Mukul Anand’s Agneepath fetched Amitabh Bachchan a National award for best actor. But this gangster epic’s destiny was enormously stormy.
Recalls Karan, “My father’s production Agneepath, directed by the great and late Mukul Anand with Amit Uncle (Bachchan) in the lead, was released in 1990. My father had pinned a lot of hope on it. When it flopped, for various reasons, it left my father disillusioned. He truly believed Agneepath told a great story. I believe the film was way ahead of its times.”
One reason for its failure was Mr Bachchan’s voice, which he transformed into a gravelly baritone for his character as a gangster. When Agneepath showed no signs of gathering momentum at the box office, Mr Bachchan re-dubbed the dialogues, and the film was put out with his normal voice on the soundtrack.
Recalls Karan emotionally, “By then, it was too late for the film to do a turn-around. I believe my father’s Agneepath was ahead of its times. Fourteen years later I decided to remake Agneepath as homage to my father’s labour of love in Agneepath. I gave my director, Karan Malhotra, the freedom to do anything he wanted. Hence, the changes in the original were all his ideas, including the item song ‘Chinki Chameli’.”
The success of the remake of Agneepath was a personal triumph for Karan after the failure of the original. “I would say it was my revenge for my father’s failure. I remember that when I watched the remake with the cast and crew, I had tears in my eyes. I could feel my father’s presence guiding and blessing us all through the making of the remake.”
Sorely missed by Karan from the cast of the Agneepath remake is Rishi Kapoor. “Chintu Uncle played an out-and-out villain for the first time, and what a performance! He won all the antagonists’ awards that year. Chintu Uncle had three back-to-back successes with our Dharma Productions—Agneepath, Student Of The Year, and Kapoor & Sons—before he passed away. It made him feel very happy. Agneepath will always, I think, remain my father’s own favourites among the films my father produced; of course, till Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, because then obviously his emotions for his child will take over. But till up to Agneepath, and that includes Dostana, Duniya, Muqaddar Ka Faisla, Gumrah, Duplicate… I think definitely Agneepath will always have remained his most favourite film experience. He was very, very, very, very, very proud of Amit uncle’s performance, of his expertise. I remember sitting up with him at night while he would just say that, you know, and it was so weird because he used to say, I hope Amitji wins a National award for this film. And he did eventually. And, you know, he used to always say it. And I was like, Papa, yeah, sure.”
At the previews, Karan remembers everyone raving about Agneepath. “When the film was at screenings and these days, we call them trials, you know, and those days we call them reports. So the trial reports of the film were like it’s going to be a huge juggernaut at the box office and that it was going to explode at the box office. Unfortunately, the film released in February 1990. And, you know, from the very start, I think, you know, there were mixed opinions, and then there were all kinds of issues. Prior to its release, we had heard only exemplary things about the film. So it (the failure) came as a complete shock to my father.”
Karan is pleased by the cult following Agneepath has acquired. “I realized over the years the kind of cult love it has gleaned and what you call truly cult. I think we use it sometimes incorrectly because cult is like a film that maybe doesn’t have mass commercial mainstream numbers but has a huge following that really roots for it. I feel like Agneepath got so much cult love, and the day Amit Uncle won the National award, I remember in May 1991 it got announced, my father at that time felt that all his dreams had come true. I remember that the box office, I always say, of course, it’s validation. And, of course, it’s an immediate validation and immediate result. But those films that live on beyond its box office numbers are truly, truly, those films are the ones that matter in the archives, in the memory of cinema. I believe Agneepath is one of those films, and I remember realizing this quite instantly because the film released in 1990. And I believe that actually somewhere Agneepath is the reason why I’m even in the movies. Because in 1992, I remember Anil Thadani came up to me at college, and I was in college, and I was somebody who was keeping my, my father’s film industry status very quiet because I said, Oh, you know, I don’t want to say I’m from the movies. And not for any other reason, but I was just shy about it, you know, about, about not saying anything. And he came up to me, and he said, Oh, did your dad make Agneepath? So I was like, yeah. And he said, do you know all my friends and I, my group of friends, are crazy about it? We’ve seen it about like hundreds of times on video. And I was like, oh really? Adi (Aditya Chopra) was very close to Anil Thadani and I connected with Adi through him. And so I feel somewhere Agneepath paved the way for even me in many ways; I will be eternally grateful to that film.
Sadly, the box office numbers didn’t live up to expectations. “It did get an underwhelming box office at the time. But do you know Subhash, even now the satellite of Agneepath always, always receives a massive response from the Gen Z that want it. When we at Dharma renew rights for screening, Agneepath is on top of the list of the older Dharma lot that people really want and to watch and quote. So today, even Amit Uncle’s dialogues from Agneepath are quoted. The texture of the voice that everyone wondered whether it was the right decision or not, that voice is always mimicked, quoted, dialogues are quoted, and that very voice became the signature way of fans expressing their love for Mr. Bachchan. I believe that Mukul Anand’s instinct as a filmmaker were bang on. I believe they needed to do something pathbreaking with the character. Changing Amit Uncle’s voice was one big, strong decision. I don’t believe that’s the reason why Agneepath didn’t work. I feel it was ahead of its times in terms of its texture. There was pressure, I suppose, from exhibitors, distributors, and Amitji’s voice was redubbed. But I stand by the voice. I will always maintain that. Even I thought it was wonderful. Amit Uncle’s instinct as an artist then was bang-on. It’s bang on today. He says it’s his best performance to date. I remember that film getting such tremendous, um, love and applause and accolades. I think the film is beyond the box office, which is what cinema should be eventually: beyond numbers.”
