Amul spreads over Aamir 'Ghajini' Khan

With the dawn of a very happy and a cheerful New Year 2009, one is left with only memories of the year gone by. As one may remember, 2008 happened to be one of the 'impactful' years for Bollywood. Because, besides many other things, it also saw the transformation of the chocolate hero Aamir into a muscular 'dude with an attitude' in the smash hit film Ghajini.

It really becomes needless to say that the Ghajini mania is spreading far and wide, faster than Shoaib Akhtar's yorkers! And for those who thought that it was only the media that worked faster than the speed of light, then, you better think again, because we discovered that there's someone (besides the media, of course) who work even faster than the proverbial speed. And that's none other than the super brilliant guys at Amul, who wasted no time in bringing out their latest ad campaign (as they always do), that has Aamir Khan's cartoon in his 8-packs with scribbling (read 'reminders') on his hands and body which read as 'I slice bread'', ' I make sandwich', while his chest reads 'Get Amul'.

We must say that it is indeed an interesting ad. But the guys at Amul should also remember that one may forget to breathe for a moment, but how can one forget Amul, all thanks to the timely and topical hammerings...we mean…spreadings! Kudos Amul, for 'buttering' us all over again!

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Ghajini - Movie Review

Rating: ****1/2 The wait is finally over! An Aamir Khan film is nothing short of an event. The supremely talented actor acts in one film a year and no two films are ever identical in terms of plotline. No wonder then that you await an Aamir starrer with bated breath. Ghajini, the Tamil version, has been a massive hit and so was its dubbed Telugu version. Will the Hindi adaptation live up to the humungous expectations? The hype is unmatched and you expect no less than a present-day masterpiece. Now the good news: Ghajini demonstrates how strong film-making can enhance and elevate an already solid concept. Ghajini is a revenge saga, one ingredient that has been the staple diet of Hindi films since time immemorial. It is a powerful film. It has the power to sweep you off your feet from the word 'go'. It has a riveting story, which has been told with flourish by director A.R. Murugadoss. And, of course, it has a knockout performance by Aamir Khan. If at all there's a shred of doubt whether Aamir is The Best in the business, all you've got to do is check out Ghajini. Flaws any? Running time (almost 3 hours)? Not at all! There's so much happening in every scene and the screenplay is so gripping that you don't feel the need to look at the auditorium ceiling or at your watch at brief intervals. You aren't restless. As moviegoers, we've watched countless good versus evil fares over the years and although Ghajini belongs to the same family, not once does it take the beaten track. The story has been told differently and most importantly, the story offers so many twists-n-turns that you just can't guess what would unfold next. Is it violent? It is, at times, but the violence here is justified. In fact, every time the protagonist bashes up the evil-doers, you clap and root for him. The climax is jaw-dropping -- dissimilar from the original, but it's an out of the world experience nonetheless. To sum up, Ghajini is commercial Hindi cinema at its best. The film has 'Hit' written all over it. Let me put it this way: Cancel whatever you're doing today and go watch Ghajini instead. Aamir Khan is suffering from acute short-term memory loss set off by the violent murder of his girlfriend Asin. He's got to work around this handicap, but with methodical and meticulous determination. Aamir etches a path of clues that lead him on his road. To aid him in his quest, he carries around a sheaf of Polaroids and when he is really sure of a piece of information, he has it tattooed on his body, which stands in for the damaged part of his mind. His indelibly marked torso is the repository of his grief, his rage and his reason to go on living. Any more revelation would do gross injustice to the film and to its viewer. First things first! Ghajini is not MEMENTO. There're minor similarities, but Ghajini takes a completely different route to tell its story. Director A.R. Murugadoss tells this one differently. It starts off with what happens in the past, comes to the present-day, goes back in time again and returns to the contemporary again. This is a breathless, exciting story, heart-breaking and exhilarating at the same time. Hindi movies have often depicted people suffering from amnesia/memory loss, but Ghajini is poles apart because the protagonist recalls events only for 15 minutes. The story is its USP, without a doubt. But what adds sheen and glory to the story is Aamir's portrayal of a man suffering from short-term memory loss. Aamir hardly speaks. In fact, the leading lady (Asin) speaks more than Aamir in the film. But Aamir speaks volumes with his eyes, he conveys whatever has to be conveyed through his body language, he says it all with his facial expressions and that only makes Ghajini a memorable, never-seen-before experience. Director A.R. Murugadoss deserves brownie points for not just coming up with an interesting story, but also presenting it (refreshingly) differently. The storyteller balances the light moments and the ones demanding intensity with expertise. There's dum in every sequence. Even if the director has to depict violence, he doesn't resort to blood-n-gore or knives-swords-pistols for effect. A.R. Rahman's music is top notch. At least three numbers have the unmistakable stamp of a genius -- 'Guzarish', 'Behka' and 'Kaise Mujhe'. Ravi Chandran's cinematography is stunning. The film bears a stylish look all through. The action sequences are brilliantly executed. The Hindi moviegoers haven't seen such scenes ever. Aamir delivers his career-best performance. In the first place, it requires courage and maturity to name the film after the villain. Knowing how egoistic our stars are, something like this is next to impossible in Hindi films. A lot has been said and written about the Ghajini look -- Aamir's hairstyle and his dream physique. It's awe-inspiring and if more and more people adopt the 'Aamir look' or hit the gym, it would be courtesy the actor. As far as his acting is concerned, he's natural as the tycoon, but like a wounded, ferocious tiger when he goes on an avenging spree. Without doubt, it's a concentrated, layered performance. He acts with his entire being. His body movement, the details of his performance, everything rings true. He is both vulnerable and hard. The pain in his face when he can't remember, is palpable. It's not only the plot that carries Ghajini. It's also the mood and the expression on Aamir's face that makes Ghajini a treat. Asin is fabulous. To share the screen space with an actor of the stature of Aamir Khan and yet remain in your memory even after the show has ended is no cakewalk. She looks fresh and photogenic and acts her part brilliantly. Pradeep Rawat, the villain, is first-rate. Jiah Khan impresses, especially in the sequence when Aamir follows her to a shopping mall. On the whole, Ghajini is a winner all the way. The film will set new records and has the merits to emerge one of the biggest Hits of all times. The weekend business should be historic, the Week 1 business should be unparalleled, the lifetime gross should be amongst the biggest of all times. In short, Ghajini has 'Blockbuster' written all over it.

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Aamir shed tears to get eight-pack abs in Ghajini

No pain, no gain. The saying couldn't be truer for Aamir Khan and the team that painstakingly sculpted those eight-pack abs, snipped up four different hairstyles, and designed the actor's varied looks in Ghajini that have become the rage among his fans.

"It took Aamir 13 months of workout, with a daily regime of about four hours, to achieve the next-to-impossible look for Ghajini," Satyajit 'Satya' Chaurasia, who trained the actor for the film, said.

"He used to get tired exercising and sometimes even used to shriek in pain and cry doing the stomach crunches, but he did not skip a single day. Every week his body used to show results and that kept him going," Chaurasia said.

Getting eight-pack abs was not a cakewalk for the perfectionist Khan. Other than rigorous workouts, he had to go through the pain of "a disciplinary regime of following a proportionate balanced diet". "He had to give up on oil, sugar, alcohol and late-night parties as I strictly asked him to sleep for eight hours at a stretch before the workouts," said Chaurasia.

Releasing on Christmas Day, Ghajini is the much-hyped Hindi remake of director AR Murugadoss's eponymous Tamil hit. The film was simultaneously released in Telugu in 2005.

While the original Ghajini featured South Indian actor Surya along with actress Asin Thottumkal, Murugadoss cast Aamir Khan to play the main lead in the Hindi remake and retained Asin as his co-star.

Apart from his physique, what has been the talk of the town is Aamir's scarred and buzzed off hair in the forthcoming film. "The buzzed hairstyle is given to suit both Aamir's character and him as a person," said hairstylist Avan Contractor. "It's basically for the second half of the film where he has a situation that requires him to shave his hair. It took us around an hour and a half to give him the look and get the scar lines on his head with thickness variations as per the director."

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How Aamir tore a muscle while shooting for Ghajini!

There is no denying the fact that Aamir Khan and his latest film Ghajini is the flavor of the season. Put on any T.V. channel or read any newspaper or surf through any website, chances are you will surely come across one or the other story revolving around Ghajini. Right from Aamir's cropped look to his chiseled physique to his debutante heroine Asin, everything about the film has managed to make news. Ghajini is a film that is indeed special to the actor as he has literally given it his all for this particular role. Not many know that apart from the intense and grueling workout sessions, Aamir also had two injuries whilst shooting for this film. Here's a shot by shot lowdown on how the Perfectionist Khan got injured on the sets of the film

Aamir is seen chasing the villain (Pradeep Singh Rawat) in the narrow by-lanes of Sultan Bazaar in this particular shot. The shot required the actor to chase the villain and take a running dive to bring him down.

As soon as he takes the leap, Aamir feels his muscles buckled as he trips and falls on the ground with a thud but luckily for him, the floor has been covered with cloth sheets. Peter Hines, the action director had apparently laid out a layer of thermocol and Aamir felt it was the sudden softness of this very thermocol that caused him to trip and fall.

While initially everyone thinks that it's just a normal fall, unit members rush to Aamir's aid when they see him writhing in pain.

From the looks of it, Aamir seems to have caused a slight tear in his left hamstring and is in quite a bit of pain. Anxious crew members meanwhile look a bit worried about the actor's well-being.

Aamir finds it even difficult to pick himself up and is offered a helping hand by director A.R. Murugadoss and other unit members. It's finally time for some first aid and immediate medical attention. The injury caused a delay in shooting the climax of the film and Aamir even spoke about this injury at length in his by now famous blog.

This was the second time that Aamir had injured himself (within a span of a few weeks) while shooting for Ghajini. Three weeks before this injury took place, Aamir had injured his inner right thigh when he had to pick up a burly villain and slam him against the wall. Shooting had to be stalled for a while (even then) till the actor recovered from his injury.

Surely with the number of times he has injured his body while shooting for this film and with all those grueling training schedules, Ghajini is a film that Aamir won't forget for a long time to come.

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Aamir Khan gifts Surya a lap-top

Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan who is acting in Hindi version of Ghajini recently met south superstar Suriya. The two had a healthy and friendly conversation. Suriya has lend his voice for the Tamil version of Aamir's flick Taare Zameen Par and Aamir wanted to gift Suriya a high-end Laptop. But Suriya politely refused the present from Aamir saying that he took pride in lending his voice for a great movie like Taare Zameen Par. Aamir did not give up, he said it wasn't a gift it was part of him that he wanted to leave it with Suriya. Both these stars shine bright in their respective industries and have a lot of respect for each others work. Wouldn't it be a treat for the viewers if these two stars team up together for a project? Well, we hope it does come true. Meanwhile wishing Aamir all the very best for his upcoming flick Ghajini.

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Ghajini is 3 hours Long…. will it be pruned for Multiplex purposes?

The big Christmas Release Ghajini has a longer story to tell than is considered healthy for the mutilplexes. The film's playing time of 3 hours makes it the second-longest film of 2008 after Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodhaa-Akbar. And didn't that click? "Precisely, " avers producers Madhu Mantena who also co-produced the superhit Tamil version of Ghajini with Alu Arvind. "It's not the length. It's the performance. You could have a really boring two-hour film. On the other hand you could've a really gripping film that's three hours long." Ghajini would have been lengthier by at least 5 minutes. "We were thinking of adding theatrical trailers to the feature.That would've added 5 minutes extra to the playing- time and good 30 minutes lost during the day at the multiplexes, " explains Madhu and refutes the charge that the film is a ultra-violent. "It's not a tale of violence. It's a tale of retribution. And at the moment after 26/11 everyone wants answers. Films about retribution are always liked." As for the charge that Ghajini is a remake of Christopher Nolan's Memento Madhu says, "There are other Hollywood films on same theme of short-term memory loss like Finding Nemo and 50 First Dates. So why single out Memento?" Ah, foolproof method of avoiding copright litigation.

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Was Ghajini sold for a whopping Rs. 90 crore?

So what's the price of the next biggie to hit the screens this year? I'm talking of GHAJINI. There's tremendous speculation about the price of the film, with 75, 80 and 90 crores being quoted by various sections of the media. The truth is something else. Quiz GHAJINI producer Madhu Mantena about it and he adds promptly, "The India theatrical business has been sold for Rs. 40 cr. (to Studio 18), while the Overseas rights (sold to Big Pictures) has fetched Rs. 10 cr." Of course, the Satellite rights (sold for Rs. 20 cr. to Studio 18), Home Video (not sold yet) and Audio rights (sold to T-Series) have also fetched handsome amounts. Another interesting aspect about GHAJINI is that the film isn't a scene to scene copy of the original GHAJINI (Tamil). "We've changed the last 30 minutes of the film. It's completely different from the original, " Madhu says. That increases the expectations from this Aamir Khan starrer all the more.

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