The city finally saw a peaceful press meet at a mall, where the crowd didn’t go berserk seeing the starcast of Agneepath, the most-awaited movie of the year. As Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra marked their attendance, producer Karan Johar and Karan Malhotra, the director of the film, were surely missed.
Hrithik Roshan, who is enacting the role of the legendary Vijay Deenanath Chauhan played by Amitabh Bachchan in the original, said that if the audience entered the theatre to compare him with Mr Bachchan, he is going to lose it in the first five seconds. “However, this Vijay is in deep contrast to the previous Vijay. The new Vijay is a very simple, young man, who doesn’t stand out in a crowd. It’s the journey of a regular person who goes through some not-so-regular circumstances,” said Hrithik.
When Karan Johar approached Hrithik for the remake, he confessed he was scared to touch this classic. “My first reaction was, why should I do that? But Karan forced me to at least listen to the script and midway through the narration, I realised that I loved the world he had created. The story broke all my pre-conceived notions as an actor. It is so refreshing that I actually forgot about the old Agneepath,” said Hrithik.
Talking about her role as Kaali, Vijay’s love interest, Priyanka says that Kaali’s strength of character is what she loves about her role. She said, “Amongst all the bloodshed, revenge, pain, sorrow and anger, Kaali brings positivity and sunshine. She is the solace and beauty. She makes people happy.”
Although Sanjay has played the role of an anti-hero in quite a few films, Agneepath was still a challenge. “Kancha is not an anti-hero. He is an out and out villain and he is totally black, dark, dangerous,” said Sanjay.
Kancha has already made a place in the audience’s mind. Does Vijay run the risk of being overshadowed by the magnified image of Kancha? “I think the bigger the villain, the bigger the hero,” remarked Sanjay.