The Tragedy King

Being a follower of Cinema, it becomes impossible to stay away from the movie buzz and when somebody of the caliber and ability of Dilip Kumar utters a word or exercises his finger to praise a thespian, it certainly deserves to be the day’s Headline.

While I was growing up, Amitabh Bachchan’s movies were often played on Doordarshan and every time, I sat with my parents and relatives to watch my idol they compared the man to Dilip Kumar. I became very curious and wanted to quench my thirst by watching the man do what he does best, but unfortunately, those were not the days of DVDs and I had to wait for Doordarshan to show a Dilip Kumar movie. My wait finally came to an end when I saw him in ‘Aadmi’, I still remember, my parents were not engrossed to television but lost. Watching him for the first time on television, I had very high expectation, after all, he was then unarguably the greatest (still is for some if not most) actor to have graced the Indian screen and I was certainly not left disappointed. I was completely blown away with every gesture of his, the expression on his face when he delivered the dialogue or when his eyes lingered; it was truly magical in every sense of the word. I became a very ardent follower of his work and when I saw Shakti starring Amitabh and him for the first time; I realized they are so similar (if not identical) to each other in most aspects of acting. I was further enlightened about his work by my maternal uncle who had bought me cassettes of Ganga Jamuna, Sangharsh and my all time favourite Dil Diya Dard Liya. It was through these movies, I discovered the versatility of the actor and his performance in Dil Diya Dard Liya where he was challenged by the legendary Pran was a once in lifetime performance and it still remains a landmark in Indian Cinema.


Dilip Kumar with the quality of work behind him was inspiration to every actor and if we never had Dilip Kumar we would have never got Amitabh Bachchan who to most of us became the greatest by learning the tricks from The Tragedy King.  Is there any actor who can go beyond director’s vision and script? I can proudly say; we don’t have one but two in Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan.

Rishi Kapoor' Agneepath

When you decide to remake a cult movie, you inevitably draw comparisons, particularly when it starred the legend Amitabh Bachchan. The debutant director Karan Malhotra was aware of the burden he had taken to remake Agneepath, the film that fetched Amitabh a National Award. The new Agneepath does well to entertain the audience with action packed sequences and innovative camera work, but it is certainly nowhere near the classic of Mukul Anand’s Agneepath.

Malhotra retains the basic plot and starts the film with the gruesome killing of Vijay’s father Dinanath Chauhan, a school teacher by a scary and heartless Kancha, played by Sanjay Dutt. The merciless killing of Dinanath Chauhan, in front of his son Vijay, is scary and leaves the audience stunned. With vengeance in his mind, Vijay moves to Mumbai with his pregnant mother and finds a local Don Rauf Lalla, a rival of Kancha played by Rishi Kapoor.

Hrithik Roshan is introduced as a grown up Vijay who is now a right hand to Rauf Laala and assists him in drug business. Vijay is left alone by his mother as she doesn’t want her daughter to grow up under the shadow of his criminal brother. He now lives in Dongri Chawl with his childhood friend and love interest Kaali (Priyanka Chopra) daughter of a prostitute who saves money hoping to get married, someday. This is where the film turns boring while others characters like Gaitonde (Om Puri) is introduced. Gaitonde is seen as honest cop who cares for Vijay and wants him to stay away from Rauf Lalla. The film moves forward with Vijay advancing closer to his nemesis Kaancha and is focussed to win back the village ‘Mandwa’ for his family.

Agneepath is certainly watchable because of some outstanding performances by its leading actors and supporting cast. Hrithik’s Vijay lacks the swagger, style and the famous baritone of Amitabh Bachchan but he does well to deliver a sincere performance and avoids going over the top like SRK in Don. Sanjay Dutt as Kancha Cheena, leaves you breathless for a moment, his Marlon Brando’s Apocalypse look is so overpowering that it almost killed the character Vijay, but the one performance that stands out from the rest is that of Rishi Kapoor. He delivers a performance of a lifetime and it is Rauf Lalla that stays with you when you walk out of the theatre. There is not much for Priyanka Chopra to do in the film except for few songs and dialogues.

The problem with the film is its length and lack of quality dialogue. It takes 45 minutes for the director to introduce Hrithik Roshan. Karan Malhotra does well by introducing the character of Rauf Lalla, had it not been there the three long hours would have seemed an hour more.

Those who have seen the original will be disappointed by the film because it neither has the flamboyance and screen presence of Mr. Bachchan nor the intensity of mother and son relation, but if you are prepared to leave these home then you will certainly like it.

Rishi Kapoor is the reason to watch the new Agneepath.