Agneepath, another feather in Mr.karan johar's fedora.
The movie starts of with loud drums and people enjoying Dahi Handi in the tiny island of Mandwa. The villagers here make salt and earn a honest buck and live on the rock shores of the island. Our young hero runs to climb the summit of a human pyramid (loud spirited drums in background). His father(maseterji) ,a Local school teacher, is a highly respected and honourable citizen.
Kancha(sanju baba) is bald wears a single ear ring and all inked up. He is the son of the land lord (or king?) here. He starts of walking from the dock sporting a balck sadu robe holding a gita and a cigar( loud drums again). He soon breaks down in front of a piece of mirror on seeing his reflection (chilhood issues).
A typical bollywood framing and Masterji(Dinanath Chauhan), with his uncanny way of explaining, is done for. The villagers with burnt torches gather arround a tree and the undertaker himself(kancha) hangs him while young Vijay dinanath chauhan watches on (the horror huh!?). So now master out of the way, Kancha plans of usurping the farm lands for cultivatting cocaine!!
Vijay and family goes to Mumbai. Mom delivers a girl child on the streets in a make shift sari camp. He kills a cop at early age and joins Rishi kappor (name: some lal mullah? occupation: sells under 18 girls and drugs) Vijay grows up to become Hritik. He has left all ties with mommy and lil sister( she dosnt know about vijay).
In the movie Cops are strange creatures. Most are dirt cheap corrupt cops, but also there is a DCP ,Om puri, who is super honest. Who is seen desperately requesting permission from a politician (a home minister who is also dirt corrupt and at times does the actual dirty work too) to deal with police stuff (crime, man slaughter , human trafficking and drugs). The cops dont seem to give a rats ass about doing anything about criminal activities (maybe cause the minister isn't letting them to??) There are some scenes with media personnel interviewing and putting up tough questions (keeping up with current movie trends) .Later in a police presentaion by Om puri; Rishi kapoor, Kancha are shown as top dealers in drugs and he goes on to speak of a new comer( Rhitik) whoes only picture he has is of 15 years ago (why?)! He soon goes over board giving a flattering intro till the camera reaches and zooms in on Vijay's biceps and zoom out.
Later we see Om puri(DCP) enquiring about Vijay's life issues and plans. It seems as if Om puri is writting a biography on Vijay. ( couldnt grasp why? and why they were friends/? )
Kali ( P Chopra) could not pull of the 'gawti tapori girl' role with her perfect features and mascara face (if your are wondering, her acting didnt help either) She does not have much of a role in how the movie plays out.
Vijay kills off opponents from both his side and kancha's (a bit of brains seen in this plot). Rishi kapoor learns of Vijay's sister and is hell bent over selling her off (later on,even while death stares him in the eye)!! The same buyers from the earlier shot are shown again ,perhaps in the same attire. Vijay learns of this and he and a gang of eunuchs! yes sword wielding sari wearing eunuchs! (couldn't comprehend why and how from where?) march in cutting and slashing through Rishi's guards (have pistols) and buyers(some have suitcases).
After being rescued, young Siksha( sister) dosnt run away from the premises for dear life. But all she cares about is to know who the saviour was. Mommy is near and she screams " Bhai hai" and the drums and back ground sounds are turned off (for the audience to gather so much information) A lot of wasted minutes followed showcasing the reunion with songs and revolving camera shots.
On the phone,Vijay speaks with Kancha about some coke deal and tells about his vist to the island. Kancha arranges for the best dancer arround (K Kaif). She dances with jerks and convulsions (the saying break a leg?) with a song to match. (note to self: If the movie lacks content the director opts for item songs to make up)
After the song there is a lot of bashing and trashing : from Kancha to Vijay. Finally they come to a deal( Vijay still tied upside down). (???) Rithik returns to Mumbai. Later Kancha learns of Vijay's true identity when mommy goes to report something to a corrupt cop (again didnt make sense for mommy to go to the police station in the 1st place).
So after another biography chat with Om puri, Vijay plans to marry PChopra. After marrige,while exiting the temple, Kancha's thugs shoot in a mad spree with thier semi automatics. The eunuchs are the first victims giving Rithik and PC time to take cover. Rithik shoots all untrained thugs with a pistol. The camera then goes to PC; she is spilling blood from her belly. Some typical bollywood lines (one wonders which normal person says all that while dying!??) and PC cloes her eyes.
Vijay goes to Mandwa island for revenge. Lot of explosion at random places (oh this must be good I presumed). Fire and men flying from the explosions and Kancha watching the destruction (reminds of Ramaynan, lanka burning !!). Suddenly Kancha turns and finds Vijay sitting on his favourite chair. Vijay is apparently unarmed (hmm??) and starts throwing punches on Kancha. Kancha is prooven too strong for him. Later his mommy and sister are also shown captive by Kancha ( why not. no?)
Vijay gets several punches, knife stabs (3 if im right) and bloody slashes across his chest. Vijay is eating dust now, while Kancha drags him to the tree where masterji was hung. Oh and what to say..camera zooms on the tree, sudden burst of energy & ultimately Viajy Dinanath Chauhan hangs Kancha up on the tree ( a little physics lesson: One cannot pull a weight greater than own without the use of pulley) . The Agneepath poem is sung with echo effect(good) , The end. (yes vijay dinanath chauhan dies or i hoped he would)
One will note that :-
Songs suck
Action is ok
Plot is redundant
To much drum playing
A typical bollywood movie
Kaif dances to an item song
To much drama from mom-son-sister
Agneepath poem in the end was good
A good built up for a religious badass villain
Villagers & society members were super enthusiastic
nice one! I feel like I actually saw the whole movie in 15 minutes. :)
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