January 30, 2012 Y. Sunita Chowdary
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Half the enthusiasm of the audiences will be absent when you go to a theatre to see a remake, the onus on the director is more in such cases to grab the attention of the people in the first fifteen minutes of the story. Hrithik Roshan is no match to the fiery, aggressive, volatile Amitabh Bachchan neither are his angry glares volcanic enough to make one feel the intensity, but he does have the star factor, his unmistakable presence that keeps the contemporary Agneepath moving but is that enough?
By the end of the film we walk away appreciating Sanjay Dutt, Rishi Kapoor, Zarina Wahab and can really feel Om Puri missing a certain anti-hero who can match his intelligence and affection. The dialogues are no big shake that you'd want to recollect once and surprisingly we have the hero barely speaking. Priyanka Chopra is chirpy and mellows down according to the need of the script.
The first half is close brilliant, it is not usual for directors to have more than half an hour of screen time showing the story of the hero during childhood. The director does a wonderful job of keeping the audience engrossed with the intro, it is an intro that makes you empathise with the character irrespective of the age, the foundation of the story is strong and moves on. He succeeds in evoking fear, anger, haplessness and extreme emotions in the face of cruelty and atrocity.
Vijay grows up amidst poetry, revolution. His father a school master valued his self respect and led a clean, honest life and spoke of justice. When he is hanged, the son and the pregnant wife move out of the village which smeared his reputation and didn't give him a chance to explain. The son grows up wanting revenge and is compelled to distance from affection of his mother and sisters.
The rest of the film is his way of life and dealing with the dreaded criminals, his associations and the game to reach his goal. Just before the interval break is a scene where Vijay (Hrithik) wears his godfather's footwear and is admonished by his son when he says he didn't pay attention. "Dhyan Kaise Nahi Raha," is what the ambitious son says angrily and the visual that follows gives the answer.
The film slows down and the intrigue, suspense isn't the least bit thrilling as we have seen the same weaving of relationships and it's eliminations in every gangster movie. Vijay follows his father's dictum, "It's not enough if you have power, you should learn to use it intelligently, correctly." The director makes it clear that the film is set against the eighties, focuses on the Crown Television a bit too long. The timing of the film is also perhaps one such reason why the interest couldn't be sustained.
Sanjay Dutt's role is tailor made, he is wonderful as the villain. Wish even Telugu senior stars move over to negative roles instead of cootchie cooing sweet nothings on the phone to the heroines. Rishi Kapoor is a revelation and it's an absolute joy watching him play the selfish gangster. One couldn't have asked Zarina to better her job. Katrina looks like a million bucks but is learning to be gross.
The first half of Agneepath is interesting but the pace and an unnecessary lengthy maa-beta dinner scene takes away your patience and time. We have seen such revenge stories, nothing fresh about this one. Hrithik just does what is expected out of him but doesn't shine great enough to make you rush to the theatres. Watch this film at your own time, not bad but not a great movie either, it's one more remake.
Romance? The moment Priyanka says, "I know you don't want to marry but.." you find the youth walking away.
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