Director: Karan Malhotra, Producer: Karan Johar Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Sanjay Dutt, Rishi Kapoor, Katrina Kaif

BY JYOTHSNA HEGDE

History does repeat itself, literally. And all the more in the Bollywood arena, with remakes such as the Don Series; and with Agneepath making a comeback. Agneepath is unique though. It is Karan Johar’s heartfelt tribute to his legendary father, a complete bolly curry simmering with a revengeful son promising to avenge his father’s murder, backed by a loud and boisterous background score and served with an overdose of emotional drama. This is not just the story of a fictional immortal character, Vijay Dinanath Chauhan and his need for retribution; but also Yash and Karan Johar’s story of failure and redemption, Shakespearean, undeniably.

Producer Karan Johar and director Karan Malhotra’s Agneepath is sincere in its effort to revive the classic. Most key characters are retained and the narration is aptly updated and modified. The underlying story remains the same. The evil Kancha (Sanjay Dutt) perceives an upright Master Dinanath Chauhan (Chetan Pandit) in the village of Mandwa as a threat to his evil plans for the village. So he frames the man and ruthlessly murders him in complete view of the villagers and his son Vijay Dinanath Chauhan (Hrithik Roshan). Young Vijay finds a mentor in Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor) and a girlfriend in Kaali (Priyanka Chopra). The city's police commissioner (Om Puri) is Vijay’s well-wisher of sorts. Vijay will stop at nothing until he redresses his father’s humiliation and death. 

Mukul S. Anand, who directed the original, chose a stylish and slick approach to his version of Agneepath. Amitabh, as Anand’s Vijay strutted his stuff in white suits and witty one-liners with the angry young man persona only adding to his charm. The new Vijay is more restrained with words, but liberally expressive with his eyes. One of the many assets of Hrithik Roshan is his eyes and in Agneepath, he utilizes them completely, channeling his anguish and ache with sincerity and earnestness, adding a realistic, human dimension to the character. This one easily adds up to one of the best roles of his career. Rishi Kapoor is good at being bad. Sanjay Dutt (think Marlon Brando from Apocalypse Now), the original Khalnayak is quite comfortable playing the villain. Appearing like the devil’s incarnate himself, Dutt’s look is well crafted with a shaven head, dragon tattoos, ring on one ear, a pronounced scar, cigar in one hand and the Gita, no less, in the other. What really goes against him is the incessant laugh, which veers towards cartoonish at times, negating all the built up malice. PC, for all practical purposes feels like an extended cameo. 

Music Score by Ajay-Atul is loud, even thunderous at times. It is probably what was asked of them. Given that there is already enough melodrama with the baap-beta, maa-beta, bhai-behan rishtas and multiple sub plots, mostly ghastly and gruesome, overpowering your senses, the music could have been toned down. Katrina’s ‘Chikni Chameli’ seems almost lost in all the blood and gory. 

It appears that debutant Karan Malhotra is an ardent over-the-top Bollywood cinema enthusiast. Or he is simply good at directing. Either way, Karan is off to a great start, weaving some incredible scenes with a touch of finesse – watch out for the mother son scene where Zareena Wahahb kicks Hrithik out of her home and he talks about the food. Karan is very cleaver in leaving out the punch lines from the original and replacing them with more powerful, profound and expressive body language. 

There is something mythical about the new Agneepath. Despite the long and loud journey (which feels exhausting at times), the unadulterated, unapologetic and exaggerated bollywood experience is a peek into the old world mindset, where relations were valued enough to remain the primary focus of the story. Fathers, mothers, sisters, mattered. Karan Johar, with this venture must feel vindicated with all the accolades coming his way. His father certainly did not enjoy the same privilege. Agneepath is said to have left Yash Johar a broken man. So along with Vijay, Karan gets to redeem his father’s glory. Must have truly felt like Agneepath, for both father and son. But in the end, the journey, as blazing as it must have been, was probably worth it. This is a heartwarming, solemn and intense revival in many ways. I would watch it for Hrithik’s performance and simply the theatrical extravaganza that is presented, all heart and soul. As fiery as the journey is, it is worth traversing, for the intimate father son relations that it embraces, in more ways than one.