Ghajini (2008, Indian)

That Ghajini is a Bollywood reimagining of Memento is weird enough – that it’s a remake of a 2005 South Indian film by the same name, featuring the same writer/director and half of the same cast . . . well, that’s just bizarre. Aamir Khan and his magnificent torso are cast in the Guy Pierce role as Sanjay, a man who’s lost his life and his love, with nothing to show for it but an acute sense of rage, a wicked pair of skull scars, and a memory that resets itself every 15 minutes. The movie bounces back and forth from the present, in which Sanjay hunts down the titular gangster Ghajini, and the past, where he juggles his high-power life as a cell phone CEO with a secret romance with aspiring model Kalpana (the luminous Asin). Secret, because he wants to make sure that the lovely do-gooder loves him for the man he is, not for his crores.

If ever a movie deserved to be called bombastic, it’s Ghajini. The completely over-the-top storyline and thudding soundtrack start at minute one and don’t let up for another three hours. It’s certainly entertaining, though – I don’t think there was a moment of boredom in all that time, what with the fight sequences, songs, and innumerable moments of suspended disbelief. It’s also quite easy to see the debt that the new Indian action cinema owes to Hong Kong. I would caution Bollywood newcomers, though, as the film is so frequently ludicrous that I found myself giggling at inopportune moments. Maybe it was the way that the costume designers managed to reveal Khan’s abs or pecs at every possible moment, even while he’s giving a business presentation. (Seriously.)

Speaking of Khan, I’m sure he took this role in order to stretch a little, enjoying not only the typical Bollywood leading man lines, but also the chance to go completely apeshit in the memory-loss sequences. He goes so nuts that he manages to imbue the proceedings with some sense of gravity – early on, there’s a great moment when the audience sees Sanjay “remembering” what has happened to him, and Khan manages to import that for this character, the most painful thing is having to relive loss over and over and over again. I wish Khan would work more, and perhaps trade off a bit with one of the other big Khans, Shah Rukh. Shah Rukh has grown on me over the years, and he’s very good at what he does, but he can be terribly hammy, and he also lacks some of Aamir’s guileless charm. I think Aamir is the only Khan who could pull off dancing with four other versions of himself – some of which are wearing faux-hawks – and then throw a guy through a wall 20 minutes later.