Remembering Agneepath (1990), on the 35th anniversary of its release.
“Hawa Tez hai Dinkar Rao
Topi Sambhalo
Nahin Toh Udd Jayega”
The above dialogue in Mukul S. Anand’s revenge saga, Agneepath, is the warning that Vijay Dinanath Chauhan (Amitabh Bachchan) throws to the slimy Dinkar Rao (Goga Kapoor) who had orchestrated the conspiracy against master Dinanath (Alok Nath). It’s a subtle threat to Kancha Cheena (Danny) who controls Mandwa, the village that forms a crucial motif.
Agneepath (1990) was way ahead of its time and an experimental film. Anand’s first of the trilogy with Amitabh Bachchan adorned the megastar with sass and swagger. Wanting to lend a new dimension to the superstar, he made Bachchan experiment with his voice for the first time, a similarity that can be traced back to that of Marlon Brando in The Godfather (1972). Bachchan plays a fearless gangster determined to avenge the death of his father. Not only his voice, but even his diction and the way of addressing things had transformed while delving into the psyche of a young boy who loses his innocent childhood and descends into the underbelly of Mumbai (popularly known as Bombay, back then).
Vijay’s grudge was not against only his nemesis, Kaancha. It was also against the society that compelled him to choose the path of crime. In a way, the film was a resurrection of Bachchan’s previous cinematic avatars. It had traces of Deewaar (here too he had played a wronged man), Muqaddar ka Sikandar (his ‘Gareebon ka Maseeha’ deeds), and even Namak Halal (his broken English, such as “Maut ke saath Appaintment“).
Mukul was a prolific filmmaker, and God only knows how much I still wish his last outing Dus could have been completed in 1997. His Agneepath was rich in style, setting and substance. The ominous milieu of Mandwa was blended perfectly with the exquisite waters and locales of Mauritius. Vijay Chauhan’s attitude and charisma elevated the film to a cult status, even though it didn’t stir the box-office. Some critics slammed it as a middling ‘Scarface’ drama. Amitabh’s coarse, synthesized voice couldn’t salvage it from its fate. He even redubbed the film with his original voice too.
One of the most intense scenes beside the heavy-duty climactic action was the deadly fight that ensues between Amitabh and first-timer Deepak Shirke in the chaotic basti following the abduction of Vijay Chauhan’s sister (Neelam). It is a masterstroke from the genius director that perfectly captured the formidable rage of Bachchan’s character. Dialogues such as “Kaat ke rakh dega main,” uttered in a ghaati lingo, were laced with scorching decibels and an irresistible background score. The same became a recurrent score in Ghayal too.
I still remember the frenzy that had caught up before the film’s release. The life-sized poster of Big B amidst the inferno, and his countenance, that of a wounded tiger, was imprinted in my mind. Back in those days, we didn’t have a colour TV, so, watching it in B&W, I wasn’t fully able to enjoy Agneepath extravaganza. Bachchan’s lines such as “Main Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, Umar 36 saal, 9 mahina, 8 din yeh 16wa ghanta chalu hai, maloom” and “Waqt pe pahunchne ka apun ka purana aadat hai” were full seeti-maar, and powered his persona and sartorial elegance.
Even today, I find the movie very compelling. Though revenge formed its crux, Anand had embellished it with some memorable characters, each of them stroking the humane side of Vijay Chauhan. His friend-in-need mother (Rohini Hattangadi won Best Supporting Actress award), MA Krishnan Iyer (Mithun Chakraborty), the sympathetic cop, Gaitonde (Vikram Gokhale) and the permanently-sloshed Kaka (Tinnu Anand). A slight tweak in the original storyline also brought Madhavi into the cast.
Agneepath (1990) fetched Amitabh his first National Film Award but Yash Johar, the producer of Dharma Productions, was not very happy with its box office performance. To fulfil his dream, his son Karan Johar remade Agneepath (2012) with Hritik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt and Rishi Kapoor in pivotal roles. But the shades that Bachchan lent to the protagonist in the original remains unmatched till date.
Agneepath (1990) on IMDb
