Abhisekh Gupta
Many viewers must be seeking to compare Big B’s Agneepath with latest Agneepath, but the flick doesn’t allows much thought process into it, as is served with a breath of fresh air.
The movie begins in the strategically located hamlet of Mandwa and then moves to Mumbai. Hrithik Roshan as Vijay Dinanath Chauhan wants to take revenge for the murder of his father by drug lord Kancha (Sanjay Dutt).
On the way he meets Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor) who becomes his godfather in crime. He grows up with girl-next-door Kaali (Priyanka Chopra) who eventually becomes his lover.
Both Agneepaths are just incomparable. The trademark dialogue of the flick “ naam.. Vijay Deenanath Chauhan… baap ka naam, Deenanath Chauhan…” is just delivered once with good timing and in a different plot.
Hrithik is just outstanding as a silent young man, he never for a moment tries to imitate Vijay of 1990, making him remember as a different Vijay.
Sanjay dutt playing Kancha, looks like deadly evil like the Harry potter’s Woldermort, with excellent delivery of dialogues and devil smile. Priyanka Chopra creates a mark, but wouldn’t be remembered for long as she doesn’t have too much to deliver.
What surprising is Rishi Kapoor in negative part, as never seen him before, but amuses viewers with his unimaginable performance.
All departments in filmmaking have done very well. The music by Ajay-Atul is good, especially their Deva Shree Ganesha and Chikni Chameli. The cinematography by Ravi K Chandran`s is appealing. Piyush Mishra`s dialogues are superb.
Director Karan Malhotra needs to be credited with making the remake of look quite fresh. He didn`t change the original story much. But, he has removed Krishnan Iyer`s character played by Mithun Chakraborty in the original. Presumably, he did this to make the story explosive!
He has added the dark character of Rauf Lala played by Rishi Kapoor. Katrina Kaif`s item number chickni chameli adds another dimension to the movie by making it a big entertainer.
With Bollywood being obsessed with remakes in recent times, Agneepath is an important lesson on how to pay proper tribute to the original.
It’s amazing to witness the first superhit of 2012, as Bollywood gained it in the first month. It’s a 3 and a half star movie, and one must watch it out.