Monday, December 29, 2008
Billy Collins
Just discovered (via Blogolepsy) the poetry of Billy Collins. Was thrilled to know that there's someone else who hates the music of ice-cream trucks too! :-)
Sunday, December 28, 2008
This doesn't sound right
Saw Ghajini last evening. I thought the action was pretty good, but the jokes were pretty bad. The following is what I could make of the movie1:
The movie starts with a medical student named Sunita (played by Jiah Khan) finding Sanjay Singhania's medical report while looking for a topic for her research. Her supervisor tells her that Sanjay Singhania (played by Amir Khan) had a freak accident (and also a police case) that causes him to lose his sense of humor every fifteen minutes. Turns out Sanjay is looking for someone named Ghajini. Ghajini had killed the love of his life - a girl named Kalpana - and caused his current medical problem. But Sanjay knows to recognize him only by the way he laughs, because that's all he remembers from that accident. So he goes around telling people jokes, trying to find Ghajini. Sanjay carries a book called "One thousand jokes you only want to tell your best friend(s)" with him. He also carries an alarm watch that rings every 15 minutes so that he knows when he loses his sense of humor. Everytime it rings he picks up the book and reads a joke from that book to the person next to him. By the way that person laughs he can tell whether they are Ghajini or not. After the initial introductions we are told about Sanjay and Kalpana's background by way of flashback:
Sanjay is a rich SoB investment banker, who's just about to expand his company's investment into housing/mortgage. Kalpana is a real estate agent. Due to some confusion her boss thinks she is going out with Sanjay Singhania. She plays along thinking that this will help her move up the organization. Of course Sanjay doesn't know anything about this. Soon every tabloid newspaper carries a report about the two of them going out with each other. Sanjay happens to read one of them. When he finds out what is going on he goes to meet her in order to ask her to stop doing this. On the way at what appears to be a very long traffic stop Sanjay sees a girl sell a house on the spot to unemployed people who have no money and have a history of alcohol/drug problems and he falls for her and her large heart. Then when he goes to meet Kalpana and realizes it's the same girl he saw that day. Kalpana thinks he's another unemployed and tries to sell him a house too. Sanjay who now has really fallen for her plays along. He doesn't tell her who he really is (the investment banker) because then she might not want to see him anymore. He is given a new name of Sachin. They see a lot of houses during which time he sees a lot more of her large heart (on one occasion she sells a house with a lot of stairs to a blind man). Then one day Kalpana's boss tells her that he is hosting a New Years party where Sanjay Singhania is supposed to be the chief guest. Kalpana is really in a big mess now. She tries to change her boss's mind, but he's adamant! So to save face she asks Sanjay (who for her is Sachin) to be Sanjay. This confuses Sanjay a great deal but he agrees anyway. And at the party she is impressed with how well he acts like Sanjay. At the party, a financial company that specializes in subprime mortgage approaches him telling him that if he invests five lakhs rupees in their scheme he can earn 200% returns. The investment banker that he is, he immediately gives them a check for that amount (the money belongs to other people, mind you) without looking at their credentials, taking a receipt or even writing down their contact details. Kalpana is impressed by his trust. On the way back from the New Years party, Sanjay proposes to her (as Sachin). Kalpana is a little stuck by this sudden proposal, and she asks for a little while promising to tell him her decision the next day.
After an obligatory song and dance sequence Kalpana tells him that she will marry him. Her reason is: why not? But she tells him she cannot marry him until she buys three Ambassador cars because someone she knew had them and she really wants to buy them. Now Sanjay is a rich SoB, but he can't tell her that. So he tells he he'll wait. Soon after that Sanjay has to go to Shimla for important work. She doesn't understand. He gives her some lame excuse that she belives anyway. While he's away Kalpana gets into trouble with our man Ghajini - played by Pradeep Rawat and whose full name is Ghajini Dharmatma - himself. by finding out about this gang that illegally takes over land of other people. So he sends people to kill her. To avoid giving away spoilers I won't say how she gets killed and how Sanjay happens to incur that injury that takes away his sense of humour. But that's what happens.
Anyway, finally Sanjay meets Ghajini Dharmatma. Unfortunately by the time he's done dealing with Ghajini's henchmen, fifteen minutes have gone by and he's lost his sense of humor. Moreover he doesn't have his joke book with him anymore, nor does he have his alarm to remind him. Sanjay who knows to identify the man only by the way he laughs is a little confused. Is that person Ghajini or not. As it happens Sunita comes into the picture at that very moment. She hasn't lost her sense of humor, so she can tell a joke, and she does. Ghajini starts laughing. Game over!
In all the movie was good. Like I said, I wish the jokes were better. But action was superb. Most of the songs were pretty bad. The locations were spectacular. The movie is supposed to be a scene by scene remake of a Tamil movie of the same name. I haven't seen it though. Not sure I want to see that considering my hypochondria. I hope you all enjoy the movie.
Footnote:
The movie starts with a medical student named Sunita (played by Jiah Khan) finding Sanjay Singhania's medical report while looking for a topic for her research. Her supervisor tells her that Sanjay Singhania (played by Amir Khan) had a freak accident (and also a police case) that causes him to lose his sense of humor every fifteen minutes. Turns out Sanjay is looking for someone named Ghajini. Ghajini had killed the love of his life - a girl named Kalpana - and caused his current medical problem. But Sanjay knows to recognize him only by the way he laughs, because that's all he remembers from that accident. So he goes around telling people jokes, trying to find Ghajini. Sanjay carries a book called "One thousand jokes you only want to tell your best friend(s)" with him. He also carries an alarm watch that rings every 15 minutes so that he knows when he loses his sense of humor. Everytime it rings he picks up the book and reads a joke from that book to the person next to him. By the way that person laughs he can tell whether they are Ghajini or not. After the initial introductions we are told about Sanjay and Kalpana's background by way of flashback:
Sanjay is a rich SoB investment banker, who's just about to expand his company's investment into housing/mortgage. Kalpana is a real estate agent. Due to some confusion her boss thinks she is going out with Sanjay Singhania. She plays along thinking that this will help her move up the organization. Of course Sanjay doesn't know anything about this. Soon every tabloid newspaper carries a report about the two of them going out with each other. Sanjay happens to read one of them. When he finds out what is going on he goes to meet her in order to ask her to stop doing this. On the way at what appears to be a very long traffic stop Sanjay sees a girl sell a house on the spot to unemployed people who have no money and have a history of alcohol/drug problems and he falls for her and her large heart. Then when he goes to meet Kalpana and realizes it's the same girl he saw that day. Kalpana thinks he's another unemployed and tries to sell him a house too. Sanjay who now has really fallen for her plays along. He doesn't tell her who he really is (the investment banker) because then she might not want to see him anymore. He is given a new name of Sachin. They see a lot of houses during which time he sees a lot more of her large heart (on one occasion she sells a house with a lot of stairs to a blind man). Then one day Kalpana's boss tells her that he is hosting a New Years party where Sanjay Singhania is supposed to be the chief guest. Kalpana is really in a big mess now. She tries to change her boss's mind, but he's adamant! So to save face she asks Sanjay (who for her is Sachin) to be Sanjay. This confuses Sanjay a great deal but he agrees anyway. And at the party she is impressed with how well he acts like Sanjay. At the party, a financial company that specializes in subprime mortgage approaches him telling him that if he invests five lakhs rupees in their scheme he can earn 200% returns. The investment banker that he is, he immediately gives them a check for that amount (the money belongs to other people, mind you) without looking at their credentials, taking a receipt or even writing down their contact details. Kalpana is impressed by his trust. On the way back from the New Years party, Sanjay proposes to her (as Sachin). Kalpana is a little stuck by this sudden proposal, and she asks for a little while promising to tell him her decision the next day.
After an obligatory song and dance sequence Kalpana tells him that she will marry him. Her reason is: why not? But she tells him she cannot marry him until she buys three Ambassador cars because someone she knew had them and she really wants to buy them. Now Sanjay is a rich SoB, but he can't tell her that. So he tells he he'll wait. Soon after that Sanjay has to go to Shimla for important work. She doesn't understand. He gives her some lame excuse that she belives anyway. While he's away Kalpana gets into trouble with our man Ghajini - played by Pradeep Rawat and whose full name is Ghajini Dharmatma - himself. by finding out about this gang that illegally takes over land of other people. So he sends people to kill her. To avoid giving away spoilers I won't say how she gets killed and how Sanjay happens to incur that injury that takes away his sense of humour. But that's what happens.
Anyway, finally Sanjay meets Ghajini Dharmatma. Unfortunately by the time he's done dealing with Ghajini's henchmen, fifteen minutes have gone by and he's lost his sense of humor. Moreover he doesn't have his joke book with him anymore, nor does he have his alarm to remind him. Sanjay who knows to identify the man only by the way he laughs is a little confused. Is that person Ghajini or not. As it happens Sunita comes into the picture at that very moment. She hasn't lost her sense of humor, so she can tell a joke, and she does. Ghajini starts laughing. Game over!
In all the movie was good. Like I said, I wish the jokes were better. But action was superb. Most of the songs were pretty bad. The locations were spectacular. The movie is supposed to be a scene by scene remake of a Tamil movie of the same name. I haven't seen it though. Not sure I want to see that considering my hypochondria. I hope you all enjoy the movie.
Footnote:
- Unfortunately, I suffer from hypochondria and anytime I see something that resembles some kind of a medical problem, I think I have that problem too and start displaying its symptoms. For some reason I remember Ghajini only in snapshots - one for every fifteen minutes. Not sure why.
The above synopsis was recreated from those snapshots. If you think the above is not accurate, please let me know and I'll correct it. Thanks.
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