Movie Review : Agneepath

Rating : 3.5/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2012
Running time : 2 hours 45 minutes
Director : Karan Malhotra
Cast : Hrithik Roshan, Sunjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, Om Puri, Zarina Wahab, Rishi Kapoor, Sachin Khedekar, Rajesh Tandon, Chetan Pandit
Kid rating : A

AGNEEPATH MOVIE REVIEW : NOSTALGIA, ANYONE ?

It is the time for remakes apparently. After Akhtar’s Don and Don2, now it is another of Amitabh’s films “Agneepath” remade and redone for our viewing pleasure. It is not that I do not like remakes, but remaking anything by the very definition of the word invites comparisons, and you’d better redo it well, else the brick-bats – they are a-waiting. I was pleasantly surprised to read nothing but praise from fellow critics and tweeters. So I am probably in the minority on this one; post-viewing I thought the film just about average.

The story essentially remains the same, although some characters have been added/modified. Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, a village-boy of 12, sees his school teacher father’s (Chetan Pandit) life snuffed out by a lynch mob of fellow villagers. Leading the muderous rally is resident villain Kancha (Dutt), who’s had it in for the school master after he (the master) has tried to stop Kancha from usurping the villager’s lands. Vijay and his mom them move to Mumbai from Mandwa, but that does nothing to tamp his desire for revenge. He takes the violent route and as a young man becomes the right hand man of Mumbai’s mafia king and Kancha’s enemy, Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor). He becomes estranged from his mother and sister in the process. Lala is at loggerheads with Kancha and Vijay sees an opportunity to use Lala’s might to wreak his revenge.

First the good : This is a film on a lavish scale – everything about it is big, the sets, the hero, the villain the frenzy and the solid 80s formula. It is a revenge story, so there are clear-cut good and bad guys here – nothing grey about it. The build-ups to crucial plot-points is pretty good, with thrumming background music, and some well-composed shots. Direction is decent, and the acting average.

Sanjay Dutt is an impressive villain. He’s big and bulky and hairless (shaved eyebrows no less!). To me he looked like a mix of Voldemort and the Shrek, only uglier. He’s menacing and plays the unhinged character of Kancha very well. He also has some of the smartest lines in the film, and delivers them with a dark wit. Hrithik on the other hand was a relatively weak Vijay. Purportedly Vijay has a fire in his belly, but I could not see the seething, simmering anger on him. Hrithik looks like a nice-guy; I cannot imagine him menacing. Neither can he apparently, because his dark anger comes through as the jitters and not as the soul-eating malaise that it is supposed to be. Plus I do think that Kancha gets more screen time and the better dialogues. I sit through many minutes of seeing Vijay get his ass royally whupped by a surprisingly limber Kancha, and when the time comes to turn the tables – it’s over in a blink-your-eyes-and-it’s-gone moment.

Rishi Kapoor is the big surprise here, packing a punch in this solid performance as wily, evil Rauf Lala. Pandit does nicely as the principled school-master, and Zarina Wahab resurfaces as the hero’s plaintive mother. Priyanka Chopra is Kali, Vijay’s love interest. Her role is inconsequential, as were women’s roles in the 80s, and awkwardly contrived.

This film reminds me why I’m over the 80s style melodramas like I am – because they’re overdone, overdone, overdone. Now, when less is more, and one awaits subtle and nuanced Hindi films, this movie is royally in-your-face, and contains enough melodrama to last me a decade. It delivers it’s message with sledge-hammer like drumbeats, and Ganpati-Visarjans galore.

And there’s the small matter of contemporary values – there are none. The phones are small enough, but the rest of the film takes one on a time-travel jaunt to a little island in the Arabian sea populated by impoverished farmers. This film then is not a re-interpretation of the earlier, but purely a remake with a different hero. Unfortunately it suffers on the style and personality counts. Amitabh had truck-loads of it. And a very grounded, earthy kind of charm. Hrithik, while stylish and trendy in his own way, looks a little too refined for this role. A singlet and a sweat-drenched body to match might have suited the angry-yoing-man of the 80s, but now it looks positively schlumpy, even on Hrithik – a Greek God among Bollywood actors.

Why would anyone watch this film ? Amitabh carried the earlier version with his swagger and smoulder and his wittily done snark. That film while unsuccessful at the box-office, developed a cult-status with some. This, a mere tribute to hammy cinema, unfortunately fails to garner us a hero suited to this gritty, down-and-dirty role. This new Agneepath offers up nothing new – it’s the same old stuff in a new bottle. And now the old stuff is a little stale.

It’s a long three hours of running time. Watch it if you know what you’re getting is what you want. For the rest, I advise restraint.

Kidwise : This film is rated A by the Indian Censor Board. I second that rating – Agneepath has lots of blood and gore; unsuitable for kids.