I am an unabashed
Bachchan fan. So I will stay away from any comparison between histrionic
abilities of AB and Hrithik, lest I be biased. I also understand the need of
the film-maker to put farthest distance between the original and the remake, the
obvious need to innovate on the situation But the effort has obviously not paid
off.
The character of
protagonist Vijay Deenanath Chauhan, the edifice around which the original film
was built, has been probably the biggest casualty of the film.
When I last
checked, Vijay Chauhan loved to play fair & square, in spite of all his goondaism.
And with courage. So much so that when shot at by his mentors-turned-rivals in
the back, he turns around and shouts – ae, peeth me kya goli maarta hai,
saamne se maar!
Hritihik’s Vijay
however has no moral compunctions as he deceives and cunningly kills his mentor’s
son on his wedding day. About courage, what can only be said is that Hrithik’s
character loses no opportunity to get meekly bashed up including till the end. Sacrilege,
I say, to distort the basic grain of the movie thus!
Then there is
this ghastly and mostly unnecessary violence which runs throughout the film - a
minor bleeding from a rape, a father convulsing after being hanged, a man hung
upside-down being thrown around like a pendulum….. What it is that the
film-maker strives to show through these scenes is completely beyond me but I am
sure some subtlety would not have hurt the artistic expression.
The only saving
grace of the film is probably Sanjay Dutt as Kancha Cheena who has brought a flair
to his role, in spite of being slightly over-the-top. And yes, Rishi Kapoor
also needs to be mentioned, who has done justice to his character, even though
not much varying from his usual style.
Apart from this, the
landscape of the movie is populated by a string of card-board characters, aided
by ear-jarring back-ground music and mundane dialogues.
Watch it at your own
peril. And if you have to, do keep a DVD of the original Agneepath ready – to wash
off the toxicity soon after.
