It's been 16 years, and fans are still bummed that Kalpana (Asin) never found out who her boyfriend Sanjay Singhania (Aamir Khan) really was in Ghajini. This 2008 action thriller marked A. R. Murugadoss's first Hindi film, where he took on both directing and co-writing duties. Alongside Jiah Khan and Pradeep Rawat, Ghajini is a remake of Murugadoss's own Tamil film of the same name. In the story, Sanjay, a successful entrepreneur, suffers from anterograde amnesia after a violent attack that also affects his girlfriend Kalpana. This film not only marked Asin's debut in Hindi cinema but was also Jiah's last movie before her untimely passing in 2013.

Plot and characters of Ghajini

In Ghajini, the gorgeous commercial film star Kalpana captures the heart of Sanjay Singhania, a wealthy businessman who runs the Singhania Group of Industries. Unfortunately, the ruthless Ghajini Dharmatma (Rawat), a human trafficker responsible for Kalpana's death, brutally attacks Sanjay, changing his life forever. With his memory only lasting fifteen minutes, Sanjay starts documenting his quest for revenge against Ghajini using tattoos, photos, and notes. Sunita, a med student, and Inspector Arjun (Riyaz Khan) stumble upon Sanjay's diary, which tells the heartbreaking story of his love for Kalpana and his relentless mission to take down Ghajini.

Impact and transformation process

The original film was influenced by Memento and Happy Go Lovely. Khan and Murugadoss teamed up to write the remake, with Khan suggesting some tweaks to make it more appealing to Hindi audiences. Geetha Arts took care of the distribution, and the film was co-produced by Allu Aravind, Madhu Mantena, and Tagore Madhu. A. R. Rahman created the music, while Ravi K. Chandran and Anthony worked on the cinematography and editing.

When it hit theaters on December 25, 2008, Ghajini quickly became the top-grossing Indian film of the year and was the first Bollywood movie to break the ₹100 crore mark in domestic revenue, kicking off the Rs. 100 Crore Club. It made Rs. 2.7 crore during its paid preview. At the time of its release, it held the record for the highest-grossing Indian film until 3 Idiots came along and took the title.

Aamir Khan has made significant contributions to the Hindi remake scene

Murugadoss mentioned earlier that when they were discussing the Hindi remake of Ghajini, most of the film stayed pretty much the same. He found it tough to get Aamir to consider any of his ideas for enhancing the original version; Aamir was set on sticking to the Tamil script no matter what. However, he did take the initiative to change the climax. Aamir completely revamped the setting, the events, and the dialogue for that part. What he did to elevate the Tamil Ghajini in the Hindi version is truly impressive.

Christopher Nolan's take on Ghajini

Christopher Nolan, the director of the original Memento (2000), was clearly upset when Anil Kapoor spoke to him. The Oscar-winning director told Anil that someone had taken one of his films. Anil immediately thought of Ghajini. Nolan was really bothered by it, and he also shared this with Aamir. Anil mentioned that the film had just gotten some great reviews in that country. But Nolan replied, "Yeah, no money, no credit, no nothing."

You can catch Ghajini on Prime Video and ZEE5 (OTTplay Premium).

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