As one of the most awaited films of 2012, Agneepath strongly delivers to the audience who enjoys the typical Bollywood 'Masala' Films. If you enjoy a storyline with action, drama, and an underlying theme of revenge Agneepath is the film for you. However, if you're expecting to see something you've never seen before in Hindi Cinema, Agneepath won't satisfy you as an audience member.
The film starts out extremely parallel to Amitabh Bachchan's original Agneepath (1990). The first few opening scenes are almost identical except for the fact that the remake used stronger cinematography and art direction to illustrate a more brutal death of Master Chauhan. This scene is the strongest point in the film which sticks in the viewer's mind until the end of the movie. However, after this scene Agneepath is no different from any 'Masala' film made in the past.
Based on its direction it is comparable to past films such as 'Dabangg', 'Singham', and 'Wanted'. However, what separates this film from the others is the fact that there were no songs in the film which seemed to take away from the film's plot.
Hrithik Roshan had a strong performance portraying a newer and more realistic version of 'Vijay Dinanath Chauhan'. However, in comparison to Amitabh Bachchan's Agneepath (1990), the character of 'Vijay' was not as dynamically written by the scriptwriters of this film. While Amitabh Bachchan's character was seen as a suave mobster in a Versace suit, Hrithik's character was shown as a classless gangster from the slums of Mumbai. Hrithik did well with what was given to him, however his portrayal of this character will not be as greatly acknowledged.
In contrast to Hrithik's portrayal as Vijay, Sanjay Dutt's role as 'Kancha' was the attention-grabber of this film. Dutt did a wonderful job in recreating 'Kancha' as a new psychotic villain in comparison to the posh and sophisticated portrayal that Danny Denzongpa created in the original film.
Other actors who performed well were Om Puri and Rishi Kapoor. Priyanka Chopra played her role to perfection; however the writing of her character played a very small contribution to the major plot of the film.
One of the major things this film lacked was the correlation between the hero and the villain. 'Vijay Chauhan' and 'Kancha' only have a total of about 3 to 4 scenes together. Because of the lack of communication amongst these two characters, it seems highly unrealistic that they are major enemies.If the film, had more scenes with these two characters together, it would have been much better.
In short, Agneepath is a film that starts out strong and grabs your attention. However as it goes on, the plot simmers down, which doesn't generate as much excitement as the opening few scenes of the film. Despite having this flaw in the script, the majority of the actors in this film performed well. Because of the actors' strong performances along with a few flaws in the storyline, Agneepath deserves a 3.5 out of 5 stars.