Ghajini

You know how movies are classified into genres? How they all fit into neatly demarcated categories, how they are either romantic movies, or comedies, or thrillers, or action movies?

And then, once in a while, along comes a movie which, touches upon all of these, doing justice to all of them, and not overdoing any of it? Ghajini is just such a movie. A movie which has scenes that touch the heart of the romantic, scenes that thrill, scenes that are action packed and utterly gruesome at times, scenes that make you laugh, and those that make you cry.

When I go out for a movie that's any longer than two hours, I always have an inkling of doubt, about whether or not I'll be able to sit through all of it, without getting all fidgety and restless as I often tend to, during movies like Kal Ho Naa Ho or Devdas. But, well, this is one movie that completely justifies overshooting the three-hour mark. I was completely glued to my seat all through, completely absorbed in the movie, entirely unaware of everything, if anything, that was going on around me. In the scene where Kalpana helps the physically challenged girls cross over the museum gates, I felt this sudden burst of joy, this renewed faith in humanity, the feeling that all goodness is not dead. It was enough to make my eyes mist up. When Kalpana sold off her prized Ambassador to help pay for the treatment of the ailment that Sanjay said his mother was suffering from, I was completely touched. The part where Ghajini's goons were looking for Kalpana because they had been instructed to hunt her down and kill her off, I was so utterly terrified, horrified, terrorized, like I've never been during any movie I've ever seen.

That's the kind of film it is. It deals with a wide gamut of events, people and emotions, and makes the audience feel everything from their heart and soul.

And by the way, I don't care to much for Aamir's look that was created specifically for this movie, because it doesn't suit him (or any other decent guy, probably) to shave the hair on his head and not the ones on his face. But when those two things are the right way around, in the part where Kalpana is still alive, he looks terrific, as always. In the Behka number, he wears all kinds of clothes, including a bright purple T-Shirt and a bright pink shirt (albeit with a waistcoat on top of it, but the shirt does show through, you know). And he perches on top of a bright pink car. None of those colours look out of place. All the six looks he sports in that song are just great.

Speaking of the song, the background music is great, but the songs leave a lot to be desired. Nowhere near what I expect from A. R. Rahman after masterpieces like Ae Ajnabi, Kahin To..., Nahin Samne, Tu Hi Re, and albums like Vande Mataram, Bombay Dreams, and the more recent, Slumdog Millionaire. Only the Kaise Mujhe number appealed to me somewhat, and even that one doesn't really sound Rahmanesque (That's a term my brother, also a big Rahman fan, coined.) either.

But hey, don't play the songs on repeat, but do go and watch the movie. It has something for everyone.