{"id":696,"date":"2021-05-29T09:15:55","date_gmt":"2021-05-29T13:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/?p=696"},"modified":"2021-05-29T09:15:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T13:15:56","slug":"agneepath-dir-karan-malhotra-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/2021\/05\/29\/agneepath-dir-karan-malhotra-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Agneepath (dir. Karan Malhotra, 2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on February 13, 2012.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no secret that films from Dharma Productions are generally not my cup of tea \u2013 and that\u2019s especially true of the films of Karan Johar, producer of this remake of Mukul S. Anand\u2019s 1990 cult version.  My main problem with Karan Johar\u2019s films is their overblown melodrama, and,well, the fact that I often find them emotionally manipulative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to be honest, that\u2019s probably my main problem with the Karan Malhotra directed\/ Karan Johar produced version of Agneepath<\/strong>.  Although I\u2019m not one of the legion of fans of Anand\u2019s original \u2013 partly because revenge drama doesn\u2019t readily appeal to me, partly because of Amitabh Bachchan\u2019s performance (I found him far too old for the role of the twenty-something Vijay, and his attempt to channel Al Pacino\u2019s voice managed to put me off the film almost entirely) \u2013 I can see why the original appeals to so many film fans.  Anand was considered a director ahead of his time (his Hum<\/strong> remains a Totally Filmi House Favourite Film), and his Agneepath<\/strong>, despite its weary revenge plot and vocal stylings, contains moments of great brilliance, great style, and intensely beautiful and poetic visuals \u2013 the ending in particular is spectacular to behold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all fairness, the Malhotra\/Johar remake does stand as a fitting tribute to Anand\u2019s original.  I especially appreciated that this was not a completely faithful remake, changing the plot and characters slightly to give a different perspective on the material.  As much as I loved Mithun Chakraborty\u2019s Krishnan Iyer M.A., I did feel the character ended up more as a kind of southern comedy uncle, and his romance with Siksha (Neelam) was not only rather twee, but also more distracting than it was diverting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I was not unhappy to see that plot line dropped, and new characters added to the mix.  Priyanka Chopra\u2019s Kaali managed to add that light, fresh touch that Krishnan Iyer brought to the original film, without overwhelming it or taking away from the drama at hand.  The villain Kancha remains, but Sanjay Dutt (who truly has the best evil laugh in the business) turns him into a remorseless, chilling psychopath.  Hrithik Roshan is asked to do little more than scowl or weep, and Roshan delivers admirably.  Probably the best reason to see Agneepath<\/strong> is the newly added Rauf Lala, Kancha\u2019s rival, inhabited so brilliantly by Rishi Kapoor.  For me, the remake is worth it for Rishi Kapoor alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said \u2013 Malhotra\u2019s film is loud, brutal, intense \u2013 and occasionally overbearing.  What are subtle touches in Anad\u2019s original become sledgehammers in this updated version.  In 1990, Vijay\u2019s ascent is underlined by him having his clothing made by the same tailor as his rival Kancha; in 2012, Vijay rises to, well, literally fill Rauf Lala\u2019s shoes.  If we didn\u2019t get it the first time (when Vijay accidentally puts on Lala\u2019s shoes), it\u2019s a metaphor that will be driven home again, with a heavier hand, as is so much the case with Malhotra\u2019s version. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the problems I had with Anand\u2019s film was a kind of moral mushiness \u2013 that we\u2019re expected to root for Vijay even though quite clearly he loses sight of his original goal (revenge for his father\u2019s death) and becomes part of the system of evil he is supposed to be fighting.  Vijay challenges anyone who calls him a goonda, truly oblivious to the fact that he has become one.  And it\u2019s a problem that is carried into Malhotra\u2019s remake:  Hrithik Roshan\u2019s Vijay spends fifteen years working for the truly despicable Rauf Lala.  Lala considers Vijay a son, and Vijay easily steps into his shoes (both physical and metaphorical) when given the opportunity.  That he releases the under-age girls that Lala traffics in doesn\u2019t really make up for all that time spent in Lala\u2019s employ, contributing to his dirty business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s that very business, the trafficking in under-age girls, that has had me mulling over the film all week.  It\u2019s a plot point that, quite honestly, left me queasy, and it\u2019s taken me a bit of thinking to figure out why.  I recognize that we live in a world where such despicable things happen.  It\u2019s the kind of issue I think deserves to be examined in films, and I wouldn\u2019t shy away just on that alone.  But I have the suspicion that it\u2019s used here just for emotional effect \u2013 there\u2019s that emotional manipulation again.  I don\u2019t need that to show me how evil Rauf Lala is \u2013 his drug business and his dealings with Kancha, coupled with a powerhouse performance from Rishi Kapoor, are enough to establish that.  This Agneepath<\/strong> just wants to elicit that queasiness just for the sake of my emotional response, and I find that kind of morally questionable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I will say:\u00a0 I did like the songs in the updated\u00a0Agneepath<\/strong>\u00a0a lot \u2013 with one exception, that being the lacklustre item number \u201cChikni Chameli\u201d.\u00a0 But I have to ask Dharma Productions:\u00a0 when are you going to get with the programme and subtitle the songs?\u00a0 We all know they are important and integral to the story, and they deserve subtitles, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that said:  Agneepath<\/strong> is a compelling look at the nature of evil and the forms it takes.  Pure evil, in the form of Kancha, who never pretends he\u2019s anything else and revels in that fact; evil that hides behind a veneer of respectability, in the form of Rauf Lala.  Between them lies the fiery path that Vijay walks on, a path that, fortunately, finally leads to some kind of redemption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on February 13, 2012. It\u2019s no secret that films from Dharma Productions are generally not my cup of tea \u2013 and that\u2019s especially true of the films of Karan Johar, producer of this remake of Mukul S. Anand\u2019s 1990 cult version.  My main…<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingAgneepath (dir. Karan Malhotra, 2012)<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289],"tags":[684,685,205,682,680,683,681,686],"class_list":["post-696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hindi-movies","tag-agneepath","tag-hrithik-roshan","tag-karan-johar","tag-karan-malhotra","tag-mukul-s-anand","tag-priyanka-chopra","tag-rishi-kapoor","tag-sanjay-dutt","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":699,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions\/699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}