It’s dated, it’s violent to the point of gory, yet it’s grand- even poetic and it’s doing very well at the box office despite being a remake. Some of you will love it, some of you will hate it. Agneepath is a conundrum, which has to be taken in context. 

Let’s begin by stating the obvious: Karan Johar is big on sentiment. His films have been epic family sagas, pulling at the heartstrings, odes to the ideal Indian parivaar (family). His films have also been dedicated to his parents, so naturally when he gave the go ahead to Karan Malhotra (associate director on My Name is Khan) to remake Agneepath, it must have been a carefully thought out decision. Karan is a scriptwriter himself and one can only imagine his ties this very emotional filmmaker had towards  remaking Agneepath, which was originally produced by his father, the legendary Yash Johar. Though the first Agneepath got critical acclaim, it tanked at the box office and left Yash Johar heartbroken. However, Amitabh Bachchan’s Vijay Dinanath Chauhan went down as an icon in Bollywood history; though the actor borrowed much from Brando’s Don Corleone, he owned the part as he always has without fail.

Hrithik Roshan’s Vijay is a far softer rendering of an ice cold role. He cries more often and easily. As he should; the scars of watching your father lynched and hung by villainous Kancha’s (Sunjay Dutt) goons for a crime he didn’t commit would do that to you. Who can forget the immortal lines “Poora naam Vijay Deenanath Chauhan, baap ka naam Deenanath Chauhan, gaon Mandwa” uttered by Amitabh in the raspy voice he employed in the original? Hrithik utters them once in the second half of the film, but the mission to take revenge on Kancha clearly courses through him all his life. It’s Agneepath indeed, an all-consuming fire that takes over his being. This is why, the writers saw it fit to estrange Vijay from his mother as a child which wasn’t there in the old story of a bad world makes a good boy a bad man. There, the turning was more subtle with the mother disapproving, here there is an outright breaking of relations while Vijay is still a child and kills a police officer in anger soon after arriving with his mother and sister in Mumbai. And there is no looking back as he gives himself up to the wardship of  underworld bhai Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor) who sells women and drugs and slays people easily with one smooth bloody slide of a dagger across their throat.

Rauf Lala wasn’t there in the original either, back then his part in the story was devoted to Amitabh’s right hand-Man Friday Vijay Krishnan Iyer M.A. played by Mithun Chakraborty who falls in love with his sister Shiksha (Neelam). Hrithik Roshan’s Vijay is all alone, a complete loner with no friends save Kaali (Priyanka Chopra) who he meets as a child when he comes to Mumbai. Otherwise, his life is spent with Rauf Lala and his men, learning the ropes and climbing via the proverbial trail of fire and blood galore to the top  of the Mumbai underworld so he can return to Mandwa and take Kancha head on.

In case you are wondering where Priyanka Chopra is in all of this, her role is to cheer Hrithik Roshan up, make him laugh, wipe his tears, dance for him and other things heroines used to do in dated 80s movies (no, I take that back, they do as little in films like Don 2 even today). Amitabh’s love interest in 1990’s Agneepath, Mary, a nurse played by Madhavi had more of a backbone and took Vijay Dinanath Chauhan head on. Priyanka does none of that and is only in her element in the ‘Gun Guna’ song. However, she leaves more of an impression than Katrina Kaif’s ‘Chikni Chameli’ item number. Not only is the tune mediocre, Katrina cannot jazz  up the bawdy number with her cold English expressions - this one should be reserved for the ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’s of Bollywood that are tailored to her oh so western demeanour. What you will take home with you is the use of Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s  poem Agneepath that is rendered very well, with the whole epic exaggerated sweep of the film interpreting it in the most tragic way possible.  

It’s an incredibly dated storyline, with little relevance to modern times. In this day and age when mass media hunts down more people in Mumbai than underworld dons, Agneepath doesn’t ring true. However, if you give in to pure fantasy, it remains a timeless story of revenge shot in grand style. Director Karan Malhotra has that Bhansali quality, every frame is a picture so Agneepath is an exceedingly well-made film with an extreme bloodbath playing out with all the vibrancy of Holi which is depicted often enough too. It also gives Bollywood it’s most menacing villains in years in the shape of Rishi Kapoor’s Rauf Lala and Sunjay Dutt’s Kancha, one brainy, the other brawny and both the pinnacle of evil at its most brutal. If you are a Gabbar Singh fan, Agneepath belongs to them, though it must be siad that Hrithik Roshan has never looked better.

Highly recommended for Bollywood fans and for people who don’t mind extreme violence. It’s rated an adult film, for 13 year olds and above, so leave your kids at home.

– Muniba Kamal  

*CINEMATIC SUICIDE
**FORGETTABLE
***WATCHABLE
****COLLECTIBLE
*****AWARD-WORTHY

The Darkest Hour **
*ing: Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman and Veronika Ozerova
Director: Chris Gorak


The Darkest Hour leaves you with a dark moment in life once it’s over. The only thing running through your mind will be, “is it finally over?”  The movie blows away in the wind and you don’t even notice. While the trailers made TDH seem really interesting, the movie itself is a disappointment. It is said to be in the horror/ science fiction genre, but as far as I’m concerned, a horror movie with no blood shed is a slur against the genre. The science fiction bit of it is fine but still not prominent enough, which is a huge draw back.

The movie is about five attractive young people in Moscow who lead the charge against an alien race that attacked the world via its power supply. The 3-D experience highlights the beauty of Moscow and the incredible alien attacks and the great special effects. The film begins with two software designers that come to Moscow to finalize a deal but find the company they are dealing with has ripped them off. After that they land up in a club where they meet some girls when suddenly all the lights go out and the sky is full of bright, Tinkerbell-like electric fibres. If touched, these fibres reduce the person to a bunch of molecules.

They spend a few days in the club’s basement for safety’s sake, and when they finally emerge, they find the city deserted. They fight for their life and find all possible means to go on living. However, the alien life forms in the shape of electric fibres are out to get them, and have to their advantage that they can’t be seen; however, the fibres can be spotted with the help of electronic devices. While the movie moves on, the youngsters keep falling victim to the aliens. The whole movie goes on without us really discovering the origin of these alien beings, as in the beginning they are shown as fibres but in the end they turn into monsters. Wow. How dreadful!

Some of the scenes were unnecessarily prolonged and could not hold the viewers’ attention. This was definitely not for a lack of trying though. To TDH’s credit, some of the stunts were interesting, especially when the swirly monsters would capture a human. While there were gripping portions to the storyline and visuals, they could not completely grab interest as people could be seen leaving the theatre towards the end of the film.  Therefore it can safely be said that people some did like the movie but I seriously don’t know why, the characters were well-played by the actors, but the story and concept was not as strong as to leave viewers affected in any way.

One of the big flaws of TDH is that there were many theories jumbled up together: Firstly, the aliens were impossible to kill but then again they had their Achilles’ heel. The main reason for the existence of these beings was not highlighted; which is messed up and was confusing. Lately many science fiction movies have been released but this one is just not of the memorable ones. While the concept of TDH did have some scope, it was not executed well. It is just a one -time watch, and it must be said that while there are times you will find the film completely intolerable, the good looking cast may be able to keep your eyes glued to the screen.

– Faiz Rohani