Ghajini (2005 film)
| Ghajini | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | A. R. Murugadoss |
| Produced by | Salem A. Chandrasekaran |
| Written by | A. R. Murugadoss |
| Starring | Suriya Asin Nayantara Pradeep Rawat |
| Music by | Harris Jayaraj |
| Cinematography | R. D. Rajasekhar |
| Editing by | Anthony |
| Distributed by | Sri Saravanaa Creaations (Tamil Nadu) Geetha Arts (Andhra Pradesh) |
| Release date(s) | 29 September 2005 |
| Running time | 180 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget |  120 million (US$2.2 million)[1] |
Ghajini (Tamil: கஜினி) is a 2005 Indian Tamil psychological thriller film directed by A. R. Murugadoss released on 29 September 2005.
The film stars Suriya, Asin, Nayantara, Pradeep Rawat and Riyaz Khan. It was dubbed and released in Telugu by Allu Aravind in November 2005, and both versions enjoyed critical and commercial acclaim and became blockbusters. It was remade into a Hindi film by Murugadoss again in 2008, starring Aamir Khan with Asin playing the same role.
The film explores the life of a rich businessman who develops anterograde amnesia following a violent encounter in which his love interest was killed. He tries to avenge the killing with the aid of Polaroid Instant camera photographs, permanent tattoos on his body and a medical college student.The film was inspired by Christopher Nolan's Memento.[2][3]
Contents |
Plot [edit]
The film opens with Chitra (Nayantara), a medical student in a college in Chennai, and her friends working on a project about the human brain. She wants to investigate the curious case of Sanjay Ramaswamy (Suriya), a (former) notable Chennai based businessman, who is reported to have anterograde amnesia. Her professor denies access to Sanjay's records as it is currently under criminal investigation. Chitra, nonetheless, decides to investigate the matter herself.
Sanjay is introduced as he brutally murders a man. He takes a Polaroid picture of the man, and writes on it "done". It is revealed that Sanjay has anterograde amnesia where he loses his memory every 15 minutes. Sanjay uses a system of photographs, notes, and tattoos on his body to recover his memory after each cycle. It is revealed that Sanjay is ultimately out to avenge the death of his sweetheart Kalpana (Asin), and that he is systematically killing the people who were responsible for it. His main target is a man named Lakshman (Pradeep Rawat), a notable social personality in Chennai.
A police inspector (Riyaz Khan), on the case of the serial murders, tracks Sanjay down to his flat and attacks and disables him. The inspector finds two diaries where Sanjay has chronicled the events of 2002 and 2003. The film flashes back to 2002 as the inspector reads the diary. Sanjay Ramaswamy is shown as the owner of the Air Voice mobile telephone company. In the course of his business, Sanjay sends his men to meet Kalpana, a struggling model, about putting up a billboard above her apartment. The owner of Kalpana's advertising firm (Manobala) misinterprets this as a romantic advance, and in view of a possible lucrative Air Voice ad campaign and other benefits, encourages Kalpana to accept the overture. Kalpana thinks of this as an innocent prank that may fetch her better modelling work, and decides to play out the charade as Sanjay's girlfriend. As soon as Sanjay knows of this matter, he decides to confront Kalpana but falls in love with her on first sight. Thus, he introduces himself as Manohar. Eventually both of them hang around together and gradually develop a liking towards each other. The diary ends with Sanjay proposing to Kalpana and promising himself that he will reveal himself as Sanjay Ramaswamy if she accepts.
When the inspector is about to read the 2003 diary, Sanjay returns to senses, attacks him and ties him up. He tracks down Lakshman to a college function where Lakshman is the guest of honour. Sanjay took pictures of Lakshman and decides to kill him. He meets Chitra at the function who, after some conversation, decides to befriend him. Later that evening, Sanjay mistakenly attacks and kills one of Lakshman's goons in the parking lot. Lakshman is perplexed and fails to recollect the incident. However he decides to find and kill his enemies one by one, but Sanjay is not among them.
In the meantime, Chitra visits Sanjay's flat and finds the inspector, beaten and bound. Chitra finds the two diaries and frees the inspector. She also finds that Lakshman is Sanjay's target. The inspector tells her that Sanjay is a known serial murderer. Sanjay arrives suddenly; he remembers neither of them and chases them out. The inspector is eventually hit by a bus, while Chitra barely escapes, going into a phone booth. Believing Lakshman is in danger, she informs him that Sanjay is after him. Lakshman arrives at Sanjay's flat to kill him. He destroys all the photographs, notes and scratches off Sanjay's tattoos. Satisfied that he has neutralised Sanjay by wiping out any trace that connects back to him, Lakshman leaves. Meanwhile, Sanjay finds out that Chitra had warned Lakshman and goes to her dormitory to kill her, but Chitra calls the police and Sanjay is arrested.
Back in her dormitory, Chitra reads the diaries. The film flashes fast to 2002 then back to 2003. It is revealed that Kalpana had accepted Sanjay's proposal. This diary ends abruptly. Chitra investigates further, and discovers that Kalpana was travelling to Mumbai for a modelling assignment by train when she came upon 25 innocent young girls being trafficked to Mumbai. She saves the girls who name Lakshman as the ringleader of the racket. Lakshman kills two girls, who recognised him, and goes in search of Kalpana. His goons break into her apartment and wait for her to return. Sanjay arrives there to meet Kalpana. Her last word to him was 'Po' (Go), a warning for him to leave. The goons attack Kalpana. Sanjay intervenes but Lakshman hits him over the head with an iron rod. Sanjay's last vision was to witness Lakshman brutally murder Kalpana with the iron rod.
Chitra, now aware of the shocking truth, finds Sanjay in the hospital and tells him the truth. He flies into a rage and he tells her to lead him to Lakshman. Meanwhile, Lakshman's twin brother Ram (Pradeep Rawat) arrives from Kolkata to help him pursue Sanjay. Arriving at Lakshman's lair in downtown Chennai, Sanjay confronts all of Lakshman's henchmen and with superior strength, manages to disable them. Finding Lakshman himself, Sanjay fights Lakshman hand-to-hand. However, Lakshman realises that he is no match for Sanjay's strength, so Ram intervenes. As both brothers look alike, Sanjay's memory loss strikes again. Ram, taking advantage of Sanjay's memory loss, beats him mercilessly. Sanjay lies badly wounded on the floor when he sees a vision of Kalpana. With a sudden burst of last minute strength, and with the encouragement of Chitra, Sanjay overpowers both Lakshman and Ram. Sanjay is about to killed Lakshman and Ram.
The film ends with Sanjay, still experiencing amnesia, driving Chitra back to her dormitory and stopping at a crossing to let young children cross the road. A young girl smiles back at Sanjay indicating the return of normal life.
Cast [edit]
- Suriya as Sanjay Ramaswamy, a rich business man; the chairman of a mobile phone company, Air Voice. He is also Manohar in the eyes of Kalpana, who hides his identity unless she will accept his engagement. Later in the story, he suffers from short term memory loss which means he forgets all the events that had happened 15 minutes ago.
- Asin as Kalpana, a model by profession who gains publicity by proclaiming herself to be the girlfriend of Sanjay Ramaswamy, which is not really true. She never knew the truth that her boyfriend, Manohar, was actually Sanjay Ramaswamy himself, even till her death.
- Nayantara as Chitra, a medical student, who is trying to study the case of Sanjay Ramaswamy and his amnesiac problem.
- Pradeep Rawat as Lakshman and Ram, twin brothers and both notorious dons and the masterminds of many illegal and criminal ventures.
- Riyaz Khan as the police inspector who is investigating the murders by Sanjay Ramaswamy.
- Manobala as the owner of the advertising firm where Kalpana worked.
- Sathyan as a person whom Kalpana asks to impersonate as Sanjay Ramaswamy for a function.
Production [edit]
The film was initially announced as Mirattal in March 2004 to be produced by NIC Arts and to feature Ajith Kumar and Asin in the lead roles, with a photo shoot also being held. Yuvan Shankar Raja was then signed as the music director.[4] However the project fell through and negotiations with Madhavan also collapsed.[5][6] In November 2004, it was announced that the project was revived by Salem Chandrasekhar and that Suriya would portray the leading role. Suriya subsequently had to tonsure his head for the film before production, with Asin retaining her role while Shriya Saran and Prakash Raj were selected to play other roles in the film.[7] It was revealed that Asin would play the role of Kalpana, with the name being inspired by the late Indian astronaut Kalpana Chawla.[8] Shriya was later replaced by Nayantara for the second leading female role, after the former became busy with other films and Pradeep Rawat replaced Prakash Raj.[9]
The film was launched on 11 February 2005 at AVM Studios in Chennai with the cast of the project in attendance.[10] In early April 2005, two songs for the film were shot in Switzerland with costumes brought in from Paris for the shooting.[11] Shooting continued and the film finished production in July 2005.[12]
Controversy [edit]
In response to allegations of plagiarism, Aamir Khan noted "Murgadoss had heard about a film called Memento and the concept had really fascinated him. Without having seen the film he went ahead and wrote his own version of the script and screenplay. Having finished his script, he then saw Memento, found it very different from what he had written, and went ahead and made Ghajini."[13]
Soundtrack [edit]
| Ghajini | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Harris Jayaraj | ||||
| Released | 2005 | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Label | Sony Music | |||
| Harris Jayaraj chronology | ||||
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The soundtrack features five songs composed by Harris Jayaraj. Lyrics are written by Vaali, Na. Muthukumar, Thamarai & Kapilan. While it was titled Mirattal, Yuvan Shankar Raja was the initial composer. A. R. Rahman scored the Hindi version of the film.
| No | Song title | Singers | Length (m:ss) | Lyrics | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Oru Maalai" | Karthik | 5:54 | Thamarai | Filmed in various parts of Tamil Nadu on Surya and Asin, when Sanjay realises he has fallen in love with Kalpana. |
| 2 | "Suttum Vizhi" | Sriram Parthasarathy, Bombay Jayashree | 5:19 | Na. Muthukumar | Filmed in Switzerland on Surya and Asin, as the second diary flashback of Sanjay begins. |
| 3 | "Rahathulla" | Anupama | 4:50 | Thamarai | Filmed in Chennai on Asin, as Kalpana is introduced. |
| 4 | "Rangola Ola" | Shankar Mahadevan, Sujatha, Ranjith, Suchitra | 4:26 | Kapilan | Filmed in sets on Surya and Asin, when Kalpana is longing for Sanjay. |
| 5 | "X Machi" | Mathangi, Nakul | 4:12 | Vaali | Filmed in a college on Nayanthara as an item song, during which Sanjay is trying to kill someone. |
Telugu Tracklist [edit]
| No | Song title | Singers | Length (m:ss) | Lyrics | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Oka Maaru Kalasina" | Karthik | 5:54 | Veturi Sundararama Murthy | Filmed in various parts of Tamil Nadu on Surya and Asin, when Sanjay realises he has fallen in love with Kalpana. |
| 2 | "Hrudayam Ekkadunnadi" | Harish Raghavendra, Bombay Jayashree | 5:19 | Vennelakanti | Filmed in Switzerland on Surya and Asin, as the second diary flashback of Sanjay begins. |
| 3 | "Rahathulla" | Anupama | 4:50 | Bhuvana Chandra | Filmed in Chennai on Asin, as Kalpana is introduced. |
| 4 | "Rangola Ola" | Tippu, Sujatha, Ranjith, Suchitra | 4:26 | Veturi Sundararama Murthy | Filmed in sets on Surya and Asin, when Kalpana is longing for Sanjay. |
| 5 | "X Pichi Y Pichi" | Mathangi, Nakul | 4:12 | Chandrabose | Filmed in a college on Nayanthara as an item song, during which Sanjay is trying to kill someone. |
Release [edit]
Reception [edit]
The film along with a dubbed Telugu release opened to high critical acclaim. Both versions were declared blockbusters. Ghajini became the third highest grossing Tamil film of that year.[14][15][16]
Awards and nominations [edit]
In addition to the following list of awards and nominations, prominent Indian film websites named Ghajini one of the 10 best Tamil films of 2005, with Rediff, Sify and Behindwoods all doing such that. The film also featured, prior to release, in "most awaited" list from film websites.
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 Filmfare Awards South | Best Actor | Surya Sivakumar | Won |
| Best Actress | Asin[17] | Won | |
| Best Director | A. R. Murugadoss | Nominated | |
| Best Film | Salem A. Chandrasekaran | Nominated | |
| Best Lyricist | Thamarai (Oru Maalai) |
Nominated | |
| Best Male Playback | Sriram Parthasarathy (Suttum Vizhi) |
Nominated | |
| Best Male Playback | Karthik (Oru Maalai) |
Won | |
| Best Female Playback | Bombay Jayashree (Suttum Vzhi) |
Nominated | |
| Best Music Director | Harris Jayaraj | Nominated | |
| Best Cinematographer | R. D. Rajasekhar | Nominated | |
| Best Editor Award | Anthony | Won | |
| 2005 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards[18] | Best Film | Ghajini | Won |
| Special Award for Best Actor | Surya Sivakumar | Won | |
| Best Music Director | Harris Jayaraj | Won | |
| Best Male Playback | Sriram Parthasarathy (Suttum Vizhi) |
Won | |
| Best Female Playback | Bombay Jayashree (Suttum Vizhi) |
Won | |
| Best Cinematographer | R. D. Rajasekhar | Won | |
| Best Lyricist | Na. Muthukumar (Suttum Vizhi) |
Won | |
| Best Audiographer | A. S. Laxmi Narayanan | Won | |
| Best Editor | Anthony | Won |
References [edit]
- ^ "Suriya: Bollywood’s hottest six-pack – Culture". livemint.com. 2 October 2009. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ "Aamir Khan's Ghajini revealed". Bollywood Hungama. 13 September 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
- ^ "Aamir's Ghajini is no Memento remake?". Indiatimes. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
- ^ "Mirattal". Indiaglitz.com. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ "Surya replaces Ajit in `Mirattal`!". Sify.com. 5 November 2004. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ The Hindu (Chennai, India). 22 March 2004 http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/03/22/stories/2004032201000200.htm
|url=missing title (help). - ^ "Surya's new exciting film!". Sify.com. 7 January 2005. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ "Kalpana Chawla has inspired him – Tamil Movie News". IndiaGlitz. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ "Nayantara in ‘Ghajini’!". Sify.com. 3 April 2005. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ "Surya as an action hero!". Sify.com. 11 February 2005. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ "Surya in Switzerland!". Sify.com. 1 April 2005. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ "Ghajini on the starting blocks – Tamil Movie News". IndiaGlitz. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ Aamir Khan (29 June 2007). "Ghajini". The Lagaan Blog. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
- ^ "Is Aamir's 'Ghajini' banned? – Bollywood Movie News". IndiaGlitz. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ "Tamil cinema's new high". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 30 December 2005.
- ^ "Tamil box-office 2005". Sify.com. 22 December 2005. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ "The 53rd Film Fare Awards".
- ^ "Tamilnadu Govt. awards".
External links [edit]
- Ghajini at AllRovi
- Ghajini at the Internet Movie Database
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