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Agneepath
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Karan Malhotra
Screenplay by	Ila Dutta Bedi Karan Malhotra
Produced by	Karan Johar
Starring	Hrithik Roshan Sanjay Dutt Rishi Kapoor Priyanka Chopra Om Puri
Cinematography	Kiran Deohans Ravi K. Chandran
Edited by	Akiv Ali
Music by	Ajay-Atul
Distributed by	Dharma Productions
Release date	26 January 2012 (2012-01-26)
Country	India
Languages	Hindi, and Urdu
Budget	₹62 crore (US$7.3 million)
Box office	₹136 crore (US$16 million) (Week 1 worldwide gross) Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).

Agneepath (Template:Lang-hi; Template:Lang-en) is a 2012 Indian Hindi action thriller film produced by Karan Johar. It is a remake of a 1990 film of the same name and is directed by Johar's former assistant Karan Malhotra. 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 is taken from a poem of the same name called 'Agneepath' which was penned by Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Amitabh's father, and is recited at the beginning of the movie and creates a thematic link that continues through the movie, particularly in the climax, both literally and metaphorically.

While Hrithik Roshan plays the lead role of Vijay Deenanath Chauhan, Sanjay Dutt plays the role of the main antagonist Kancha Cheena, originally played by Amitabh Bachchan and Danny Denzongpa respectively. The film stars Priyanka Chopra as the female lead. Other members of the cast include Rishi Kapoor playing a newly introduced negative character, Om Puri and Zarina Wahab among others. The award winning character of Krishnan Iyer M.A played by Mithun Chakraborty in the original has been totally done away with. Shooting of the film mostly took place in Diu and Mumbai's film city. Originally slated for release on 20 January, Agneepath was postponed by a week to 26 January 2012, making it a Republic Day release. Upon release, the film broke the highest opening day collections record and became a critical and commercial success.

Plot

The story opens in island Mandwa, near Maharashtra in the year 1977. The highly respected school master of the village, Master Deenanath Chauhan (Chetan Pandit), tries to dissuade the villagers 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. In turn, Kancha falsely accusing Master of raping a student, executes him in full public view by hanging him to a banyan tree. This forces the 12 year old Master's son Vijay and his mother to flee the town and reach Mumbai, where his mother gives birth to a baby girl. In Mumbai the young Vijay sees Kancha and as events pan out, he becomes an accomplice of Kancha's enemy Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor). Vijay gains help and support from Lala to gain power.

After 15 years, Lala monopolizes in drugs dealings of the city along with running a business of human trafficking. Police commissionaire Gaitonde (Om Puri) manages to debar Kancha from interfering in Mumbai but is unable to collect evidence against Lala or Vijay. Lala's son Mazhar Lala (Rajesh Tandon)is a volatile person who conflicts his business and personal agendas. Mazhar hates Vijay for his stronghold on Lala's business. He expresses his disgusts towards Vijay to Lala. But Lala convinces him to be an observer of Vijay for a while and accordingly they would finish him later.

Vijay (Hrithik Roshan) holds Kancha's aide and home secretary Borkar (Sachin Khedekar) to ransom, and threatens Shantaram, another aid of Kancha to be a middleman between him and Kancha to conduct trades of cocaine to Mumbai from Mandwa. On one instance, he takes a bullet on himself fired on Mazhar, thereby winning trust of Lala and Mazhar. On the night of his marriage, Mazhar gets the information that the shot was actually fired by Shantaram, who is Kancha's lieutenant. He, along with Vijay, leaves to end him but in turn is shot dead by Shantaram in the process. Vijay later shoots Shantaram for he no longer needs him and any evidence of their conspired plan of killing Mazhar. Seeing his son dead, Lala falls sick and is admitted into a hospital. Meanwhile, Vijay takes hold of the position of Lala and is soon contacted by Kancha. He accepts Kancha's offer and goes to Mandwa for a business deal. While in Mandwa, Vijay puts forth his deal to Kancha which is handing over the drug business in Mumbai to Kancha and in return of taking over Mandwa. Though Kancha initially suspects this deal, he later agrees on the condition that the commissioner Gaitonde must be killed.

Back in Mumbai, Lala regains health and knows the truth behind his son's death. He gets hold of Vijay's sister Shiksha (Kanika Tiwari) and calls out for her auction in public. Notified by Kancha, Vijay flees back to Mumbai and kills Lala and his men with the help of eunuchs. After this he gets closer to his family who had exiled him since the day he joined Lala's group after killing the inspector aid of Kancha at the age of 12. In the meantime, Kancha sends a man (the same person who had set Vijay's house on fire in Mandwa 15 years ago and the real rapist of the student) to keep an eye on Vijay. Kancha orders the man to assassinate the commissioner if Vijay is unable to do so. This man while trying to kill the commissioner is murdered by Vijay on the event of Ganesh Visarjan. Vijay's mother Suhasini (Zarina Wahab) identifies this person as a Mandwa native and informs police, identifying herself and Vijay as natives of Mandwa. A mole in the police informs Kancha of this. Vijay marries his love interest Kaali (Priyanka Chopra) who is killed right after their marriage during a shooting spree by Kancha's men.

Raged by anger, Vijay leaves for Mandwa to avenge the death of his father and his wife and on the other hand, Kancha gets hold of Vijay's mother and sister and brings them to Mandwa. During his violent fight with Kancha, Vijay is initially brutally wounded and stabbed, but later garners energy by reciting the poem "Agneepath", which his father had previously taught him to give him strength. Vijay, reciting the poem, kills Kancha by hanging him from the same banyan tree to which his father was hanged.

Cast

• Hrithik Roshan as Vijay Deenanath Chauhan
• Sanjay Dutt as Kancha Cheena
• Rishi Kapoor as Rauf Lala
• Priyanka Chopra as Kaali Gawde
• Om Puri as Comissioner Gaitonde
• Zarina Wahab as Suhasini Chauhan
• Rajesh Tandon as Mazhar Lala
• Sachin Khedekar as Home secretary, an aid of Kancha
• Deven Bhojani as Azhar Lala, young mentally challenged son of Rauf Lala
• Chetan Pandit as Master Deenanath Chavhan
• Arish Bhiwandiwala as Young Vijay Deenanath Chaihan
• Kanika Tiwari as Shiksha Chauhan
• Rajesh Vivek as a police mole who is an aid of Kancha
• Madhurjeet Sarghi as Lachhi
• Katrina Kaif in a special appearance in and as Chikni Chameli

Production

Development

In an interview with The Times Of India, Karan Johar explained that he had the intention of remaking the original Agneepath ever since the film released 22 years ago, because according to him, the commercial failure of the film broke his father's heart. The idea of the remake materialized on the sets of Johar's film My Name Is Khan in which Karan Malhotra was an associate director. Johar told Malhotra his desire to remake the original film and asked him to revisit it again for which he agreed immediately.

According to the art director Sabu Cyril, Mandwa and Diu, the villages where the events of the film take place were chosen because they were completely isolated from the urban areas. A big haveli like structure with tantric paintings on the walls, resembling an old fort built by the Portuguese (who had historically occupied Diu) was created as the den of film's main antagonist Kancha Cheena which was later recreated in Mumbai to shoot the song Chikni Chameli. Vijay's (main protagonist) shelter, a small sack-like thing on the terrace in a chawl was built on some open ground with a hundred houses.

Casting and filming

Debutant director Karan Malhotra and Karan Johar approached Hrithik Roshan in 2010 instead of the more obvious choice of Abhishek Bachchan as Vijay Deenanath Chauhan. He agreed to the play the role even before he finished hearing the script. Actress Genelia D'Souza was originally considered to play the female lead but the part eventually went to Priyanka Chopra. Sanjay Dutt was signed on to play the character of Kancha, the main antagonist. The award winning character of Krishnan Iyer M.A. originally played by Mithun Chakraborty was totally done away with and rather a completely new negative character of Rauf Lala was introduced and to be played by actor Rishi Kapoor. Other members of the cast include Om Puri & Zarina Wahab. Actress Katrina Kaif was approached to do an item number for the film, which she eventually agreed.

Filming started in January 2011. The entire film was shot in Diu with a few scenes shot in a mill in Mumbai. Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt both undertook a strict exercise regime to gain muscle for the film. On October 18 it was reported that Hrithik Roshan had injured himself during shooting and thus the shooting was delayed by 15 days.

Marketing

The first look of Hrithik Roshan's character was revealed on July 5, 2011. Producer Karan Johar posted a link on Twitter to Agneepaths Facebook page, which contained an image of Hrithik as Vijay Dinanath Chauhan. The Dharma Productions team planted the first theatrical trailer of the film with the prints of Bodyguard, which released on August 29, 2011 and the second theatrical trailer was circulated with the prints of Don 2 which released on December 23, 2011.

Soundtrack

All the songs are composed by the duo Ajay-Atul while lyrics are penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The song "Chikni Chameli" is a remake of the Marathi song "Kombdi Palali" composed by Ajay-Atul for the Marathi movie Jatra, the song features Katrina Kaif, Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt.

Reception

The music of Agneepath got rave reviews from some of the top reviewers of Tinsel Town. Joginder Tuteja gave 3.5 stars, quoting" Chikni Chameli would be a good enough reason to set up brisk sales for the album. ". Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave the album 3 out of 5 stars and said that the film's music was "promising". "After a couple of false starts earlier this year, Ajay Atul have truly arrived in Bollywood with Agneepath", said Music Aloud which rated it 8.5/10.

Release

Critical reception

The movie opened to positive reviews from critics. According to review aggregator Review Gang, professional critics have given the film a rating of 7 out of 10.

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film a score of 4.5 out of 5, and said "Agneepath is an uncomplicated story of revenge, is hard-hitting yet entertaining, dwells on strong emotions and aggressive and forceful action, yet is dissimilar from the original. ... It is a fitting tribute to the masterwork." Subhash K.Jha of IANS gave it 4 out of 5 stars, pointing "Every component of the film falls into place, with a resounding thump. Agneepath is brilliant in its brutality. It's a riveting and hectic homage to the spirit of the cinema when revenge reigned supreme. And content was King. This new Agneepath takes us back to the era when there was no computer or cellphones. And communication with the audience was immediate and electrifying." Kaveree Bamzai of India Today rated the movie 4 out of 5, noting "Melodramatic, choir-inducing sentiment, ecstatic.Agneepath is that rare mainstream movie written well." Aniruddha Guha of DNA India gave the film 3.5 out of 5, reviewing "An adaptation rather than a remake, the film assumes a life of its own once the central plot has been established... the film then charts a journey of his own." Piyali Dasgupta of NDTV gave it 3.5 out of 5, stating "Watch this film because this one is unadulterated Bollywood entertainment." Daily Bhaskar gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, adding "On the whole, Agneepath totally rests on star power which will lure the cine-goers to halls but how far will it impress them remains to be seen." The Times of India too gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5, and said, "Try to wipe out the movie's earlier version from your mind. You might find it more enjoyable."

Sukanya Varma of Rediff gave it 3 out of 5, commenting "Agneepath, less of a remake, more of a tribute. The makers of Agneepath should have just called it Dharmapath." Mansha Rastogi of Nowrunning gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars, wrote that "Much against some flaws, Agneepath deserves to be lauded for performances and should be encouraged for a very convincing remake to a cult classic." Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars remarking "This is the kind of genuine theatre experience, now getting rare, which remains most precious in the life of a film-goer. Reason can take over later. I had a ball!" Sonia Chopra of Sify gave it 3 out of 5, mentioning "Debut director Karan Malhotra shows great promise in making the film visually arresting and maintaining the consistency of performances. But remaking a cult film means you have big shoes to fill. If you’re a loyalist of the Late Mukul Anand’s Agneepath, you’re likely to have reservations with this one. But if you leave the comparisons aside and are willing to forgive the faults, Agneepath is worth a watch essentially to savor Hrithik’s performance." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the Agneepath 3 out of 5, said "It is in the end, an old-fashioned revenge drama treated in that melodramatic, over-the-top style. You're not likely to be bored by the intense action and the solid performances, but prepare to be exhausted by just how long this film plays on."

Box Office

India

Agneepath collected ₹23.00 crore (US$2.7 million) on the opening day, breaking the record of the first day collections of Bodyguard. The film also set new circuit records in Mumbai, CP Berar, Nizam, and Mysore. However, it witnessed an unprecedented fall on its second day, dropping by almost 50%, and collected ₹12 crore (US$1.4 million) nett. The film managed to recover a bit on Saturday and netted around ₹13.50 crore (US$1.6 million). Agneepath recovered even more on Sunday and grossed ₹65.11 crore (US$7.6 million) nett over its extended four-day weekend.

The film's collections decreased on Monday and it netted around ₹7.50 crore (US$880,000), taking its five-day total to ₹73.50 crore (US$8.6 million) nett. It further grossed ₹6.50 crore (US$760,000) nett on Tuesday and another ₹5.00 crore (US$590,000) nett on Wednesday. In doing so, Agneepath brought its first week total to ₹92 crore (US$11 million) nett. The film collected ₹3 crore (US$350,000) on its second Friday. It was declared a "Super Hit" by Boxoffice-India

Overseas

After a successful opening in the domestic market, Agneepath made ₹16.5 crore (US$1.9 million) in its four day weekend overseas. The film recorded the 12th largest opening overseas and was marginally behind the other Hrithik Roshan starrer, Dhoom 2.

Notes

This is the second time Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt were casted together in principal roles, first one being Mission Kashmir. Coincidentally in both films, both actors play opposing roles, where Roshan's characters seek revenge against Dutt's characters who kill important family members of Roshan's characters.

References

1. Sayuj, Riku (2012-02-01). "Agneepath (अग्निपथ) – A poem by Harivansh Rai Bachchan". Wandering Mirages. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
2. ^ Jha, Subhash K (2010-11-29). "Sanjay Dutt is the bad man now". Mid-day.com. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
3. ^ Dubey, Rachana (2011-01-20). "Hrithik - Priyanka to get 'passionate' in Agneepath". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
4. ^ Subhash K Jha (6 January 2011). "Rishi to do a 'looks test' for Agneepath". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
5. ^ Makhija, Rhea (11 January 2011). "Zarina to star in Agneepath remake". The Asian Age. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
6. ^ "Agneepath Review". Review Gang. Retrieved 2012-1-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
7. "Top Grossing Of All Time Days By A Single Film". Boxofficeindia.com. 28 January 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
8. "Agneepath broke my father's heart: Karan Johar - Times Of India". Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
9. "Here's how Agneepath's Mandwa was created". Rediff. Retrieved 25 January 2012. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
10. Verma, Suparn. "The new Agneepath will be a fun ride". Rediff. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
11. "Hrithik says yes to Agneepath, finally". The Asian Age. 12 January 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
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13. "Isha Khoppikhar can dance better then Katrina?". 22 January 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |publishe= ignored (help)
14. Jha, Subhash K. (2011-01-18). "Composer duo Ajay-Atul to do music for Karan Johar's Agneepath remake". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
15. Chikni Chameli
16. "Joginder Tuteja Review". Bollywood Hungama. 2011-11-19. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
17. "Agneepath music is quite promising". Rediff. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
18. "Agneepath - Music Review". Music Aloud. 19 December 2011. Retrieved 24 January 201. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
19. "Taran Adarsh Review". Bollywood Hungama. 2012-1-26. Retrieved 2012-1-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
20. "Agneepath Movie Review : 4 out of 5 Stars". 2012-1-27. Retrieved 2012-1-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
21. "Kaveree Bamzai Review". India Today. 2012-1-26. Retrieved 2012-1-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
22. "Aniruddha Guha Review". DNA India. 2012-1-26. Retrieved 2012-1-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
23. "Piyali Dasgupta Review". NDTV. 2012-1-26. Retrieved 2012-1-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
24. "Daily Bhaskar Review". Daily Bhaskar. 2012-1-26. Retrieved 2012-1-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
25. "Agneepath review - The Times of India". The Times of India. 26 January 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
26. "Sukanya Varma Review". Rediff. 2012-1-26. Retrieved 2012-1-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
27. "Mansha Rastogi Review". Nowrunning.com. 2012-1-26. Retrieved 2012-1-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
28. "Mayank Shekhar Review". Hindustan Times. 2012-1-26. Retrieved 2012-1-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
29. "Sonia Chopra Review". Sify. 2012-1-26. Retrieved 2012-1-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
30. "Rajeev Masand Review". IBN Live. 2012-1-26. Retrieved 2012-1-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
31. "Agneepath First Day Territorial Breakdown". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
32. "Agneepath Second Day Territorial Breakdown". Retrieved 2012-01-28.
33. "Agneepath Third Day Territorial Breakdown". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
34. "Agneepath Extended Weekend Territorial Breakdown". Boxofficeindia.com. 30 January 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
35. "Agneepath Monday Territorial Breakdown". Boxofficeindia.com. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
36. "Agneepath Is Rock Steady On Tuesday". Boxofficeindia.com. 1 February 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
37. "Agneepath Collects 92 Crore In Eight Days". Boxofficeindia.com. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
38. http://www.boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=4003&nCat=
39. http://boxofficeindia.com/boxdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=4000&nCat=
40. "Agneepath Opens Very Well In Overseas". Boxofficeindia.Com. 1 February 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
41. "AGNEEPATH is 12th Biggest Opening Overseas". Boxofficeindia.com. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2012.

External links

• Official Website
• Agneepath at IMDb
• Agneepath at Bollywood Hungama

• 2012 films
• Film remakes
• Indian action films
• Indian thriller films
• 2010s action films