The 21st century Agneepath maintains the story of the original movie, with twists befitting the renewed action genre and an execution that relies more heavily on histronics, music and in-your-face violence. Since the story isn't new, here it is: a village teacher killed in a conspiracy, with a young and angry son growing up to become a criminal while harboring his mission to avenge his father's murder. The modern Vijay Dinanath Chauhan isn't a don by himself, but the silent right-hand man of a new character, Rauf Lala pitted against the old villain, Kancha (Cheena omitted notably). He is less established, more impulsive and melancholy and possesses a personality much lesser towering than the original.
Since the movie is a remake, let me stick with a comparative analysis of the old and new. The new one definitely wins in fleshing out almost every character of the plot, its biggest success with the villain Kancha. This new movie, as publicity suggests, makes the character more cruel, ruthless and sadistic, and then hands its reins to an actor who reinvents it as well as himself. Much like Saif's Langda Tyagi, the appearance of Kancha wins half the battle in portraying this deviant of a human being. The new Kancha looks like an adult-movie counterpart of Voldemort, the famous Harry Potter villain. Add to it some extremely well-written one-liners and this was a role waiting to succeed with even a modest execution. But Sanjay Dutt does not disappoint with just a modest execution, but one that adds new shades to the penned evil in this character. The protruding eyes and the towering physique of Sanjay Dutt makes Kancha visibly invincible and reduces everybody else to minions. It was flat out funny to watch Aamir Khan bash someone the size of Mukesh Rishi in Baazi, but even with Hrithik's toned physique, he ends up looking puny and filmy trying to beat Kancha in a fistfight. With about 20 years on Hrithik, that is even more impressive for Sanjay Dutt.
The next accolade goes to Rauf Lala. Rishi Kapoor neither looks nor registers in one's mind as a ruthless guy, but he gives a remarkable performance. He is less helped by make-up and dialogues and therefore pulls it off based mostly on his sharpened acting. Convincing the audience to hate and be disgusted with yesteryear's' chocolate-boy Rishi Kapoor truly speaks of the scriptwriter and actor's abilities.
With that, how about VDC himself? I have to say Hrithik falls short in this star-studded line-up. His portrayal occasionally borders on confused. Most of the time he is shown as this drunk melancholy person who seeks revenge, but evidently very deep inside. The crazed obsession of his character with Kancha is significantly blunted by his human side that Hrithik's performance seems to inadvertently emphasize on. Its telling that I found Hrithik's best acting in an action movie to be the 20 minutes when he gets to bond with his younger sister. Its like remembering James Bond for his crying scene. While VDC's character is somewhat most humanized in this version of the movie, Hrithik is not able to convincingly transit from the helpless deprived human to the brazen criminal. He wants to kill Kancha, but when the time comes, his plot seems extremely pedestrian. It does not help the movie at all when Hrithik's entry follows the close-up-on-bicep, running Hrithik "Krrish style". That one scene sets the tone: it is Hrithik, not VDC. Thankfully the script did not require him to dance like he usually does! What proved a strength to Sanjay Dutt and Rishi Kapoor is a liability to Hrithik: his looks. No matter how much he rolls in mud and dust, he does not look like a poor common man. Destitude, yes (in Guzaarish), but not "street". His prince-in-disguise looks don't work in this movie.
The movie is quite gory, a bit more so than Ghajini. The action in the climax, though, sometimes borders on laughable and thoroughly adrenaline-induced. What else could make a multiply-stabbed Vijay lift an extremely hefty-looking and uninjured Kancha and then paralyze him with a big boulder?? But that is masala film for you! An astonishing blooper completes the climax when a Vijay who is stabbed in his stomach earlier tears his shirt later to reveal a relatively unblemished 6-pack belly! The only redeeming thing about the climax are Kancha's caustic and devilish dialogues.
Priyanka Chopra plays the part of the pretty starry-eyed girl well enough. Another big USP of the movie is its music. Most of the songs are quite melodious and actually fit well in the movie. Chikni Chameli is definitely not its best song (i.e. there are better ones). Hopefully Ajay-Atul are here to stay.
In the end, maybe worth a watch. But leave behind the kids and any ladies who cannot witness Hrithik die on screen!
