Agneepath is a remake of the 1990 cult classic by the same name. Hritik, got into the shoes of Amitabh (who also won a National award), playing the iconic character of Vijay Dinanath Chauhan. Not imitating Amitabh was one of the best things Hritik did. Infact, he also had fewer dialogues compared to the original, which was peppered with a lot of hard-hitting ones. Nevertheless, Hritik managed to show his acting prowess through his silence.
A new character, Rauf Lala, a pimp and a ruthless drug lord, was introduced in this remake. Rishi Kapoor essayed the role of Rauf Lala. He was initially skeptical about playing a negative role and even gave an audition for the first time in his career to ensure that he fits the role.
He was unkind, unmerciful and 'odious beyond redemption'. Lets take a closer look at one of the scenes where he was at his evil best.
A little background: to prepare himself to avenge his father’s death, the young Vijay (Hritik) joins Rauf Lala and is raised by him. After becoming his trusted lieutenant, the grown-up Vijay tries to overthrow Rauf and claim his position to challenge Kancha (his fathers murderer). In the process, he also kills Rauf Lala’s son. When Rauf comes to know about this, he kidnaps Vijay’s sister and arranges an auction to sell her off. Vijay comes to save his sister and hits Rauf.
“Abba Jaan”
Rauf replies “Mar gaya tera Abba Jaan”
The myriad expressions - the hint of a smile, the seething anger, the sneer of revenge and the pain of betrayal. What a show by Rishi Kapoor!
When Vijay hits Rauf, Rauf falls down the stairs and the camera zooms in. The hint of tears in Rauf’s eyes at the treachery is immediately overpowered by the thirst for revenge. Rauf communicates all this with his eyes with only a little support from his facial expressions. He doesn't take revenge by physically fighting back, but by making malicious remarks about Vijay’s sister. Rauf knows that this will hurt him more than any physical violence, though he later hits him in retaliation.
Rauf abuses his sister again and even as he does this, an evil smile spreads across his face. He looks utterly loathsome.
The suave Rishi Kapoor played the negative role with uncanny ease. One hates him throughout the movie. This kind of hatred for a character, I haven’t felt in years. Had Rishi Kapoor tried his luck in a negative role earlier, would we have been treated to many more such memorable performances? It took him almost four decades to take that leap of faith. Is it a loss to the Indian cinema that he started playing different characters so late in his career? Better late than never, viewers witnessed one of the best negative roles.
