Agneepath

This Vijay Dinanath Chauhan is not interested in comparisons. All he wants is a fair chance to payback the killer Kancha (Sanjay Dutt), who remorselessly murdered his father Dinanath Chauhan, when Vijay was a kid. Gaon Mandwa, this is where Vijay was born and since the time he could remember, his father used to recite poems for him. Poems that would talk about path of fire.

To say that "Agneepath" is simply a technologically superior version of the original Vijay played by Amitabh Bachhan would be being unfair to the interesting spirals plugged into the story by Ila Dutta Bedi and Karan Malhotra. The most absorbing spiral is the drug dealer and pimp Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor), a character assayed so earnestly that in a few scenes Lala fills all the space offered by the movie. The cinematography by Kiran Deohans and Ravi K Chandra blends beautifully with the story as well as the costumes and explanation of the characters; but tries too hard to add an epic feeling to the climax, which spoils the sympathy for the rendition by overstuffing it with filmy shibboleths.

The passionate craving for penalizing Kancha separated a 12-year-old Vijay (Hrithik Roshan) from his mother Suhasini (Zarina Wahab) and his newly born sister and found a medium in Lala. Roshan's adaptation of the cult character has a calmness in his deep-rooted anger, a silence in his hatred and a fire in his eyes - all of which combine to a mighty performance. Thankfully, the burdensome task Arish Bhiwandiwala has left for Roshan with his sharp illustration of the character of the young Vijay Chauhan, has been done justice to. Hrithik's description could have been unexampled had the dialogues by Piyush Mishra been weighty enough and the editing by Akiv Ali wiser.

The screenplay and the editing, following the traditions of Bollywood, has reduced Kaali Gawde (Priyanka Chopra) to a beautiful piece of furniture, the only difference being that this one dances. Pity. While the director Karan Malhotra tries hard to make a thunderous appeal to the audience with the electrifying decibels between Vijay and Kancha, an unaware Lala steals the thunder from the two for the larger part of the movie. Sanjay Dutt as Kancha is a solid institution of wickedness in a way that hating Kancha would make someone feel better about himself/herself as a human being. Lala, with his unashamed spontaneity, is few notches higher though in my opinion.

A film crowded with powerful performers leaves little inspiration for Indian directors to focus too much on the story. With responsible editing and lesser concentration on dressing, "Agneepath" could easily have been 45 minutes shorter and more compelling. The movie reveals a certain degree of naivety in the direction. There is an immaturity in the way the clichés lifted from the 1980's and the brother-sister angle have been treated.

Vijay Chauhan's disinterest in Chikni Chameli is understandable; what is worrying is that a movie from Dharma Productions behaves so poorly in the music department. Ajay-Atul must have good reasons behind the heavy-duty background music and the pointless songs of "Agneepath". Chikni Chameli is long forgiven.

Mind you, don't practice comparing while watching "Agneepath", even if you are an ardent fan of either of the Vijays. Life would be simpler.

The best thing about the movie was it was on a constant roll, never trying to fill in stuff. From the moment we witnessed the small Birju with all his intensity and the menacing Kancha, we knew something special was in store. This is the first time i have found Sanjay dutt this scary ,even more threatening that his Khalnayak Role. Rishi kapoor proves once again why is the versatile hero of bollywood. Nobody could have done that rauf lala role better.

But the person who has lent his heart and soul into the film is hrithik. He has expressed so many moods and emotions in one movie, this may be his best role till date. There are so many subtle tender moments in the movie with Hrithik alternating between vengeance(Kancha), comradeship(Gaitaonde)and Joy ( seeing his sister). However at times i felt certain scenes were overdone to intentionally create a dramatic effect. Ah but thats bollywood.

Yet another winner this movie. Go see enjoy :)

The old Agneepath completely belonged to AB and the new one has HR written all over it...Hrithik is at his Bloody Best..The movie doesn't belong to Sanjay or Priyanka or anybody..It completely rests on HR's muscular Shoulders which he has carried with ease...This is clearly (one of) Hrithik's best performances ever where 'one of' is optional and can be removed depending on the audience ...I should not take the credit away from Rishi Kapoor as he was outstanding too.....Sanjay Dutt looked menacing but was let down by weak dialogues.. I really missed Kader Khan from the original. ( The most underrated Dialogue writer ) Statutory Warning : The movie is violent as per Bollywood standards.

Statutory Request : Comparisons are inevitable when a remake comes, but to enjoy the movie you will have to forget the old one completely..

Its a movie with old skeleton and a completely new soul.

A fascinating tale of moral redemption.

Images so powerful they linger in the mind hours after they've left the screen.

And the eyes, always the eyes … the eyes of Evil, the eyes of Truth.

A young man (Hrithik Roshan) must tread the dark and difficult 'path through fire' -- lit., 'agneepath' -- of challenge and personal sacrifice to avenge his family against the crimelord (Sanjay Dutt) who brutally murdered his father, dishonoured his family, and corrupted their whole community.

If the classic 1990 "Agneepath" pioneered one of the strongest stories ever in film (and was way ahead of its time, for Hindi cinema), this 2012 "Agneepath" preserves the most effective elements of that brilliant original story and revamps what needed help. Our villain is even more evil, and the road of challenges our hero must overcome to defeat him is correspondingly an even darker, more treacherous journey.

Raw. Powerful. Primeval.

Sanjay Dutt's Kancha is a villain for the ages. Visually, he scared me just on the poster! A big, bad, very bad man. The bald head, the tattoos, the smile, the laugh, the spreading shapeless pale blobbiness of his huge bulk, and above all those hauntingly sick eyes, combine to render Mr Dutt's Kancha one of the most naturally frightening villains ever conceived. Where the original 1990 Kancha Cheena played by Danny Denzongpa was sleek and smooth and sophisticated, his evil was very modern and straightforward in open pursuit of power and wealth – and thus more familiar. Mr Dutt's Kancha, however, is pure psychopath: he destroys and kills because he LIKES it. And even though the audience understand how he became so twisted, that sickness makes him very scary indeed … the visual embodiment of human evil.

What I could *not* anticipate from the trailers, though, is how Hrithik Roshan's Vijay Dinanath Chauhan would prove equally intimidating and visually frightening as Mr Dutt's Kancha: with those keen clear eyes knifing through his face awash in blood, Mr Roshan's Vijay looks purely the Avenger-from-Hell. Director Karan Malhotra effectively channels Mr Roshan's natural intensity into a human sword of vengeance – a quiet character who 'says' a lot from the shadows, projects mountains of lurking threat and menace, even where he has no dialogue. Again the eyes, always the eyes in this film! Never before had any director so effectively used the sheer glow-in-the-dark luminosity of Mr Roshan's eyes. The iconic 1990 Vijay created by the great Amitabh Bachchan (one of his most memorable roles) was significantly older and more verbally aggressive, the character more seduced by the trappings of power and wealth, only refocussing on his essential task toward the very end. By contrast, Mr Roshan's Vijay leads a haunted, almost monk-like existence, never losing focus down the years toward destroying his enemy. Obsessed, relentless, deadly – and a perfect showcase for Mr Roshan to demonstrate, yet again, his great dramatic range as an actor.

Mr Roshan and Mr Dutt are so riveting in this film that any scenes they are not in, separately or together, honestly feel like a distraction.

Despite 12 intervening years these two great actors have lost none of the chemistry that powered 2000's excellent "Mission Kashmir". Mr Roshan is slightly the taller actor, Mr Dutt significantly the heavier, but the two are so perfectly matched and the build-up so well laid that by the climax of this "Agneepath" audience anticipation could not be higher ... or more well-rewarded.

An unforgettable, 'must-see' film!

This, despite certain of the supporting roles being poorly cast (rather shockingly, for such a high-profile project from a major production house). The performances of both Vijay's new parents were competent but undistinguished; Alok Nath as Vijay's father in the 1990 film was far superior. I quite liked the concept behind the new dark character Rauf Lala; however, naturally clown-faced Rishi Kapoor brought inadequate menace to this baddie, at least for me. (And I'll swear they made Mr Kapoor's wig out of cheap carpeting!) But easily the worst miscasting? The 12-year-old Vijay – any boy less likely, in form or colouring or behaviour, to grow into 'Hrithik Roshan' as an adult Vijay would be seriously hard to find! What were they thinking? Anyone curious about what did grow into Hrithik Roshan need look no further than 1986's "Bhagwaan Dada", wherein you'll discover that Hrithik Roshan himself at age 12 looked exactly as any reasonable person might expect: a tall skinny boy with fair skin, light green eyes, brown hair, and already the distinctively-perfect profile. But the young Vijay cast here looked so glaringly out of place – too loud, too heavy, too dark, too coarse – that every flashback (of which there are far too many) with this boy jerked me completely out of the story. Again, the original casting in the 1990 film was much more believable in that specific role.

On the plus side, however, certain female characters are much stronger and more three-dimensional in this 2012 version. Priyanka Chopra was simply outstanding as Vijay's lover and only friend, the new character Kaali – one of her best-ever performances, despite limited minutes.. Newcomer Kanika Tiwari also impressed, as Vijay's younger sister.

Veteran actor Om Puri was also extremely effective as Commissioner Gaitonde, Vijay's sometime-conscience and sometime-ally. His scenes with Mr Roshan were particularly good.

Even Katrina Kaif's jaw-dropping item number, "Chikni Chameli", may prove classic: who would have thought one could do THAT with a booze bottle!

Special credit is due the highest standards of craft professionalism that distinguish this 2012 "Agneepath", notably these departments: Cinematography (exceptional lighting and shot selection, especially with the principal actors) – Kiran Deohans and Ravi K Chandran; Sound and Sound Editing (variety and scope, silent private moments to mass public festivals, all perfectly managed) – Stephen Gomes; and Stunts/Fight Choreography (so many action scenes, but each distinct and cumulatively building to the truly epic climax) – Abbas Ali Moghul.

You shouldn't wonder why everyone wants to remake a Big B movie. While the obvious to say is that they are a cult but the truth is we don't have stories, performances and dialogues like that today. A safe trick to pull the audience is to give them a star-studded remake of a movie the continuums of generations swear by.

If you are an ardent moviegoer, you might have felt bad with the fate of Don and Sholay remakes but Agneepath rises. Yash Johar & Mukul Anand will be proud of Karan. They can choose either or both.

First of all, it's not a complete remake. It has its own diversions but it's a wasteful effort not to compare it with the original. Some parts of the remake are a total downer. Not just the parents, I heard the kids say – I think the original was far better.

Sanjay Dutt is the first and the biggest disappointment. Tattoos of Shiva, preachings from Geeta, anecdotes from Mahabharat & Ramayan but not a single original Khalnayak moment till the last 15 minutes. I remember seeing the promo six months back and everyone spoke of Sanjay Dutt taking the entire pie from Hrithik Roshan – only if he would have been a more evil psychopath, psychopath, psychopath.

The next is Chikni Chameli. The choreographer & composer totally spoilt the cake. What a sheer waste of Katrina Kaif. The last but not the least is absence of Krishnan Iyer MA. I want to add the iconic "Sister Abduction" scene to the list but I understand that it's too much of a comparison.

There's not much you could say about the script/story since it's a remake but to talk about the dialogues written by the talented Piyush Mishra – they are mediocre. No special marks to the technicals as well.

Hrithik Roshan is brilliant, probably the best anybody could justify the real VDC. When he cries, feels happy, kills a man, runs, wants revenge, gets bruised – it's all in his eyes, he makes it real enough. He might not have been able to replace Big B's attitude but it was time they used this side of him than just counting on his looks & moves.

The surprise of the movie is Rishi Kapoor. What an actor! With the added touch of the surma, he made a better villain than Baba. He should have had a bigger role.

The score of the movie is suitably Maharashtrian, complimenting the movie. I don't know if you have noticed this but Bollywood seems fascinated with the idea of Ganesh songs or others running parallel with murder and melodrama scenes.

Apart from Kancha, everyone's performance has taken the movie a notch higher and fortunately there are no stupid-yet-intentional-because-audience-loves-it additions. Coming from Karan Johar, romance and slickness gives way to raw.

It's a nice remake and while you watch it try hard not to compare it with the original Agneepath, Agneepath, Agneepath.