Critiqued: Agneepath

If the tag line for The Dirty Picture was entertainment, entertainment, entertainment, the tag line for Agneepath was Violence, Violence and Violence. The remake of this iconic film has been promoted endlessly and is one of the most anticipated releases of 2012. With a stellar cast in Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Rishi Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra, expectations are really high.

The film is loosely based on the original where the protagonist was played by Amitabh Bachchan and the antagonist by Danny Denzongpa. All we have to say is the acting by the main characters in this film was fantastic. But the performance that blew us away was Sanjay Dutt's. We thought he had given his best performance in Vaastav but he took it to a different level as Kancha Cheena. He was downright ruthless and scary in this role and honestly stole the show. Not to take away from Hrithik, Rishi and Priyanka, they also played their role to perfection with Hrithik as Vijay Chauhan and Priyanka as his love interest (unfortunately her role was overshadowed by her male co-stars). Rishi Kapoor also gave a superlative performance in a never before seen role for him. Let's just say you will keep thinking, "Oh I didn't expect that" a lot when you watch this film. The film was well shot with great sound effects and a riveting storyline (if you haven't seen the original). Where we felt the film fell short was its length. At times, we did feel like the film was dragging on but that was quickly overcome once Sanjay Dutt and/or Hrithik Roshan were on screen. It also features a cameo appearance by Katrina Kaif in the now famous Chikni Chameli song.

This film deserves to be watched on the big screen. It had all the ingredients of a blockbuster (great cast, acting, story, direction, songs) and frankly we are not surprised by the results at the box office.