Agneepath (2012)

Agneepath (English: Path of Fire) is a 2012 Indian action drama film produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Karan Johar under the banner of Dharma Productions. It is a retelling of the 1990 film of the same name and was directed by Johar's former assistant Karan Malhotra. The screenplay was written by Malhotra along with Ila Dutta Bedi. Johar pays tribute to his father, Yash Johar, the producer of the original, through the film. The music of the film was composed by Ajay-Atul, with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Though publicized as a remake, the film borrows only the basic plot of the original, while making the characters and incidents completely different. The title of the film was taken from a poem of the same name by Harivansh Rai Bachchan which forms a thematic link through the film, both literally and metaphorically.
Hrithik Roshan plays the lead role of Vijay Deenanath Chauhan and Sanjay Dutt plays the role of the antagonist Kancha Cheena, originally played by Amitabh Bachchan and Danny Denzongpa respectively, with Rishi Kapoor portraying the newly introduced character of Rauf Lala. The supporting cast include Om Puri as Commissioner Gaitonde, Priyanka Chopra as Kaali Gawde and Zarina Wahab as Suhasini Chauhan, with Katrina Kaif featuring in an item number. The film follows the struggle of a common man, Vijay Chauhan, as he seeks revenge from Kancha Cheena, for wrongly framing and murdering his father in the island village of Mandwa. In the process he befriends an underworld drug lord Rauf Lala and falls in love with a motor-mouthed girl, Kaali Gawde.
Principal photography of Agneepath took place in Diu and Mumbai, with several accidents taking place on the sets. After several issues such as plagiarism charges and release-date postponement, Agneepath released on 26 January 2012 in 2650 screens worldwide, coinciding with the Republic Day celebrations. Made on a budget of 60 crore (US$11.34 million), the film broke the highest opening day collections record in India and became a major critical and commercial success with a worldwide gross of 193 crore (US$36.48 million). Box Office India declared the film as a "super hit". Agneepath has since emerged as one of the highest grossing films of all time in Bollywood.

Plot

The story opens in the island village of Mandwa. A school teacher, Dinanath Chauhan (Chetan Pandit); highly respected by the villagers tries to dissuade them from giving away their lands on lease to Kancha Cheena (Sanjay Dutt), the son of the village head who plans to start a drug mafia. Knowing this, Kancha decides to get rid of the school teacher. He ambushes and murders a young girl inside the school, framing Chauhan for the murder. With the support of the villagers, Kancha then kills Chauhan by hanging him to death from a tree which is witnessed by young Vijay Chauhan (Arish Bhiwandiwala), the son of the teacher. Vijay Chauhan along with his pregnant mother Suhasini Chauhan (Zarina Wahab) leave the village. Destitute, they find shelter in the city of Mumbai but Vijay harbors intentions to go back to Mandwa and kill Kancha. While in Mumbai, Vijay's mother delivers a baby girl named Shiksha. Vijay is attracted to Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor), a local girl-trafficker and importantly an enemy of Kancha and wants to get into his company. He earns his favor and joins his gang. Meanwhile, his mother along with his baby sister leave Vijay's side as he resorts to violence.
A grown-up Vijay (Hrithik Roshan) now works for Rauf Lala and finds himself as his trusted wing-man. Once inspector and now commissioner, Gaitonde (Om Puri) acts as a silent guardian for Vijay and tries to eliminate crime in Mumbai. During the time when Rauf's influence over the drug business in Mumbai is falling, Kancha decides to grow his influence as a drug lord in the city and sends his aid, Shantaram (Ravi Jhankal) over to Mumbai for the process. Vijay with the help of the commissioner disrupts this plan and is lauded by Lala. He further gains the trust of Lala by taking a bullet shot which was aimed for Lala's son, Mazhar (Rajesh Tandon); but is later revealed as a conspiracy involving Vijay and Shantaram to eliminate Mazhar.
After murdering both Mazhar and Shantaram, Vijay brings Mazhar's corpse to Lala, who falls sick and is admitted into a hospital. In the meantime, Vijay takes over Lala's empire and stops all the crimes committed by Lala's gang. He is then contacted by Kancha and offers to go to Mandwa for a business agreement. While in Mandwa, Vijay tries to strike a deal with Kancha to hand over the drug business in Mumbai over to Kancha and in return taking Mandwa. Though Kancha initially suspects this deal, he later agrees on the condition that Gaitonde must be killed.
Meanwhile back in Mumbai, Lala regains health and finds out the truth behind Mazhar's death. He gets hold of Vijay's sister Shiksha (Kanika Tiwari) and tries to sell her off. Vijay is notified of this by Kancha and he flees back to Mumbai and kills Lala. Soon after, Kancha sends a man to assassinate Gaitonde. This man identifies Vijay to be the son of the teacher killed by Kancha and reports this to Kancha. However, while he tries to assassinate Gaitonde, he is killed by Vijay. Vijay, meanwhile marries his love interest Kaali Gawde (Priyanka Chopra), who is killed right after during a shooting spree by Kancha's men.
Vijay leaves for Mandwa to avenge the death of his father and his wife and after an intense battle with Kancha, kills him by hanging him from the same tree in which his father was hanged. However, Vijay succumbs to his injuries and breaths his last in the hands of his mother, who forgives him of his sins.

Cast

• Hrithik Roshan as Vijay Deenanath Chauhan. He is a man seeking revenge for the murder of his father.
• Rishi Kapoor as Rauf Lala, an underworld lord. He runs a meat business and simultaneously deals in drugs and prostitution.
• Sanjay Dutt as Kancha Cheena. An unscrupulous man, often mocked for his ugly looks; he runs Mandwa as a concentration camp and exploits the villagers in order to deal in cheap cocaine.
• Priyanka Chopra as Kaali Gawde, a motor-mouthed girl. She loves Vijay and provides moral support in his quest for revenge.
• Om Puri as Commissioner Gaitonde. He is a brutally honest cop who develops a close bond with Vijay.
• Zarina Wahab as Suhasini Chauhan, Vijay's mother. She tries hard to dissuade Vijay against choosing a path of violence.
• Chetan Pandit as Master Deenanath Chauhan, Vijay's father. A morally upright man, he is wrongly framed for the rape and murder of a young girl and is subsequently killed by Kancha.
• Sachin Khedekar as Mr. Borkar. He is the Home Secretary of Maharashtra and an aide of Kancha.
• Deven Bhojani as Azhar Lala, a mentally challenged younger son of Rauf Lala.
• Kanika Tiwari as Shiksha Chauhan, Vijay's sister. She lives with her mother and is unaware of Vijay's existence.
• Rajesh Tandon as Mazhar Lala, Rauf Lala's elder son. He is suspicious of Vijay's loyalties.
• Ravi Jhankal as Shantaram, Kancha's aid who conspires with Vijay.
• Rajesh Vivek as Mr. Bakshi, a police inspector who doubles as Kancha's informer.
• Madhurjeet Sarghi as Lachhi, Kaali's mother.
• Arish Bhiwandiwala as the younger Vijay Chauhan.
• Banwarilal Taneja as Kancha's father.
• Katrina Kaif as "Chikni Chameli" (special appearance).
• Brijendra Kala as Muneem.

• Development

  In an interview with The Times Of India, Karan Johar explained that he harbored intentions of remaking the original Agneepath ever since the film released in 1990. Though the film had received critical acclaim, its commercial failure had devastated his father, producer Yash Johar. The idea of a possible remake materialized on the sets of Johar's directorial My Name Is Khan, in which Karan Malhotra was an assistant director. Johar told Malhotra of his desire to remake the original film and asked him to revisit it again.On not directing the film himself, Johar commented, "I am happy directing films on love, romance and drama. That's what I do best. I don't think I will be good at an action film. So I am not taking the reins of the film in my hand".However, Johar maintained that the new film would belong to a different milieu as compared to the original. He stated, "We are adapting the film from the original but ours would be a new age version that would fit in well with today's time. We really hope that we are able to do justice to the original and make the remake exciting for today's generation." In an interview with Filmfare, he added that the protagonist of the film would be "more of an underdog", while the antagonist would be "more flamboyant and menacing" than the older version.
  Several changes were made to the story-line of the original film, including the omission of certain characters and addition of new ones. The characters of Krishnan Iyer MA, played by Mithun Chakraborty and Nurse Mary Matthew, played by Madhavi were done away with and new characters such as Rauf Lala and Kaali Gawde were introduced in the screenplay.Moreover, the characterization of Vijay Chauhan was changed, unlike the original which was inspired by Al Pacino's role in Scarface (1983). In an interview with The Calcutta Telegraph, director Karan Malhotra explained the adaptation by saying, "The similarity (between the original and this film) lies only in the fact that it is a revenge film; a son seeking revenge for his father’s death. Unlike Mr. (Amitabh) Bachchan’s film, my film starts and ends in Mandwa and is primarily about the conflict between the mother and the son. It’s a completely new film with a lot of new characters." He additionally termed Agneepath to be a "crazily dramatic masala Bollywood film"
  
  

  Marketing

  The first official trailer of Agneepath was launched at a press conference in Mumbai on 29 August 2011. Dharma Productions streamed the event live on the production house's YouTube Channel.The event was attended by the entire cast: Roshan, Kapoor, Dutt and Chopra. The trailer of the film was the third most watched trailer in India, behind the films, Don 2 and Ra.One.
  The film associated itself with McDonald's to provide a discount of 50 (US$0.95) to customers buying a meal at the joint. Additionally, few winners were offered a chance to win a lunch date with Roshan.As part of the promotional campaign, Roshan, Dutt and Chopra visited Dubai on 19 January 2012, to interact with fans at a shopping mall, followed by an invitational high tea party. The actors traveled to several places in India including New Delhi, Nagpur and other cities to promote the film.
  
  

  Reception

  The music of Agneepath received positive reviews from critics. Joginder Tuteja praised the compositions and added that "Chikni Chameli" would be responsible for the rise in sales of the album. Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com gave the album 3 out of 5 stars and said that the film's soundtrack was better than that of the original, while praising the composition of the songs "Deva Shree Ganesha" and "O Saiyyan".A review carried by BBC UK summed up, "Blessedly free of unnecessary remixes, Agneepath is a well-crafted, evocative collection of songs that proves the adage that, when it comes to Indian music composers, sometimes two heads can be better than one.
  
  

  Release and reception

  Prior to its theatrical release, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certified the film with a UA certificate after demanding a few cuts, due to a high proportion of violence present in the film. Explaining the certificate, Pankaja Thakur, CEO of CBFC stated, " Agneepath has a lot of bloodshed but none of us felt disturbed by it. The violence is not the type that can psychologically damage a child and the softer scenes of the film managed to offset the darker part of it". The film's posters subsequently featured disclaimers reading, "This film is certified U/A. We advise parental guidance due to violence in the film." The board, consequently praised Johar for the step.
  Initially scheduled to release on 13 January 2012, Agneepath was postponed by a week to 26 January to coincide with the Republic Day celebrations. The film eventually released at around 2650 screens worldwide. The satellite rights of the film were sold to Zee Network for a sum of 41 crore (US$7.75 million), a month before the theatrical release. Dharma Productions released the DVD of Agneepath on 13 March 2012 across all regions in the NTSC format, with a censor rating of PG-13.The DVD has been priced at 299 (US$5.65) and includes special features such as the "making of the film" and "deleted scenes and songs". It is available in Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo format with English and Arabic subtitles presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen.
  
  

  Box office

  Agneepath broke the record of the highest opening day collections, with a nett of 21.76 crore (US$4.11 million) on its opening day, surpassing the previous record held by Bodyguard Subsequently, the film netted 62.11 crore (US$11.74 million) over its extended four-day weekend.The film's collections sustained well on its first Monday and it netted around 7.50 crore (US$1.42 million), taking its five-day total to 69.50 crore (US$13.14 million) nett. It netted 6.50 crore (US$1.23 million) on Tuesday and another 5.00 crore (US$0.95 million) nett on Wednesday. The movie brought its first-week total to 85.88 crore (US$16.23 million) nett, thereby emerging as a major commercial success.
  The film collected 23.12 crore (US$4.37 million) in its second week, thus taking its two-week total to 109 crore (US$20.6 million) nett. The film collected 7.59 crore (US$1.43 million) nett in its third week, taking its three-week nett collections to 116.59 crore (US$22.04 million). It collected 2.61 crore (US$493,290) in its fourth week, taking its four-week nett collections to 119.20 crore (US$22.53 million).Agneepath was thus, declared as a "superhit". Agneepath has collected 120.06 crore (US$22.69 million) in its lifetime run in India and is the fifth highest grossing Bollywood movie of all time, as of April 2012.
  After a successful opening in the domestic market, Agneepath made 16.5 crore (US$3.12 million) in its four day weekend, overseas. At the time of release, the film holds the record for the twelfth largest opening ever internationally.The film has grossed around $6 million in overseas markets.