"Aamir re-wrote the entire climax of Ghajini" - Murugadoss

By Subhash K. Jha, Bollywood Hungama News Network

Aamir Khan has just found himself another fan among filmmakers. The soft-spoken and gentle Tamil-Telugu director A.R Murugadoss who has made what is unarguably one of the most violent films of our times, is completely enamored of Aamir's creative faculties.

In fact the simple and honest director who has earlier made four highly successful films in Tamil and Telugu openly acknowledges that Aamir re-constructed the entire climax of Ghajini to make it more contemporary and palatable to a cosmopolitan audience.

"We didn't make too many changes in the rest of the film. Every time I'd suggest a change in Ghajini from the original, Aamir would firmly cut it down saying we should stick to the Tamil script. But he decided we should rewrite the entire climax. The entire location, incidents and dialogues for the climax were re-written by Aamir. I think the Hindi version is far better than the Tamil Ghajini because of the changes that Aamir made."

Whatever Murugadoss makes next (and the offer will crystallize after the year-ending week) he has only one wish. "I want Aamir to be my consultant. Ghajini in Hindi would've been impossible without him. What he did to the climax was amazing. Now whatever I make I want Aamir's guidance. I don't know Hindi at all. But I knew the meaning of the Tamil words and groped my way through the Hindi dialogues in Ghajini. Every time I was stuck on a word or line, I'd call up Aamir. I've learnt so much from him," says the litterateur-turned-filmmaker who has several short-story anthologies in Tamil to his credit.

Though many people in Mumbai feel the title role of the villain in Ghajini should have been played by a better-known actor, Murugadoss is happy with Pradeep Rawat. "He is not entirely unknown in Hindi cinema. He played the Sardarji in Lagaan."

Murugadoss admits he felt a little out of place in Mumbai initially. "But today a filmmaker is not restricted to any one region. Ghajini has gone so smoothly from Tamil to Hindi. Now I want to take a break, visit my native town Kallakurichi near Chennai and come back to sign my second Hindi film."

Next Murugadoss wants to direct a totally non-violent film in Hindi. "My next Hindi film will be an out-and-out love story. There won't be even a slap in the narrative. I've acquired the reputation of being a violent director. But apart from Ghajini all my films are soft and gentle."

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