Agneepath

Epitome of performance and style in genre of gangster movies. It is without any doubt one of the best gangster movies ever made in any language. It would not be a overstatement to rate this flick better that Scarface starring Al Pacino. This movie came at the pinnacle of the golden era of gangster movies in India overshadowing all others. It does not have the sophistication of The Godfather or Sarkar or the realistic portrayal of City of God or Satya but it has the power- the power of enunciated emotions never portrayed before in such a cumulative fashion; and this distinction is an intelligent deliberated achievement and not not just a mere coincidence.

Any discussion about the technicalities of the movie will have to start with a special mention of Amitabh Bachchan's performance. The historic portrayal of that powerful scorn, the trademark word "hain" with the hand-action, the style and the posture of sitting on a chair and all other countless gestures combined with powerful and then-realistic acting won him the much deserved National Award for Best Actor. Danny did well with that stoic face. Mithun gave the need-of-that-time over-the-top performance and made it believable. Rohini was good portraying measured grief and strength of the bollywood-mother. Neelam did not have to do much apart from giving some turns to the story.

Cinematography and screenplay set a new milestone then. The scenes with a crowd of thousands in slums was not a common sight in Bollywood then. The script is great, editing is outstandingly amazing and foolproof for that time. Production set new standards. Direction is great. Background score is of international level. Songs are average and redundant.

All in all, it's a quintessential bollywood movie with hero and villain, old mother and a sister, powerful gangster and a cheesy climax. The remarkable thing is- It is still a great entertainment after all these years and a major change in story-lines.

This film which has a lot of Scarface about it is superb. There are 2 major reasons for this... The 2 lead stars. A superb performance from Mithun is diminished somehow due to a devastating performance from Amitabh.

Casting is key to the success of this film. The lesser parts are also performed flawlessly. I think the fact that there is not much music in the film helps. It is an epic and is the kind of film that non Hindi speaking people should see to appreciate Bollywood.

If you've not seen it... Watch it now. This film is up there with the 'City of God' and 'Hard Boiled' world cinema masterpieces. It is the Bollywood equivalent.

Why was Amitabh voted the greatest all time movie star?? This is why!!!

Plot

Abhishek Bachchan (son of Amitabh) once said in an interview that his favourite Amitabh film was Agneepath. Agneepath is about a small town boy (Amitabh) whose father is killed and he comes to Bombay to seek revenge on his father's death. After his father's death, the boy becomes the bread-winner for the family and follows the path of crime to support his mother (Rohini Attangadi) and sister (Neelam). Later in the film, he meets Mithun Chakraborthy who plays the role of Amitabh's confidant (though it is a little overdone) and later falls in love with Neelam. Amitabh slowly builds a massive crime empire but his own weaknesses lead to his downfall. Danny Dengzoppa plays the bad guy who wants total supremacy over the mafia and will do anything to eliminate Amitabh.

Review

Agneepath is easily one of Amitabh's best films ever. This film draws heavily from Scarface (starring Al Pacino). I watched Scarface after Agneepath and was quite shocked to see that they were very similar. Afterall, when I watched Agneepath, I thought it was one of the those unique films which had not been inspired by a Hollywood flick! Even the music themes were similar! Amitabh gives a memorable performance as Vijay Chauhan, who is an arrogant, stubborn, rude gangster with a good heart. What makes this film different from other Amitabh films, or even other Hindi films is the excellent potrayal of its main characters - Amitabh, Danny and Rohini Hattangadi. These characters are believable, unlike in most Hindi films and they bring out the reality of the situation. The film is violent at times, the screenplay is sloppy and the direction could have been better! I thought that the original version of the film with Amitabh's modified voice was much better than the one with his own voice. The original version made his character more authentic.

The title of the film was inspired by Harivansh Rai Bachchan's (Amitabh's father) poem - Agneepath (path of fire). It is not surprising that Amitabh received his first and ONLY National Award (Indian equivalent of an Oscar, though many people consider Filmfare to be the Indian Oscar) for this film. Rohini Hattangadi won a Filmfare award for best supporting actress for her potrayal of a loving and innocent mother. Mithun Chakraborthy won a Filmfare for best supporting actor.

If you thought Al Pacino was good in Scarface, you have got to watch Amitabh in Agneepath!

Overall, I give this film an 8 out of 10! Go watch it!!!

Amitabh Bachchan has always been highly respected and critically praised actor in the Indian film industry. Ever since his breakthrough in Prakash Mehra's Zanjeer (1973), Amitabh had become a personified leading man (prior to which he was mainly a strong supporting-actor with films like Saat Hindustani and Anand, for which he had won awards for his performances). But it was his charismatic turn in Zanjeer that established Bachchan as the Angry Young Man of Bollywood cinema - following up with the blockbusters Deewar, Trishul, Kaalia, Laawaris, Shakti throughout the 1970s and 80s.

The late 1980s were not so smooth in terms of career, with average fairers like Toofan and the box-office failures Ganga Jamuna Saraswati (1988), Main Azaad Hoon and Jaadugar in 1989, Bachchan needed a comeback.

Prolific Hindi filmmaker Mukul Anand had cast Amitabh in Agneepath - which was released in 1990 to critical and commercial success. The film sees a young boy named Vjay (child actor Master Manjunath), living a simple, peaceful life in the village Mandwa. His father Master Dinanath (Alok Nath) is an honest and truthful school teacher, who has always taught his son that the path for honesty is a tough and challenging route; a path of fire (literal translation of the film title), but whoever does travel the Path of Fire, no challenge would be an obstacle for that person. Master Dinanath is highly respected and much loved in Mandwa, as he intends to improve conditions of the village step-by-step. But not everyone wants to follow the wiseman's path to prosperity - Local Landlord Dinkar Rao (Goga Kapoor), sees an opportunity to make it rich by selling the village Kancha Cheena (Danny Denzongpa) - a rich, ambitious and ruthless drug-lord. Who wants to make the village a port for narcotics,since it does not appear on the Indian map and is only a stones-throw away from Bombay City (now Mumbai). The only way they could succeed is by ridding the village of Master Dinanath, after being framed for adultery, Master Dinanath is mercilessly beaten to death by the villagers, and his son Vijay is left as the sole breadwinner for his mother and younger sister.

Upon leaving Mandwa for Bombay - the young Vijay swears to give the village back to his mother. Once entering Bombay, Vijay and his family endure poverty, from sleeping on the streets, becoming a shoeshine and also witnessing his mother being taken advantage of. After retaliating against local goons by burning a petrol pump, his reputation as a hardknock is established and he is taken under by 4 rival gangsters of Kancha Cheena. Vijay grows up to be a key figure of Bombay's underworld (now played by Amitabh Bachchan), but also known as Vijay 'Bhai' (meaning 'Don' or literally 'Brother' Vijay) by the poor for his good deeds and charity. Once surviving an encounter with death from his 4 bosses, Vijay exacts his revenge one-by-one and also getting closer to drug-lord Kancha Cheena. He befriends a street vendor Krishnan Iyer MA (Mithun Chakraborthy), who then is given the job to protect his younger sister Siksha (Neelam), and the two become romantically involved. As he delves deeper into the life of crime, Vijay takes the opportunity exact revenge against Kancha and the people responsible for his fathers' death.

Many comparisons have been made with Agneepath and Brian De Palma's Scarface (1983), saying Agneepath is a remake of De Palma's crime epic. But this is absolutely not the case. As some scenes do resemble hints of Scarface (i.e. Vijay killing 2 of his bosses in a Police station lock-up, the meeting between Vijay and Kancha) even the use of Grigio Moroders' score (in the re-dubbed version with Amitabh's regular voice), other than that the film itself is a completely different story. If anything the film draws similarities to Amitabh's own classic Deewar from 1975, about the rise and fall of a rags-to-riches gangster. The film itself was inspired by the life of Indian gangster Manya Surve; who was shot to death by a police encounter in 1982. Amitabh used many of the late gangsters' mannerisms, the way he sits and even his voice (in the original version of the film). Plot-wise the film is familiar territory for Amitabh, but what excels it above many Indian crime thrillers of that era is the outstanding performances from Amitabh - whose eyes just express the emotions and thoughts of the character and villain Danny - a very hard negative performance to top.

The film is well-directed as is the cinematography, the violence is not glamorised but rather shown in realistic context which can be gruesome and gritty as well. The best cinematography in the whole film is during the film's finale - where Vijay runs through fire and faces his nemesis. The music used throughout a lot of the film and the finale is from French composer Jean Michel-Jarre's 'Second Rendezvous' and 'Third Rendezvous' albums, as well as Hans Zimmers' score to 'Black Rain' (1988). The performances of the main players as well as strong supporting cast make this an unmissable piece of Hindi cinema. As it was the first Hindi film which saw gangsters wearing Ray Ban sunglasses, driving Bentley's and living in exotic locations. Dialogue by Kader Khan is also a driving force as many quotable lines are mentioned in this film.

Overall the film is a brilliant attempt as performances, dialogue and cinematography make it a great example of Bollywood's best actor at his finest.

With an electrifying performance that could surely wake up the dead, Amitabh Bachchan proves yet again that there is no one to match him.

This kind of movies rely on the performance of the main character. And I have never seen such an powerful performance as this one by Amitji. Simply mind blowing. The anger through his eyes seem to radiate through your screen.

The rest of the cast performs very well. Especially Amitabh's mother, the inspector and Danny Denzongpa. Mithun is good as well, although one might think he tends to go overboard sometimes.

The dialogues are one of the best I ever heard, if not the best. Every time when a dialogue was delivered, I got goosebumps. These dialogues stick with you forever, especially if you are an Amitabh Bachchan fan.

The backgrounds score is phenomenal. It reminds you of Scarface, which is another masterpiece.

Music is reasonable, although I think the movie would have been better off with only one song in it or none at all.

Scenes that stick with you are to many to mention. I wilt remember this entire movie for the rest of my life. And I will surely watch it several times more.

This is an absolute must-see for every Amitabh Bachchan fan! You don't wanna miss this one.......