Writer: Janak

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Watch this if you liked: “Agneepath (1990)”, “Sarkar” & “Yuva”

"Agneepath" (translated in English: The Path of Fire) is a remake of a 1990 film under the same banner - Dharma Productions. The original featured the legend Amitabh Bachan as the main lead, supported by Mithun Chakraborty while Danny Denzongpa played the merciless villain Kancha. In the remake though, Mithun's character made way for a new villain character called Rauf Lala while the rest of the characters remained the same.

Like the original, "Agneepath" tells the story of Vijay Deenanath Chauhan (Hrithik Roshan), who as a child watched his father take on false accusations of rape, gets hanged and killed by the village people in an island called Mandwa, under the influence by a local gangster name Kancha (Sanjay Dutt). Helpless, Vijay and his mother flee to Mumbai hoping to start afresh again. Unfortunately for them, a local merciless gangster name Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor) runs his drug dealing and human trafficking there.

As Vijay witnesses the murder of his village people by Rauf Lala, Vijay testifies the opposite to help Rauf Lala against the police. Rauf Lala in return, decides to raise Vijay as his own. Through Rauf Lala, Vijay grows up gaining power of the sinister underworld and slowly starts to take over, to avenge his father's death and deep kept revenge for Kancha.

Since "Agneepath" is all about the characters, comparisons will be made with the original, but somehow Hrithik Roshan presents his main lead role - Vijay, completely different from Amitabh Bachan. He executes and excels Vijay in his own style which audience will find unique and definitely appreciate. Priyanka Chopra playing Kaali - Vijay's love interest, plays her role gracefully as well but above all, veteran actor Rishi Kapoor is the one to look out for as he experiments with the evil side for the very first time. He is such a delightful watch as the merciless villain that one might not stop praising him after watching this film. Sanjay Dutt also provides a good villainous role while Zarina Wahab gives some decent tearful scenes as Vijay's mother.

As for the plot, it has not changed much like the original. Debutant director Karan Malhotra shows his exceptional skills in directing a mild gore and violence action film. Coming from Dharma Productions, which had produced many romantic films, this showcases a big turn. One would have never expected a Johar produced film to be as loud and action packed. The cinematography of Mandwa and Mumbai are recreated with rough edginess, which actually helps to show the true characters (be it hero or villain) that fits the situation and time perfectly.

Unlike Johar's regular music directors, TV serial composers, "Ajay-Atul" were chosen to provide the background music and score of the film. Songs like "Gun Gun Gunaa" by Udit Narayan & Sunidhi Chauhan and "O Saiyyan" by Roop Kumar Rathod, are nicely arranged tunes, but the biggest hit among them all will definitely be "Chikni Chameli" by Shreya Ghosal, which comes as a late item number in the film. Perhaps after a slow start in Hindi films, many pundits have gone to say that the music directors have finally arrived in Bollywood with "Agneepath".

The film tends to be very loud throughout, but under all the noises, the acting and the songs does compensate it. The film can be said to be quite bloody and very violent at times but go watch the film for the powerful acting by Hrithik Roshan and the sheer brilliance villainous acting by yesteryear actor Rishi Kapoor. A must watch for all those who loves bloody action.

Cinema Online, 13 February 2012