Agneepath – Tribute or Travesty?

(By Naveen)

What the f#ck was that Joker Johar thinking?

Did he think remaking his dad’s old flop movie would make his dad feel better?

Is Karan Johar trying to tell the world that he is better at the craft than his dad?

Is he trying to remind how his dad’s f#cked up movie was an unwatchable dud?

If he is trying to do any of the above then he has succeeded.

Yes! the new Agneepath is way better than his dad’s atrocious attempt.

Hey wait! I am not saying the new movie is good.

I am saying it’s better than the old one which isn’t much if you have seen the old one!

So, pull up your pants or panties and continue to read ahead.

I had no interest, time or intention to watch the new “Agneepath”, produced by Karan Johar as a tribute to his father’s two decades old attempt.

However, I was cajoled into making time by my persistent friends in a moment of weakness.

I’ll try to focus on comparison with the old Agneepath as SI has already posted a well written review for new Agneepath by Sonny.

Agneepath – Story

New Agneepath is directed by first timer Karan Malhotra.

Agneepath is about Vijay Dheenanath Chauhan (Hrithik Roshan) taking revenge on the Evil Kancha Cheena (Sanjay Dutt) for killing his father.

Priyanka Chopra plays his childhood friend + love interest and Rishi Kapoor plays Rauf Lala, a girl trafficker, drug peddling gangster who considers Kancha Cheena a mortal enemy.

The movie is about how the revenge is taken and who backstabs who in the process.

Comparison

The rationale for revenge is more profound in the new Agneepath.

OLD: Vijay’s dad is killed by the people of Mandhwa. The local Zamindar plots the death and Kancha Cheena merely asks the Zamindar to take care of the master and ensure the village doesn’t get electricity.

NEW: Kancha Cheena personally executes Vijay’s dad in a brutal way after turning the village against him.

New version is less idiotic than the old version

OLD: Amitabh played the Vijay like depressed fool. Vijay goes unarmed to the place where his enemies are waiting to kill him and nearly succeeds in getting bumped off. That dumb ploy was supposed to be heroic.

NEW: Hrithik’s Vijay shows more purpose. He is young, fit, focused, deadly and doesn’t brood like Amitabh.

OLD: Mithun Chakraborthy plays Krishnan Iyer M.A, a Lungi clad Tamil coconut seller speaking in a highly exaggerated accent. He puts up a performance that would shame drunk baboons. His character had a unnecessary romance track with Vijay’s sister, played by Neelam.

NEW: No Krishnan Iyer character and no romance for Vijay’s sister (Hooray!! Thank you!!)

OLD: Vijay and his sister seem just few years apart when they were young but the grown up Vijay is 36 years old and his sister is still a teenager or barely out of college!! Don’t women age too? 😉

NEW: Vijay’s sister is born soon after their father’s death and the age difference is gracefully maintained.

OLD: Kancha Cheena has four enemies. They bail out the young Vijay after he blows up a gas station owned by KC and that’s how grows up as a Gangster. These four enemies are portrayed in a juvenile fashion as cowardly clowns.

NEW: Vijay takes refuge under Rauf Lala’s tutelage after killing a cop. Rauf Lala is a seasoned gangster who is even more powerful than Kancha Cheena.

Stupidity introduced in the new Agneepath

Now how can we have a Bollywood movie that has all improvements? 😉

Rauf Lala is more disgusting in many ways than Kancha Cheena. He openly auctions young girls to lecherous men in broad daylight besides dealing in drugs and running gangs. Vijay chooses to side with this guy for his revenge pursuit.

Isn’t it completely contrary to the teachings of his father? To me, any moral sympathy that the Vijay character had vanished with that association.

The only photo the Police department has of Vijay is from his childhood. Although, Vijay roams around freely, participates in Ganpati functions and even meets the Police Commissioner from time to time.

Sanjay Dutt plays Kancha Cheena as a evil, disgusting, low-down psychotic freak. No problems with that but he is hardly shown doing anything smart. Although I have nothing against the portrayal I think the suit wearing suave Kancha Chenna played by Danny was also good.

Agneepath – Acting

Rishi Kapoor – Brilliant! Kudos to him for taking up the lecherous Rauf Lala role and pulling off a fine performance.

Sanjay Dutt – His presence was more dominating than his acting. He looked like a mountain and with that bald head looks every bit evil. He was adequate as Kancha Cheena but I wish his role had more screen time.

Hrithik Roshan – As far as Hrithik is concerned I guess it suffices to say that he was a better Vijay than Amitabh. Good performance.. nothing to complain… he would have had better scope to perform if his role would have been written with more dimensions to his emotions. He is very good in the scene where he walks off the dinner table at his mother’s home.

Priyanka Chopra – I am not going to bash her because her role was too insignificant and she had very little screen time. A blessing in disguise? 😉

Om Puri – Fine actor… bland role… good but nothing special

Actually I liked the performance of the boy who played young Vijay.

Agneepath – Songs and Music

Ajay-Atul’s music was cacophonic nonsense.

None of the songs stay in mind, the BMG was too loud and it stays that way throughout the movie. Avoidable!

Agneepath – Recommendation

The first half is fast and engaging but it loses steam and degenerates to a looooooooong and boooooooooooooooring second half.

It just goes on and on and on until they seemed to have ran out of ideas.

The fight between Hrithik and Sanjay Dutt was disappointing.

The new Agneepath does not break any new grounds.

It offers nothing new in terms of a revenge movie. It is no Kill Bill or Sholay.

It is one man’s fantasy to rehash his dad’s trash.

It is better than the old version but that is the best I can say about it.

Agneepath Related Stories
Agneepath (2012) – A Blazing Bollywood Bonanza
Agneepath (1990) – Nauseating Piece of Shit
Agneepath Box Office – Way Less than Don 2

22 Responses to "Agneepath – Tribute or Travesty?"

  1. Twig   February 3, 2012 at 1:03 am

    I never had any strong desire to watch this movie. But now i’m going to watch this movie. The reason:

    this statement: “Ajay-Atul’s music was cacophonic nonsense.”

    Thanks Naveen. Was he expecting this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5qeuVOIbHk kind of music
    in a bloody revenge drama centered in Western Maharastra?

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Listening to Chopin. Soothing.

    • Mnx542   February 3, 2012 at 4:28 am

      Chopin’s composition in Twig’s link is strangely addictive. Don’t know why, but I find I’m addicted to compositions like the following:

      1)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cze-RfsOkkc

      2)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWqKPWO5T4o

      3)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4swAeQGBvAs&feature=related

      4)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akT6-gtRNTE&feature=related

      I would end most days listening to such compositions as they have a wonderfully soothing effect 🙂

      SearchIndia.com Responds:

      Good, classical music in violent movies (Godfather, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Sherlock Holmes etc) makes for an interesting contrast.

      We have the Godfather Waltz (Nino Rota) from iTunes that we listen to often:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW5CV8-X6Yk&feature=related

      • Mnx542   February 4, 2012 at 11:00 pm

        Wow, Godfather Waltz is lovely. I still haven’t watched any of the Godfather movies although I’ve seen some snippets.

        Sad that most Indians associate cacophony with the word music. They’re likely to consider compositions like these as boring.

        Btw, Jesper Kyd, the composer for games like Hitman (all 4 parts), Assassin’s Creed etc is amazing. I’ve played both Hitman and Assassin’s Creed. Both have hauntingly beautiful soundtrack. They do a great deal in enhancing the gameplay.

        One more thing. Are you planning to watch Man on a Ledge (2012)? Has Sam Worthington in the lead. Liked him in Avatar and I’m waiting for a chance to watch this one.

        SearchIndia.com Responds:

        1. You write: Sad that most Indians associate cacophony with the word music.

        Sometime back we spoke to an Indian friend who described Shruti Hassan as a good singer and a multifaceted personality. Honest!

        2. Man on a Ledge? No plans to see it. Lil’ bijee with other stuff.

        BTW, it’s opened to generally poor reviews.

        Sam Worthington is hardly the sort of actor that can light up a screen.

        • Aswin_Kini   February 6, 2012 at 8:30 am

          Mnx542 said: “Sad that most Indians associate cacophony with the word music. They’re likely to consider compositions like these as boring.”

          Most Indians????? Really. how much % of Indians have you interviewed to come to this conclusion. Typing out statements using some useless statistics seems to be quite a rage these days.. Btw, do you realize that the same Indians DO APPRECIATE geniuses like Ilayaraja. The same Indians do listen to classical songs sung by experts like Yesudoss, Hariharan, SPB and others.
          Ever listened to numbers like these??:

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-OK49NIvIs

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYbOYRzLgCM

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLyW1KN7ZuU

          Dude, when you pass statements, just think twice… ok. We may be a land of crass films, but when it comes to creating and appreciating good music, we stand amongst the best

          You are really entitled to your opinions. But passing out ignorant statements makes you less credible. Remember, in this land, cacaphonic music does co-exist with masterclass melody.

          SearchIndia.com Responds:

          1. The first one is good. Pratap Pothen is so unlike 99.9% of Indian heroes. Very refreshing.

          2. Very good. Listened to/Watched it twice. Enjoyed the picturization too. Bhanupriya (beri beri preeeety) and Mamooty are good in the above clip.

          3. Hauntingly beautiful.

          All three have decent lyrics, which people often ignore in their praise of Ilayaraja, Rahman etc.

          • Mnx542   February 6, 2012 at 12:33 pm

            @Aswin

            You really haven’t understood what I said. I said MOST Indians would associate cacophony with music, not ALL. The keyword was MOST, which you clearly missed. Doesn’t mean that Indians do not appreciate good music at all.

            Next time, try to read and comprehend clearly what another person says.

            “Remember, in this land, cacaphonic music does co-exist with masterclass melody.”

            Bravo, only in India do we use the words ‘cacophonic music’.. lol, what is that supposed to mean?????

            Music is not the same as cacophony..!!!

          • Aswin_Kini   February 7, 2012 at 10:00 am

            Mnx542 said: “@Aswin

            You really haven’t understood what I said. I said MOST Indians would associate cacophony with music, not ALL. The keyword was MOST, which you clearly missed. Doesn’t mean that Indians do not appreciate good music at all.”

            Buddy, I understood your comment perfectly. I was just against the usage of the word “MOST INDIANS”. You see, no one on Earth, leave alone wise souls like SI, can ever understand India or INdians perfectly. We are a nation comprising people from atleast a dozen religions, speaking around 18+ national languages, and hailing from 29 different states. All you, I, and SI know are about Indians from the metropolitan cities and other popular towns and cities in India. We never know the real india, so I am not sure how you can use the word “MOST Indians”. India has a population of 1.3 billion, maybe more today, we hardly know about the preference of 30 million Indians. So your assumption stands null and void.

            2) When it comes to music, India beats the best of the best. Be it the lovely carnatic ragas, the mesmerizing Ghazals, or the evergreen Hindustani music,Indians have always been patronizers of this wonderful art We have appreciated good music since time immemorial.

            3) You said, “Bravo, only in India do we use the words ‘cacophonic music’.. lol, what is that supposed to mean?????”

            PErhaps you are not aware of this so-called phenomenon called “KOLAVERI”. Kindly let me know what sort of music does it fall under. Because I see that apart from Indians, Malaysians, Singaporeans, Chinese, Americans, and even some British people have fallen in love with it.

            On the last line, I agree with you. Music is not the same as cacaphony. But that is valid only when you define what is music and what is cacaphony. Perspectives differ my dear friend.

          • Mnx542   February 9, 2012 at 3:13 am

            “Buddy, I understood your comment perfectly. I was just against the usage of the word “MOST INDIANS”. You see, no one on Earth, leave alone wise souls like SI, can ever understand India or INdians perfectly. We are a nation comprising people from atleast a dozen religions, speaking around 18+ national languages, and hailing from 29 different states. All you, I, and SI know are about Indians from the metropolitan cities and other popular towns and cities in India. We never know the real india, so I am not sure how you can use the word “MOST Indians”. India has a population of 1.3 billion, maybe more today, we hardly know about the preference of 30 million Indians. So your assumption stands null and void.”

            If my point is null and void, so is your conclusion about what I or SI(or anyone for that matter) know and don’t know about India and Indians!!

            My point was about the cacophony that is being hailed as wonderful music… not about the various religions, languages, caste etc..!! Whether you like or not, cacophony is also hailed as wonderful music.. A classic example is Why this Kolaveri Di.??

            2)”When it comes to music, India beats the best of the best. Be it the lovely carnatic ragas, the mesmerizing Ghazals, or the evergreen Hindustani music,Indians have always been patronizers of this wonderful art We have appreciated good music since time immemorial”

            Again, you’ve clearly misunderstood. I DID NOT say Indians don’t appreciate good music nor that there is no good music at all in India. THAT is NOT what I said.

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH8TpOLROOQ

            11 million views and counting, for that atrocity Chikni Chameli..!! Patronizers huh?

            3)”On the last line, I agree with you. Music is not the same as cacaphony. But that is valid only when you define what is music and what is cacaphony.”

            Please refer to the Oxford Dictionary :)… That is all I can say.!!

            Btw, you agree with me on the last line but you also defend your usage of the words ‘cacophonic music’… Please make up your mind and get back to me..!! No offense..!!

      • Twig   February 6, 2012 at 12:26 am

        “They’re likely to consider compositions like these as boring.”

        At least, I’m not. In India, we have several geniuses, but people don’t have enough time to find them.
        For example, listen to this first 2.5 min of this piece. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey9RN7YDId8

        This is IR’s soothing music for a recent film set in a village about a lost horse.

        Brilliant, I would say!

        SearchIndia.com Responds:

        After listening four times to the score in the above link…. the wise one speaketh thus:

        Good Lord, only in India do people celebrate the merely above-average as ‘Brilliant,’ get their knickers in a twist and start moaning about a nation of unrecognized, unsung zeroes heroes.

        No wonder that nation has never been among God’s favorites!

        Soothing, we’ll concede that….given the usual tawdry, garish output from Kollywood.

  2. vjcool   February 3, 2012 at 2:27 am

    recommending a world war II movie http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/grave_of_the_fireflies/

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oki5s9RuJWE&feature=related

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Looks interesting. Will watch.

  3. vjcool   February 3, 2012 at 2:30 am

    it’s based on a true story and a novel

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_of_the_Fireflies_%28novel%29

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Since we plan to see the movie we read only the introduction.

  4. Naveen   February 3, 2012 at 4:27 am

    Was he expecting this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5qeuVOIbHk kind of music
    in a bloody revenge drama centered in Western Maharastra?

    @Twig – No. I did not expect that or anything in particular.

    A couple of hummable songs and a BGM that would not make you look for ear plugs would have been nice.

  5. STG   February 4, 2012 at 2:12 am

    hi…after a loooong time…I infer you are doing great thru following your posts on and off. Belated wishes for whatever we missed 😉

    back to business…our good friend Naveen argues that the new film is way better than the old one listing out fact over fact. But then why the heading calls it a ‘travesty’..shouldn’t be something along the line of ‘enhanced’ or something? can someone enlighten me 😉

    SearchIndia.com Responds

    Hello Sweetie, how a remake of garbage like Old Agneepath can be enhanced beats us.

    In any case, Naveen will likely respond to your question in a few hours. It’s still early in Chicago (around 7:30AM there).

    P.S: He’s also preoccupied with other stuff these days. 😉

    • Naveen   February 6, 2012 at 11:44 am

      @STG,

      The old Agneepath was horrendous crap. If Karan Johar had remade it as-is then even papa Johar would have given beta Joker a tight slap.

      So, there are some improvements but it still does not render the movie watchable. At almost 3 hrs runtime, a constantly noisy BGM, lousy songs, uncreative screenplay and new loopholes what else can I call it but a travesty?

      Here is a comment that reflects similar sentiments
      http://www.searchindia.com/2012/01/26/agneepath-%e2%80%93-a-blazing-bollywood-bonanza/#comment-26411

  6. Naveen   February 6, 2012 at 11:23 am

    Hello SI,

    Will you please consider adding an option to see more recent comments?

    Maybe a “Next”, “Prev” links in that section to browse through older comments / responses?

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    We’ve moved Recent Comments to right top on SI home page and also increased the number of recent comments from 5 to 8.

    Now upon loading SI home page you can quickly see the commenter’s name and the post for which the comment has been left for up to 8 comments.

    Hope that helps.

  7. Naveen   February 7, 2012 at 4:59 pm

    Good job SI!

    Now, do you want to extend it beyond the 3 x 6 = 18 comments / recent posts 😉

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    How many do you want?

    24? Done.

    BTW, if you look at the bottom of the page we’ve introduced pagination there too.

    • Naveen   February 8, 2012 at 4:50 pm

      I guess 24 is sufficient. Ideally it would be perfect if one is able to navigate across all comments ever posted in SI but I understand it does not add value to allow that much navigation.

      24 is fine! Thank you!

  8. Mnx542   February 9, 2012 at 3:02 am

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiKYBKGtuXs&feature=g-logo&context=G29b4774FOAAAAAAAGAA

    What do you think?

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    It ain’t a Bourne film if it don’t have Matt Damon! 🙁

    • Mnx542   February 9, 2012 at 11:15 am

      True. Matt Damon gave a ton of life to the titular character Jason Bourne.

      But this film isn’t a prequel or a reboot. The main character isn’t Jason Bourne. It’s Aaron Cross (according to imdb), who was also a part of treadstone program. According to wiki, the story sets off after the events of Bourne Ultimatum. Tony Gilory (the screenwriter of the previous films) is the director.. Would he be as effective as Paul Greengrass remains to be seen.

      Btw, the main lead Jeremy Renner was also in MI 4. He did a neat job in the acting department and also in the action scenes. I don’t think Aaron Cross would leave the same impact as Jason Bourne, but let’s wait and see.

      SearchIndia.com Responds:

      But Ed Norton and Rachel Weisz are part of the cast.

      So the movie can’t be all bad even if it lacks Matt Damon.

      Ah, Jeremy Renner is the Hurt Locker guy. We knew we’d seen him somewhere.

  9. deepa   February 14, 2012 at 12:23 am

    Hello

    I plan to catch Agneepath this weekend, the reviews and hype have been crazy and I can’t help but succumb. I didn’t really like the item song Katrina did, somehow her moves looked way too vulgar.

    She wasn’t a good fit for this type of dancing. Btw, have you guys caught Warhorse? Absolutely brilliant, the cast and acting was so good. Be prepared to perhaps shed a tear or two 😛

    Spielberg and his magic touch!!

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    1. Warhorse? No.

    Our recent films include Denzel Washington’s Safe House, Chronicle, Baaria (Italian) & Killer Elite (Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro).

    2. You write: I didn’t really like the item song Katrina did, somehow her moves looked way too vulgar. She wasn’t a good fit for this type of dancing.

    We didn’t like it either.

    But we bet tens of millions of Indians drooled & shagged all over their TV and computer screens till their tired Hindu weenies couldn’t take it anymore. 😉

    • Mnx542   February 14, 2012 at 5:51 am

      How were the other two movies Baaria and Killer Elite? Reviews coming?

      SearchIndia.com Responds:

      Baaria is good, a multi-generational film.

      Killer Elite is the usual action junk.

      Reviews? Not coming.

  10. deepa   February 14, 2012 at 1:37 am

    With those half porn-half constipated moves… I’m not sure what she was trying to achieve

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