There had been whispers in trade circles as to who would be playing the lead role in the remake of Agneepath ever since it was announced by Dharma Productions. Abhishek Bachchan seemed like the most natural choice, seeing as Amitabh Bachchan had wowed critics with his national award winning act in the same role a couple of decades ago. However, in a surprise twist Karan Johar confirmed that it is in fact Hrithik Roshan who will be playing the sought after role in the 2011 remake, and not Abhishek.
When quizzed about his decision, Karan remained evasive and insisted that the principal cast had been decided by director Siddharth Malhotra – who co-incidentally seems to be making a career out of directing remakes (Malhotra directed the remake of Stepmom for Dharma earlier this year).
“I think Siddharth has his own ideas on how to present the character. I think the protagonist in the new Agneepath would be very different from how he was in the original” said Karan recently.
The female lead will be played by Priyanka Chopra – a part enacted by Maadhvi in the original.
The script for the new Agneepath has been revised bringing it more in line with present day. Chopra won’t play a nurse and Mithun Chakraborty’s character from the original has been completely scrapped.
Remakes and sequels seem to be the order of the day in B-Town at present – let’s hope this remake lives up the original and Roshan adds his own little spin to the dark, angst ridden character Vijay Dinanath Chauhan – a role immortalised by Bachchan senior.
