Remakes are a dreaded territory, especially in Bollywood where remakes of erstwhile golden era movies are either a hit or a miss ballgame. The myth was broken by Farhan Akhtar in 2006 when he remade the cult classic Amitabh Bachchan starrer “Don”. Sharukh Khan helmed by Farhan made a blockbuster out of a film that was hyped as well as anticipated to set the honeybees of a possible disaster in the waking. Subsequently there has been a sequel to the Don remake and the industry is basking in the glory of its commercial success. Cut to 2012, we would see the heartthrob of Bollywood, Hrithik Roshan don the hat of Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, the iconic underworld character immortalized by Amitabh Bachchan.

While similarities to be drawn out are anything but certain, the makers can feel safe that the present generation of youth did not catch the original in the theaters. The film has created enough hullaballoo and with promotions all across the country and overseas at a peak, Agneepath is set to release on the 26th of January, 2012.

The story is pretty much the same with minor omissions and inclusions. Vijay Dinanath Chauhan (Hrithik) leads a life which has only one destination, Kancha Cheema – the evil drug lord who killed his father when he was a teenager. Vijay grows up in Mumbai and is an underdog (unlike the original Agneepath where Vijay was a dreaded underworld don) who first befriends Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor), a criminal with all sorts of misdeed credits to his name, and then breaks out against him when the latter turns out to be his enemy. Priyanka Chopra plays Hrithik’s love interest Kaali, in the film. The film also sees Om Puri essaying the role of an inspector and the reigning female hit machine, Katrina Kaif features yet again in an item number.

Debutant director Karan Malhotra, who has been an assistant director to Karan Johar in many of his earlier films, has made quite a few changes to the original story and screenplay. Mithun Chakraborty’s character, that became a rage countrywide, has been left out and the director has clever stated that the reason being no one in the industry to recreate that enigmatic performance. Rishi Kapoor’s character is an inclusion to the story and the protagonist’s character has also been twisted a little. This is Karan Johar’s home production and the first ever action movie he has put his money and resources in. The original was produced by Johar’s father, the late Yash Johar. Hrithik is looking great in the teasers and Priyanka is cast as a bubbly Marathi girl (similar to what she did in Kaminey alongside Shahid Kapoor). Sanjay Dutt is looking villainous and bulked up. His bald look and the cunning eyes have set the right tempo for another Gabbar Singh statured villain to scorch the silver screen. The music review of Agneepath has been positive but nothing to go berserk about although Chikni Chameli is the new hit track and Sonu Nigam is in his elements again in “Abhi Mujh Mein Kahin”.