Ghajini vs Ghajini

Its never easy reviewing remakes when we've seen the original and the problem is more pronounced when its a pretty close, other-language remake of a Tamil film. So instead of reviewing Aamir Khan's Ghajini, a remake of the Tamil blockbuster of the same name, I thought I'd simply compare the most important aspects of the two films.

Surya vs Aamir Khan
Ghajini's protagonist's role can be divided into 2 parts - the rich, suave businessman and the revenge-obsessed man afflicted with short-term memory loss. I think Surya has Aamir beat in the businessman's role. Surya was perfect in the role and shared great chemistry with Asin while Aamir looks somewhat old and doesn't really possess the same kind of charm. There's this one scene where Sanjay, walking back(in slo-mo) after meeting Kalpana for the first time, turns to look at her as she recounts her made-up romance on the phone, and smiles. Surya's smile was just perfect and conveyed his amusement perfectly while Aamir's smile just didn't work as well. Its these kind of small touches that made Surya the better Sanjay. As far as the part where he is afflicted with STML, Surya seemed to be hamming it up just a teeny bit while Aamir plays it just right. He brings the right mix of intensity and ferocity to the role and his blank looks and expressions convey his confusion very well.

Asin vs Asin
If it ain't broke, don't fix it seems to have been Asin's policy in repeating her role as Kalpana. And it's the right route to follow. Her performance in Tamil made it one of the more memorable heroine roles in recent times and she does it exactly the same way in Hindi. Her smile is just as enchanting, her disposition is just as cheery and the tension on her face when she is hiding from the villains is just as real. There are places where we feel that they simply carved her role out of the Tamil version and dropped it into the Hindi version.

Nayanthara vs Jiah Khan
Ghajini would probably count as Nayanthara's worst movie as she looked bad, fat and overly made up. So anyone would've been an improvement over her. Though Jiah Khan isn't dazzling or a great actress, she scores over Nayan just by not messing things up.

Murugadoss vs Murugadoss
For the most part, Murugadoss makes the Hindi Ghajini a carbon copy of its Tamil counterpart. There are a few minor changes(like Sanjay's first auto ride) and some of the narrative misses are corrected(like Kalpana calling Sanjay when stuck inside her apartment) but for about three-quarters of the films, a strong sense of deja vu is unavoidable for those who have seen the Tamil original. Ofcourse, this means both the positives(the interesting initial portions as we learn how Sanjay deals with his unique condition) and the disappointments(the non-handling of an interesting plot point like the villain destroying all of Sanjay's tattooed notes) are carried over. The last part of the film is where Murugadoss has really made some changes in Hindi. And they work. Eliminating silly plot points like giving the villain a twin and turning down the masala aspect of the climactic fight, he takes the narrative forward in a straightforward but sensible way. It also allows him to recreate an earlier situation, adding an emotional touch to the proceedings.

Harris Jayaraj vs A.R.Rahman
Rahman's songs didn't really stay in my mind but considering that I've heard them only once (during the movie), it would be unfair for me to compare them with the songs from the Tamil film, which I heard maybe a few times everyday when the soundtrack was released. But Rahman's background score is a definite improvement over Harris' cacophony.

The Final Verdict
Thanks to Surya, the Tamil Ghajini scores in the romantic track but the clean-up of the action track makes the Hindi version a wee bit more consistently entertaining overall.