Agneepath (1990)

Agneepath Movie Trailer 1990

Crew

Directed by     Mukul S. Anand
Produced by     Yash Johar
Screenplay by     Santosh Saroj ,Kader Khan
Story by     Santosh Saroj
Music by     Laxmikant Pyarelal,Jean Michel Jarre
Cinematography     Pravin Bhatt
Editing by     Waman Bhonsle
Distributed by     Dharma Productions

Cast

    Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay Deenanath Chavan
    Mithun Chakraborty as Krishnan Iyer M.A.
    Madhavi as Mary Mathew
    Danny Denzongpa as Kancha Cheena
    Neelam Kothari as Siksha Chavan
    Goga Kapoor as Dinkar Rao
    Alok Nath as Master Deenanath Chavan
    Rohini Hattangadi as Suhasini Chavan
    Sharat Saxena as Terralin
    Tinnu Anand as Nathu
    Vikram Gokhale as Commissioner M. S. Gaitonde
    Archana Puran Singh as Shanti aka Laila
    Avtar Gill as Usman Bhai
    Shammi as Tara Bai
    Bob Christo as Gora
    Deepak Shirke as Anna Shetty
    Shakti Kapoor as himself; Dancer in song Ali Baba
    Asha Sachdev as Chanda Bai
    Monty Sharma as Shetty
    Pradeep Rawat as Vijay's Henchman
    Master Manjunath as Young Vijay
    Anjan Srivastava as Police Constable

Story

he film begins with a morally upright and honest Gandhian Schoolmaster, Deenanath Chavan (Alok Nath), teaching his son, Vijay Deenanath Chavan about a poem, 'Agneepath', which describes 'The Path of Fire' which a man must cross in his life. This theme becomes an integral part of the story. Master Deenanath is a well-loved person, who wishes to bring education to the Village, Mandwa. However, his wish is not shared by a corrupt jamindar, Dinkar Rao (Goga Kapoor).

One day, as Vijay and his friends play about near Rao's house, a man named Kancha Cheena (Danny Denzongpa) arrives at the house, and Rao hands over some papers to him, which, Rao tells him, are the Title Deeds of all the Villagers' homes. Kancha's plans are revealed then: he wishes to make Mandwa a centre for his drugs trade, as he wishes to rule a place where the laws are lax and is not on the map of India. Dinkar Rao mentions that the schoolmaster is a huge hindrance to their plans, whereupon Cheena tells Rao that he must kill the schoolmaster, or Rao will suffer the consequences. With the aid of the owner of a brothel, Chandabai, Dinkar Rao lures the schoolmaster into the brothel. The villagers assume that the schoolmaster is an immoral hypocrite who solicits prostitution, and they beat him to death. The schoolmaster dies while cradling his son and reciting the poem, "Agneepath".

Vijay's Mother is devastated, and the image of the schoolmaster is so tarnished that 12-year old Vijay had to carry his corpse to the cemetery on a cart. The family leaves for Mumbai to begin life anew. There, Vijay does odd jobs to earn for his family. It is also there that he learns about the harsher truths of life. He burns down a Petrol Pump because the owner of the Pump tried to rape his Mother. Vijay is caught in the act by Inspector Gaitonde, who tries to redeem the boy. He is then hired by four of Kancha's enemies.

Then we see an older Vijay, 36 years old, now a gangster with a drawling, raspy voice and stylish gait, who works for four of Kancha Cheena's enemies, namely Terelin, Shetty, Usman Bhai and another. Vijay slowly eliminates his bosses and works his way up the echelons of crime, becoming a feared and reputed gangster in Mumbai. Then Vijay tries to cut a deal with Kancha, and gradually brings about his Empire's downfall. However, in an action-packed climax sequence, Kancha holds Vijay's wife, Mary, his sister and his mother hostage, and challenges him to a showdown, daring him to cross a rubble-laden, path of fire. In spite of being shot twice, Vijay kills Kancha. In an emotional sequence, Vijay drags his mother to the remains of their old house in the village, now a smoldering pile of brick, reciting "Agneepath". Vijay passes away, with his head on his Mother's lap, culminating in an emotional end, in which Vijay's mother remarks to the end, "My son is not a gangster...he is not a gangster."

Did you know?

1. Tinnu Anand had to shave his head bald to make the age difference between him and Amitabh Bachchan, as he played the role of his uncle.
2. To give Amitabh Bachchan the gangster look, his mouth was stuffed with cotton wool underneath both cheeks, as was Marlon Brando's in The Godfather
3. The movie is inspired by a poem by Harivansh Rai Bachchan.
4. Deepak Shirke made his debut with the film.
5. Amitabh Bachchan celebrated two events on April 8, 1991 at Go Bananas, Santacruz (Mumbai). The first occasion was to celebrate the actor bagging the National Award for Agneepath and the second was Jaya Bhaduri's (his wife) birthday at the stroke of midnight.
6. Mithun Chakraborty's unique role of Kishnan Iyer was inspired by one of his room mates of his struggling days, before he become a popular film star. In his struggling days Mithun used to be be room sharing with Devio who used to pay rs 150 while Mithun Used to pay rs 75. Devio had the a bed while Mithun used to sleep on the floor, one specific time Mithun used his bed whilst he was at work and when Devio came back he scolded Mithun. This incident remained with Mithun and he put Devio's character on screen.
7. Though Deepak Shirke, Avtar Gill, Danny are older in the film then Bachchan, in reality all are either of same age to him or are younger. Amitabh Bachchan's mother played by Rohini is actually much younger to him in real life.
8. Amitabh received tremendous flak initially for his voice but the role remains one of his most memorable characters, till today Amitabh is mostly imitated by his act in this film.