He is a good romantic movie director. When it comes to intelligent scenes, I am sorry, he fails miserably. He better stay here and continue his great work cos Hollywood cannot stand such an aweful Director. At the same time, I agree with you that when one goes to watch a Tamil movie, one must simply enjoy it and come. If you understand me, thats where I am worried about. That way, except for the ones who get to see good movies in all languages, the rest of all Tamils are missing great masterpieces. Rather, such great movies are retold here with suffocating masala and that feeling is gone forever! Even if one genuinely remakes Memento, in its true form... ppl now will say... hey look! Thats a copy of Ghajini! Its seriously a failure to our system.
By the way, maestraw-1, did you really watch Memento? Cos you know what... you have mentioned that you have seen it "way back in 90-something". I dont know what you have watched. May be you should watch the real Memento now. Cos it was released only in 2000. ;)
to dryad_xvan:
Finally someone who have seen the actual Memento. (you mentioned Guy Pearce). I agree. He wouldnt have made it a commercial success if he had made it exactly like Memento. Also, as you have said, Ghajini is about his unstoppable attempts but it has borrowed a bit of Memento for the plot. Properly expressed. But can you tell me something? My wish is that Tamil audience gets to see Memento in its proper form with heroism and necessary masala suited for our screens. Now that Ghajini has shown a bit of it, do you think remaking Memento properly would do any good? Or would people discard it as a copy of Ghajini? Your answer will tell you what I feel. Thanks for commenting.
Vaasan
There is no spoon.
They couldve done better but it wasnt that bad. BTW I dont understand the language, followed subtitles as much as poss. Heard Bollywood are making a remake of Ghajini..? They should remake Memento instead...if at all possible and if the Indian audience dont get too confused like they apparently did watching Rang De Basanti.
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