Agneepath Review

AGNEEPATH is a Hindi feature film which released on 26th January, 2012, a day being Thursday (breaking the rule for new films to be released on Friday). It was one of the most awaited films of Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan & above all of Karan Johar of 2011. It was supposed to be released at the end of 2011 but due to some reasons its release was extended to 26th January.

This film falls under the genre of Action Thriller.

Story : Mandwa is a small village in India where Vijay Dinanath Chauhan (Hrithik Roshan) lives with his father. His father is a man of principles and teaches him the path of fire. Kancha Cheena is a drug mafia who hangs his father to death. This shatters the life of Vijay completely. Vijay leaves his village and goes to Mumbai with his mother who is pregnant at that time. He takes an oath to take revenge of his father's death from Kancha Cheena and promises his mother that he would bring back his father's reputation and glory in his village.

In Mumbai, he joins the gang of Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor) who is a drug lord. From here he prepares himself to take revenge of his father's death. He is supported by his friend cum girlfriend Kaali (Priyanka Chopra) who stands by him at every moment of life. After a wait of 15 years, he goes back to his native village.

Is he able to take revenge from Kancha Cheena? In what ways he takes revenge and brings back his father's glory? These are some questions which are answered in the rest of the film.

Acting : Sanjay Dutt is excellent in this role. If you compare him with the original Kancha Cheena (Danny Denzongpa) Sanjay is far better. There is something special in his character; a uniqueness in his performance! Hrithik Roshan is also terrific in his role. However, you should not even try to compare him with the original Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) of original AGNEEPATH. Amitabh Bachchan is a legend and no one can match him. His character is different than this one. However, Hrithik is excellent in his role and has given a mind blowing performance. Rishi Kapoor has done his job brilliantly. He is quite convincing in his role of Rauf Lala; yet he needs to avoid such roles. Priyanka Chopra is also good in her role. Devan Bhojani is not impressive and is below average. Katrina Kaif in the item song 'Chikni Chameli' is attractive and good.

Script : It is mostly inspired by the original film AGNEEPATH of Amitabh Bachchan/Mukul Anand. Yet it is not so tight and becomes weak at many places. The screenplay writers Illa Dutta Bedi & Karan Malhotra (the director itself) have not done perfect job. Hence you feel like getting up at many places and go for refreshment.

Music : Music is composed by Ajay-Atul which is not up to the mark. Except the item song 'Chikni Chameli' none of the songs are going to stay in your ears or mind for a longer period.

Cinematography : It is done by Kiran Deohans & Ravi K. Chandran which is worth mentioning. The angles and lights used are terrific and are very impressive.

Direction : This film is directed by Karan Malhotra who was once an assistant of Karan Johar. His takings and blocks are good and sense of costumes and gate up are impressive. However, he misses something which fails to make the movie gripping and interesting. Despite such big casts he fails to take advantage of these casts and production values.

Plus Points : Hrithik Roshan & Sanjay Dutt's performance; Katrina's item song Chikni Chameli; Cinematography

Minus Points : Music; Screenplay; Length of the film

Conclusion : The length of the film doesn't matter when the film is good, entertaining and gripping. But if the screenplay is weak, length becomes the drawback of the film. This film is the remake of Mukul Anand's AGNEEPATH so people are curious to watch it. Hence it will get benefits in terms of revenues. This film also releases on 26th January, which is a holiday, hence it is going to get extra benefit. Also, there is no other film to compete with this film and this is the single film to release on this date hence it is surely going to attract the audiences. Above all, this film breaks all the records in terms of release (before this film no other film of Hollywood or Bollywood was ever released in so many theaters in India at a time). Hence this film should get the benefit in terms of box office collection.

Verdict : This film is not an excellent film but not even a bad film. It is a little above average or a little above good hence you can go for it.