Remember the hero’s head hitting something hard, and him losing his memory? Of course, another thud brings it right back. We’ve long toyed with amnesia for comedic or melodramatic effect, or occasionally in an insightful attempt. With Aamir Khan’s Ghajini all set to release, Here’s a look at the different types of Bollywood memory-loss movies:
Ghajini
Aamir Khan’s character in this film suffers from anterograde amnesia, a kind of short-term memory loss where he can only remember the last 15 minutes. The director clearly remembered some Memento while writing it.
Mithya
Ranvir Shorey stars in this delightful little film where a common lookalike dresses up as a gangster only to eventually lose his memory and believe that he is the don.
A very neat premise.
U Me Aur Hum
India’s only film on Alzheimer’s had to make it to this list.
Ajay Devgan directs wife Kajol in a sentimental drama with some truly chilling moments as she forgets where she lives, or if she ever had a baby.
Andaz Apna Apna
Okay, this wasn’t for real, but we had to sneak a fake one on there, right? And nothing was quite as much fun as Aamir’s Amar pretending to be struck forgettable by Raveena Tandon’s Karisma. They call him Teelu, Salman Khan comes in as a doctor with a predilection for injections... what’s not to adore?
Ek Ladka Ek Ladki
A cutesy little film, this. Neelam Kothari plays a girl who has lost her memory, and in one of those alarming premises, Salman pretends to be her husband and brings her home. It would have been frightful if it wasn’t as sweet.
Khamoshi
A wonderful Waheeda Rahman nurses the amnesiac Dharmendra back to memory in this 1969 film, only to fall in love along the way (obviously) and then be left for another woman as he recalls all, not so obviously. Ouch.
Sadma
In one of the finest performances of her career, Sridevi plays Laxmi, a feisty girl who has an accident and loses her memory after going into a coma. On awakening, she has regressed to the age of six, and is then led through life by a naive Kamal Haasan.
Ek Musafir Ek Hasina
Sadhana plays a bride-to-be, on the run after her house is stormed by Kashmiri rebels. While fleeing, she runs into amnesiac Joy Mukherjee -- who happens to be terrific company. But what when he gets his memort back? A very fun film.
Yaarana
And any Bollywood list isn’t really complete without a Bachchan film now, is it? Our pick this time is Yaarana, where the lanky one was great buddies with wealthy and flamboyant Amjad Khan. Many years later, Amitabh learns that Amjad has lost everything, and when he investigates he realises he’s lost more than just his wife and kids.
