Agneepath (1990)

Plot

Abhishek Bachchan (son of Amitabh) once said in an interview that his favourite Amitabh film was Agneepath. Agneepath is about a small town boy (Amitabh) whose father is killed and he comes to Bombay to seek revenge on his father's death. After his father's death, the boy becomes the bread-winner for the family and follows the path of crime to support his mother (Rohini Attangadi) and sister (Neelam). Later in the film, he meets Mithun Chakraborthy who plays the role of Amitabh's confidant (though it is a little overdone) and later falls in love with Neelam. Amitabh slowly builds a massive crime empire but his own weaknesses lead to his downfall. Danny Dengzoppa plays the bad guy who wants total supremacy over the mafia and will do anything to eliminate Amitabh.

Review

Agneepath is easily one of Amitabh's best films ever. This film draws heavily from Scarface (starring Al Pacino). I watched Scarface after Agneepath and was quite shocked to see that they were very similar. Afterall, when I watched Agneepath, I thought it was one of the those unique films which had not been inspired by a Hollywood flick! Even the music themes were similar! Amitabh gives a memorable performance as Vijay Chauhan, who is an arrogant, stubborn, rude gangster with a good heart. What makes this film different from other Amitabh films, or even other Hindi films is the excellent potrayal of its main characters - Amitabh, Danny and Rohini Hattangadi. These characters are believable, unlike in most Hindi films and they bring out the reality of the situation. The film is violent at times, the screenplay is sloppy and the direction could have been better! I thought that the original version of the film with Amitabh's modified voice was much better than the one with his own voice. The original version made his character more authentic.

The title of the film was inspired by Harivansh Rai Bachchan's (Amitabh's father) poem - Agneepath (path of fire). It is not surprising that Amitabh received his first and ONLY National Award (Indian equivalent of an Oscar, though many people consider Filmfare to be the Indian Oscar) for this film. Rohini Hattangadi won a Filmfare award for best supporting actress for her potrayal of a loving and innocent mother. Mithun Chakraborthy won a Filmfare for best supporting actor.

If you thought Al Pacino was good in Scarface, you have got to watch Amitabh in Agneepath!

Overall, I give this film an 8 out of 10! Go watch it!!!