Review of Latest Hindi Movies: AGNEEPATH - The Remake - An Excercise in Futility

Thursday, January 26, 2012

AGNEEPATH - The Remake - An Excercise in Futility


The Official Agneepath Trailer
Karan Johar is spreading his wings and wants to remake old hindi movies that fired his imagination. He wanted to remake AGNEEPATH (Amitabh Bacchan) to remind people that that movie was a classic- a precursor to the underworld movies of  today. The good versus Evil and the classic revenge story that consumes lives. Now I havent seen the original AGNEEPATH and therefore cannot compare it with the original, however, my impressions are far from

Dinanath Chauhan is a crusader, a teacher, who is out to educate villagers of Mandwa (an island off the coast of Maharashtra, close to Mumbai). He preaches to his son that violence cannot solve problems and strength is of no use if not used properly and at the right time. The key is to get strength and use it when needed to solve your problems. This "Chanakya neeti" is drilled into the young Vijay.  His growing clout is not liked by the erstwhile king/landlord of Mandwa). Enter Kancha Cheena ( Sanjay dutt, looking scary..), who promises the villages some quick money, sets a trap for the Masterji and gets a mob to lynch him. The king, now rides a tiger who he cannot control and needless to say, the drug trade follows and the villagers realise that all their quick riches were ephemeral and now they are slaves....so much for a quick buck.....

The son (Vijay Dinanath Chauhan) his mom leave the village, come to mumbai and enter the red light area where the ladies are plying their trade. His mother gets labour pains and young Vijay, runs to get help. A lady with daughter Kaali (Priyanka Chopra) helps his mum to give birth and the people of the basti adopt them. Enters Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor- looking every bit the underworld gangster) and a horrific scene where he is auctioning young girls ..... Fast forward, young Vijay sees rauf Lala commit a murder and realises that he needs his strength to get back at Kancha...and so he does not squeal on him to the police Gaitonde (Om Puri in a confused role) kills a police man who is molesting Kaali's mon to achieve that and becomes his right hand man. Here the movie loses the plot....

Fast Forward 15 years and Vijay is hitman, disowned by his mom, has acquired a girl friend kaali (Priyanka Chopra- looking gorgeous and suitably in love), is now an informer for Gaitonde and is slowly moving up the ladder at Rauf Lala's. Kancha Cheena has made Mandwa into a fortress (akin to a columbian drug lord) and has enslaved the villagers.  Thereafter the movie labours towards its most obvious conclusion --

The Verdict

The movie has a dark feel around it, mirroring the mood. Sanjay Dutt is scary as Kancha and looks powerful and baaaaad !!!  Hrithik as Vijay, is excellent and thankfully is not made to dance at the drop of a hat. He has given it all... Priyanka is gorgeous and completely underutilised as Vijay's love interest. She has got a raw deal..In fact, no one would have missed her if the role wasnt there. Rishi Kapoor is amazingly convincing as the Don Rauf lala..(he is a natural villian). Om Puri looks confused.. The screen play is patchy, the story telling is disjointed and stretches one's imagination especially towards the end.. The songs are a distraction and could've have been dispensed with...however, Gun-Guna is hummable, Chikni Chameli is disastrous (Katrina has no grace and the song is terribly picturised) and the rest are forgettable.The story deviates quite a bit from the original. You can read the story of the Original Agneepath to compare, if you wish.

I would rate it 2/10 and watch it only if you must and PLEASE KEEP CHILDREN AWAY.

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