Arun Duraiswamy
Professor Perez Tejada
English 1102 – D2
12 March 2009

The Hollywood Bollywood Concoction

“I can’t make new memories.” (Memento) says Leonard Shelby, the ex-insurance investigator seeking revenge for his wife’s murder, who plays the protagonist in the Christopher Nolan hit Memento. Memento is a psychological thriller written and directed by Christopher Nolan, adapted from Jonathan Nolan’s short story "Memento Mori." It stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance fraud investigator searching for the man he believes raped and killed his wife during a burglary. Leonard suffers from a brain condition called anterograde amnesia. He contracted this injury from a head injury during the attack on his wife. Due to his condition Leonard is unable to store new memories after his injury. In order to cope with his memory problem Leonard maintains a system of notes, Polaroid photographs and tattoos on his body to gather and record information about himself, his know associates and his wife’s murderer (Scott 1). Through the course of the movie it is revealed that he is aided in his investigation by a man named Teddy and a women named Natalie; neither of whom he can trust.

Ghajini is a remake of the Hollywood hit Memento. The movie is an action-thriller, with strong romantic elements, that explores the life of Sanjay Singhania played by Aamir Khan, a former successful businessman who suffers from anterograde amnesia following a violent encounter in which his fiancé, Kalpana was killed. Sanjay copes with his condition in a very similar fashion as Leonard does. He writes notes, takes pictures with his Polaroid camera and has tattoos on his body (Leydon 1). Unlike Leonard, Sanjay is portrayed as a very distinct personality in the city of Mumbai. After his injury and the loss of his fiancé, Sanjay adapts a very brutal personality. He wakes up every morning only to the see the tattoo on his chest that says, “Kalpana Was Killed”. Driven by his vengeance he spends most of his time by himself trying to identify Kalpana’s murderer and does not interact with people in an amiable manner (Leydon 1). Leonard Shelby possesses a rather different personality from Sanjay Singhania. New York Times critic A.O. Scott says, “Though Leonard has bouts of melancholy and episodes of panic, he seems almost blithe in his interactions with Natalie and Teddy. His nervous, ingratiating manner is that of someone feeling out a new situation” (Scott 1). Leonard’s tactful approach with people he meets is rather different from Sanjays’ aggressive and tempered personality.



Sanjay Singhania after his injury

Ghajini and Memento both possesses several national and global elements in relation to cinema, which are revealed throughout the movie. Ghajini differs from its Hollywood counterpart in that it is catered towards a Bollywood audience. Variety magazine critic Joe Leydon says, “For those who thought "Memento" would have been a better movie with a few more songs and a lot more ass-kicking, writer-director A.R. Murugadoss offers "Ghajini," an exuberantly excessive and unreasonably entertaining mash-up of musical-comedy romance, action-movie mayhem and psycho-thriller suspense” (Leydon). Ghajini incorporates numerous elements typical to a Bollywood cinema merged with a reoccurring theme from a Hollywood movie. Ghajini has Indian culture painted all over it. Firstly, the movie has numerous songs, which include the actor and actress engaging in a dance while singing. This is a recurring aspect of almost every Indian film. Secondly, the film possesses a romantic element which is portrayed through Sanjay and Kalpana engaging in a romantic relationship. This is emblematic of majority of the films produced in India except for a few. Lastly, the main character, Sanjay Singhania is given a herculean element to some extent compared to the very human Leonard Shelby. During Sanjay’s encounters with various villains throughout the movie he manages to overpower them with ease – even when outnumbered. In majority of the films produced in India there is an element of action added to it in which, the protagonist is given a superhuman factor and manages to overpower his opposition. It is important that Murugadoss included characteristics of a typical Bollywood national cinema since his primary audience was India.

In today’s Bollywood cinema industry a significant number of films adapt elements, settings, camera effects etc. from Hollywood, which gives these films a global facet to it. In my opinion, Bollywood directors add this global element for several reasons. Firstly, directors want to appeal to a significantly large number of Indians that have settled across the globe since this increases revenues. Secondly, being Hollywood’s principal competition, Bollywood directors are attempting to show the world that India is rather modernized, economically competitive and a significant world power. In Ghajini director A.R. Murugadoss incorporates this scheme and includes these aspects to give the film a global characteristic. Murugadoss accommodates Indian audiences throughout the world and also shows modern, economically advanced India to audiences worldwide by adding a myriad of global traits to the film. A few of these characteristics are noteworthy since they are very representative of Ghajini as a global cinema. Firstly, Sanjay Singhania is the CEO of Air Voice which is a thriving mobile network company. His company’s headquarters and personal office, which are seen in the movie, closely resemble office building of large global corporations. Secondly, Sanjay is depicted as a westernized executive, very similar to his American counterparts. He wears designer suits, drives European cars and has foreign personal assistants. He also received his MBA degree from Harvard Business School. Thirdly, Sanjay is shown flying to England to negotiate a business deal which will allow Air Voice to expand their business into neighboring countries, making it one of the largest mobile network providers in Asia. Lastly, the locations that the songs in the movie are shot are all across the world. Audiences across the world, specifically Indians can relate to the character of Sanjay Singhania since he possesses characteristics of a global executive. In addition, Air Voice’s success is indicative of India’s global economic prominence. In addition, the international settings for the songs add to the film’s quest for international recognition. The global aspects of Ghajini are significant because it caters to a broader audience and gains respect from critics worldwide.



Sanjay Singhania in an interview with CNN

Christopher Nolan’s Memento falls into the national cinema category more so than that of a global cinema. Leonard Shelby was a typical working American man until his traumatic injury. Even after the injury he has traits of a middle aged American man. He wears a designer suit, drives a Jaguar and lives out of a cheap motel room. In my opinion adding a global aspect to the movie was not Nolan’s priority. Even though Memento was not a global cinema it still received international acclaim and entertained audiences worldwide. The main reason behind this is that Memento is a product of Hollywood. Hollywood, being the world’s most prominent film industry is well respected in the world’s eyes. Also, since the United States has been a significant world power throughout the years people throughout the world have the notion that produces of America are quality. This includes, cars, technology, education and in this case movies.

Another contrast between Memento and Ghajini is the plot, specifically how the sequence of events unfold. Nolan uses two separate narratives that alternate in order to distinguish Leonard’s present and his memories. Events occurring in the present are shown in black and white sections, which are in chronological order. Every present scene shows Leonard conversing over the phone in his motel with an unidentified caller. Leonard’s memories, which are illustrated in color, are in reverse sequential order (Scott). His memories narrate his on going investigation for his wife’s murderer. Nolan uses this style in order to engage viewers and also more importantly blind the audience from previous events making them unaware just like the protagonist Leonard. The film ends with Leonard’s present and his memories congregating. The audience is unaware as to where the climax occurred and the sequence of events leading to the conclusion until the past and present merge.





Two scences from Memento. (1st Present, 2nd Leonard's memory)

On the other hand, Ghajini’s plot unfolds like a typical Bollywood movie. The film opens with Sanjay’s present and then the audience is taken into his past by means of his diary entries. Once the flashback ended, the scene returns to the present. In Ghajini, the climax occurs towards the middle, when Sanjay indentifies Ghajini, his wife’s killer and pursues his quest for vengeance. The sequence of events leading to the conclusion is obvious to the audience and the end result is predictable. In my opinion, this is where Murugadoss falls short of directing as powerful a movie as Nolan. Nolan’s creativity in the way the events were sequenced outshines Murugadoss’s idea to merge a Hollywood story into a Bollywood movie.

Both Ghajini and Memento are entertaining in their own aspects from beginning to end. Memento captures its viewers with its novel plot sequence and alternating time frames. Ghajini entertained its viewers by attempting to incorporate a novel Hollywood story into successful Bollywood movie. Not only does this illustrate Hollywood’s prominence in the global film industry, but also India’s premier film industry’s quest to reach worldwide prominence. Will Hollywood adapt a Bollywood story and produce a box office hit? Leydon from Variety magazine in his review of Ghajini states, “Pic has opened to boffo biz in India and likely will help expand the North American crossover market for similarly idiosyncratic imports” (Leydon). If a two way cross adaptation does occur, it will foster further collaboration between various national film industries and may produce a true global movie.



References:

Nolan, Christopher. “Memento”. Guy Pearce. Newmarket Capital Group, 2000.

Murugadoss, A.R. “Ghajini”. Aamir Khan. Geetha Arts, 2008.

Leydon, Joe. “Ghajini.” Review. Variety Magazine. 07 January 2009. 9 March 2009.
< http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939297.html?categoryid=31&cs=1>

Scott, A.O. “Backward Reel the Grisly Memories.” Rev. of Memento. The New York
Times. 16 March 2001. 11 March 2009.
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