Kuch log mar mar ke jeete hain to kuch log maarke.
—Inspector Narasimha in Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag.
Ram Gopal Varma definitely belongs to the second category. He takes his directorial sword and scythes off, in Gabbarian style, the two arms of “Sholay” (its script and its characterization) leaving behind a stump of a movie that is a bastardization of everything the original classic epitomizes, adds some shots of Nisha Kothari’s butt and Ajay Devgun’s chest as his own creative input, and finally with much fanfare excretes out the resultant monstrosity calling it “Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag” where you would think, that in the interests of fair labeling, a “gaand mein” should have been added before “Aag”.
It is nigh impossible to write a reasoned review “Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag” in the same way that is it impossible to de-construct a scene of a man urinating on a wall. The important question to ask instead is “why did RGV make this movie”? Was it because he gambled on the fact that if 50% of the audience who watched Sholay watched Aag out of nothing but sheer curiosity he would more than make a tidy profit? Or was the reason the artistic one that he claimed: to adapt Sholay for a new generation?
If it was indeed that, then what RGV has done is the cinematic equivalent of inserting “Yo yo whoos your daddy” into Moonlight Sonata or painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa and calling them “tributes” to the original. If nothing else, one would have hoped that with the advancement of cinema technology, the new “Aag” would at the very least technically trump the original.
Not even close.
While “Sholay” had dizzying camera work, ahead-of-its-times sound engineering (remember Gabbar’s belt dragging on the rock) and memorable action set-pieces (the train sequence), all that RGV’s Aag has is simple dizziness (the camera jerks around as if the cameraman had his leg cut off and was trying to balance himself), action sequences TLV Prasad would re-shoot, shots from below of Nisha Kothari’s belly and the done-to-death monotone look.
And the lesser said of the script and the actors, the better. It takes talent to seep out of the original Sholay script every bit of wit, every bit of subtlety, every bit of tragedy and every bit of greatness but RGV does it without breaking sweat—-because after all he is one talented guy. Prashant who plays Jai (now called Raj) seems to be straight out of an MTV spoof— with his slavish copying of Amitabh’s mannerisms, dress and voice (but alas none of the sardonic style). Mohan Lal, with his heavily accented Hindi and his unkempt beard that increasingly makes him look like an angry Inzamam as the movie progresses, lacks the silent underplayed intensity that Sanjeev Kumar brought to the original. Ajay Devgun finds Dharmendra’s boots way too big to fill and ends up pouting sullenly and showing his unshaven chest a bit too many times. Sushmita Sen, the brave widow who runs a clinic (ostensibly repairing silicion leaks in warranty-voided breast implants) is mercifully under-used. No respite however from Nisha Kothari whose overwrought hyper acting is as entertaining as nails grinding on chalk and her lame attempts at comedy is, to use her words, “too much”.
But the biggest turkey of all in a nation of turkeys is Amitabh Bachchan as Babban. A pale shadow of the legendary Gabbar, Babban looks like a war veteran fallen on hard times with a cocaine addiction, who hasn’t taken a bath since.. well… since when Sholay was released. He rolls his eyes, gnarls and gnashes like someone suffering from bruxism, whispers frequent references to Bush, the Iraq and the Al-Qaeda (he is intellectual), and as a show of undiluted avarice, blows air –a kind of phusssh verbal fart, presumably the smell being a primal weapon of fear.
So consistently bad is everything related to the movie that you ask yourself—did Ram Gopal Varma make a spoof of Sholay on the lines of Ramgarh ke Sholay (where Dev Anand’s duplicate joined the gay gang at Ramgarh) or Duplicate Sholay(the must-read synopsis here)?
Or is Aag, in the shell of Sholay tribute, actually a shout-out to the man himself–Kanti Shah (the director of Duplicate Sholay in addition to the cult classics Loha and Gunda)? Whether it be in lines such as “Loha garam hain” (a throwback to the original), “tum jaise gunda ko naheen doonga” and “shirt utarke chaati dikhayega” or in the use of the Kantian pentameter (“Rambha ko khamba pe latka dena”) or in the construction of sinisterly multi-layered sequences such as where Raj plays with three metal balls or the old blind gentle Imaam saheb (played with heart-wrenching pathos by A K Hangal in the original) drools and licks his lips as he touches Ghungroo (Meghna Kothari)’s shoulders, the “tribute to Kanti Shah touch” is unmistakable.
Still have doubts about the Kanti Shah influence?
In a display of originality, RGV has Babban cut off the Inspector’s fingers (as opposed to his arms). Why this change you ask yourself? Well here is why. As any keen student of the Kanti Shah genre would know that fingers and fingering is a recurrent theme in his works (the “Bulli kahan hain teri ungli” and the old man who asks women to suck his “ungli” ) and so this play on the original tale is nothing but a bit of Tarantionish “homage” to the guru.
Try as it might however, Aag fails to consistently touch even the nether regions of Kanti Shah’s world of rhyme and crime and outrageous hilarity. And how could it ? RGV takes himself way too seriously for that to happen.
Caption: Jahaan teri yeh nazar hain….
Caption: Babban sala mera yeh kaab kaat diya….
Caption: What the….oh my God. It’s a monster.
And so RGV’s Aag remains—a Titanic desecration of a celluloid monument, with not even potential to be considered a camp classic, a movie that “puri mitti main milaaye diye” any reputation RGV may have had remaining even after his mediocre offerings over the last few years, so much so that the great Gabbar would be tempted to say:
“Yahaan se pachas pachas kos door gaawon me jab bachcha raat ko rota hai to maa kehti hai beta soja ..soja nahi to Ram Gopal Varma aur ek movie banayega”.
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
Count me in the 50% who went and watched the movie without waiting for ur review to come out !
Its impossible to re-create Sholay. I think Amitabh trusted RGV too much when he agreed to be a part of this remake. The promos are so sick I am surprised that some people actually went to see the whole movie.The apt name for this movie is what you suggested. I also pity Ajay Devgan who may have thought that this movie would give a boost to his career. Nice to read your review though:)
Nicely written review.
I went to to see this movie on a saturday at 6.30 in a theatre in NJ. 30 people were there when the movie started 4 made it through to the end of the movie :D. What a waste of 10 dollars :(.
Thankfully i waited for your review before watching this.
Arnab, my sympathies that you saw this movie. Multiplexes showing RGVKA now have a moat of puke surrounding them. Abandon hope all ye who see this movie.
“action sequences TLV Prasad would re-shoot” LOL !! As usual, pure Brilliance!!
i think cutting down fingers was an attempt by RGV to curb out some of the basic questions people raised with the earlier sholay…. thakur dhota kaise tha…
and that is pretty much the reason why RGV only stuck to fingers…
however undoubtedly, people will remember this movie after infinite taplis….
The title sounds like RGV got acidity
And the same man directed Satya???
Shame! Same! Why do you anglophones write about the same movies? Really pathetic attempts at proving authentic connectedness to desh, occasional Bhojpuri cave-dwelling notwithstanding. It is not fooling anyone, least of all Mr. Kesavan. [link]
All I want to know is where in the world can you obtain a dvd or even a vcd of Duplicate Sholay. Much as your review alienated me from the prospect of ever watching the RGV ego fest, my whole life is probably now devoted to looking for this Kanti Shah cult classic.
What about the second RGV film in the theatres-Darling? He calls it a dark comedy. Not that I would ever doubt the man, but those words sound ominous.
and this dialogue takes the cake “Kabhi kabhi mere bhi dil mein khayal aata hai ki tumhare aankhon mein doob jaoon par sochta hoon tera kya hoga mehbooba?”. One of the many WTF moments
ever since I saw the movie (yea yea I did) I was waiting for your review of it.
This time you seem angry at the film-maker.
Ramgarh ke Sholay was at least watchable. And they had the sense to keep it in Ramgarh and not transplant it to Mumbai. And they had Amjad Khan in it which made it more than watchable.
Actually the outpouring of disgust and irritation is a little reassuring – it shows that people still care for the orignal Sholay.
GB,
Minor disagreement. I doubt it is possible to remake Sholay, and certainly not as Underworld saga.
lol….Now i’m definitely gonna watch it.
Sounds quite entertaining 🙂
Wasn’t there a B Grade semi porn flick based on Sholay as well ?
“ostensibly repairing silicion leaks in warranty-voided breast implants”……lol….simply amazing…can’t stop laughing! From ‘sand castles’ to ‘dual core processors’, its simply hilarious they way you rip apart Ms. Sen’s implants!!
@Anubhav
Now people might have questions about this ‘sholay’ … with the dhone wala question resolved, people might ask ki thakur pakadta kaise tha. I shudder to think what sholay 3 has in store (if we have a brave enuf director to attempt it)!!
Hey Arnab,
I wanted to watch the film purely because I wanted to knw wot he had done to destroy the film. He destroyed wot it was. Sholay to me is an iconic flick and I can see it like some zillion times. RGV ne yaar jala dali (to use a bad line) I mean, Amitabh was bad- everyone was BAD! Mohanlal was in my opinion decent. RGV shd get over Nisha Kothari’s bum – every scene had her bum shot in some way. She is such a terrible actress on top of everything. Wot was the point of Rajpal Yadav – come to think of it, wot was the point of the film itself??
Amitabh digging his nose – Amitabh being a gross peeg with his licking of lips etc amongst other horrendous mannerisms. Urmila’s song – all boobs n no show. Abhishek (I was like wtf at this pt) his paunch gently jigglin away – same goes for Urmila’s which did a might heave I mite add!
I expected something, I got nothing. Its indeed sad when u see a brilliant director losing his sense of perspective amongst other things. I shudder to think wot is gng to happen to Sarkar 2 😦
awesome, i cant wait to see it, the same way i am usually eager to see the horror the other great Indian hope Karan Johar churns out – to just marvel at the amount of insanity us movie going Indians are willing tolerate. But at times I am so angry that not going is a token protest. Is it bad enough to do the latter?
🙂 … thanks for pointing out the Kanti Shah inspiration bit, great review for a film. If only RGV would read this and go back to his good days of being a moie rentals shop owner or similar.(Wonder if anyone would ever ask him recommendations on what to watch).
I happen to see the numerous posters of Darling (one of which looks exactly like a Hills Have Eyes 1 or 2 poster) and the promos over TV, …. have this uncanny feeling that it’s a copy of the Thai film ‘Shutter’ (in lines of the Jap horrors) which scared the s*&^ of me and friends.(Jack Daniels turned out to be a good nightcap).
I saw the movie in Chicago. Very Bad. After watching the movie, i have realised why Ramesh Sippy did not make Amitabh Gabbar in Sholay because he was just pathetic in this movie.
wot is tarun adarsh saying?
super-duper hit, no doubt.
wot are YOU saying, gb— not one single redeeming feature except that the fillum does finally end?
a random doubt – nothing to do with the quality of the fire within RVG – i agree with you – it’s more smoke than anything else, have you ever recommended a movie to your readers that wouldn’t be from the “duplicate sholay” or “jaani dushman” genre?
RGV ki gaand mein Aag…priceless 🙂
I am glad I waited for your review it is more entertaining than the movie could ever hope to be!
It seems like RGV is out of his ming nowadays…
Just to prove eveybody that he can make a sholay remake he made this piece of shit.
I think he is showing the world that how bad a good actor can act..
Nisha is real charmer….may be next time we will be able to see more parts of her other than BUM
nice closing line!!
A perfect and befiiting review….well said reading the review itself is more entertaining than the Aag.
I thought there was nothing more to be said about this film. You’ve proven me wrong. One of your best and funniest, sir.
I repeat the oft-asked question – where can I get a copy of ‘Duplicate Sholay’?
J.A.P.
“the resultant monstrosity calling it “Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag” where you would think, that in the interests of fair labeling, a “gaand mein” should have been added before “Aag”.”
🙂 🙂 🙂
I didn’t see it. Yay!
Gabbar might be screaming, “Holi Kab Hain. Kab hain Holi. Yeh saala Ramu ko jalana hain”.
Here are some selected shots from Duplicate Sholay: http://blip.tv/file/368182
Very hilarious review but Ghunghroo is Nisha Kothari, not Meghna Kothari. Neways it hardly matters 🙂
Thank God…that I didn’t even get close to the halls playing this one.
@ GB
This must be one of the few movies that made you angry; normally you do manage to see the funny side of most things 🙂
It’s actually “Ram gopal Varma se bhaag” but as with the rest of the film script, there was a typo in the title too
A SHAMELESS INADVERTENT SPOOF
IN 1975 SIPPY MADE THE MEMMORABLE BLOCKBUSTER SHOLE ,AFTER TURNING KUBRICKS LOLITA INTO A SEX CIRCUS ,RGV AND BACHAN TURN THEIR INFANTILE ATTENTIONS TO THIS GREAT CLASSIC WITH DISASTROUS RESULTS TURNING THE ACTION THRILLER INTO A HILARIOUS COMEDY.THE PHOTOGRAPHY IS VERTIGINOUSLY BAD WITH AWFUL LIGTHING AND ANGLES AND THE SOUNDTRACK IS WORSE WITH SCREECHING VIOLINS AND BANGS GALORE .THE CHOREOGRAPHER STRIPS THE WOMMEN OF THEIR CLOTHES AND CLASS AND THE PICTURISATION OF MEHBOOBA IS A CRASS DESECRATION WHERE BOTH SENIOR AND JUNIOR BACHANS BEHAVE LECEROUSLY LIKE CLOWNS INSTEAD OF GANGSTERS ,THE ORIGONAL MAKERS NEED TO SUE THE CREW FOR DEFAMATIN CHARGES AS EVEN BOLLOYWOOD HAS NEVER ENCOUNTERED A SEWER SO DEEP IN THE PAST .THE DESECRATION OF THE OLD CLASSIC IS COMPLETED WHEN THE FEMALE LEAD BASANTI IS TURNED INTO A CLASSLESS WENCH DEVOID OF ANY DIGNITY OR TALENT.THIS IS THE FINAL NAIL IN MR.BACHANS COFFIN WHO WEARS A BLUE AND A HAZEL EYE LENS INEXPLICABLY AND ALSO LICKS HIS LIPS FROM TIME TO TIME ,MR VARMA AND BIG B NEED TO RETIRE NOW IF THEY WANT TO SAVE ANY CREDIBILITY FROM THEIR PAST ACHIEVEMENTS AS TIS IS A BLOODY MESS BOTH LITERALLY AND VISUALLY .A DISGRACE DESERVING NO STARS .
There is a mystery I really need to understand. almost everyone hated Aag yet Taran Adarsh gave it a thumbs Up. What’s really wrong with this guy? I simply can’t get it.
Your review was absolutely brilliant. I feel bad you had to go through it, but reading the review was a treat.
This is what I read on indiatimes regarding the response to Aag “Even Ekta Kapoor is making a Bhojpuri version of the film where Ravi Kishen plays Gabbar. “…this is to be found at http://movies.indiatimes.com/Features__Events/Features/RGV_protegees_spit_fire/articleshow/msid-2340678,curpg-2.cms
This is all good fun. All of us friends will sit together, drink beer, eat chana and enjoy this movie to the fullest…thank you RGV
Strange…Ram Gopal Varma is a contemporary Indian director I admire. Well at least if you call a guy like Karan Johar a ‘director’, then by those standards RGV is a great director. I certainly rate ‘Company’ as an extremely well done film. But by the review, it seems that this film which was supposedly a tribute to a cult classic came off as a poorly done rip-off.
I also think the Mukul Kesavan article that Dipanjan pointed out to was very well written although I fail to see the connection of that with RTDM or with this review for that matter.
ATTENTION RISHI KHAJUR, Ankon, RAVI IVATURI and HUJUR:
Read this article:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070906/asp/opinion/story_8280162.asp
Especially the penultimate paragraph:
“But it is the English-writing Indian’s interest in communalism, particularly his near-obsessive interest in the way in which majoritarian politics picks on religious minorities, that would draw the attention of our historian. Perhaps he would take his cue from that acute critic, Lal Krishna Advani, who coined a useful term for this tendency: pseudo-secularism. In this view, since the majority of secularist critics are nominally Hindu, this peculiar interest in Muslim or Christian welfare is to be charitably understood as a form of misguided chivalry, misguided because it’s the Hindus who are harassed and discriminated against in the name of secularism. When a critic of the Advani school isn’t feeling charitable, this chivalric tendency is put down to the self-hatred that afflicts deracinated Hindus. Other hostile observers see the ‘secularist’ tendency as an extension of the knowingness and superiority affected by the Anglophone Indian in other matters, such as fiction or travel-writing, a posture intended to place the posturer above the common herd.”
Wow wow wow. Take a bow Mukul. So eloquent and articulate. A paragraph as beautiful as a Shane Warne legbreak. You have stripped naked all pseudo secular writers and bloggers (eg. Sugarika Ghose and some other filthy mofos whose aim is to attract western media attention by creating smoke when there is no fire in order to write more and more OPEds and advance their careers).
Clearly, Kesavan must be a reader of RTDM comments.
nothing but a bit of Tarantionish…
Hey shouldnt that be “nothing but a bit of Tarantinoish…” 😛 reading your blog after a long long time and cant get over what i have missed in the past few months.
quick question: being a sholay fan, do you think I should attempt seeing the new movie?
@ yourfan2
Thanks for that link.
Popular blogs like RTDM has helped in exposing the educated audience to the sad, destructive and self delusional aspect of Quran-o-philia and pseudo secularism.
If nothing else, people are atleast getting acquainted with the ideological realities that form the backbone for so much hate and violence perpetrated by “terrorists”.
Even though, it may not help much on the ground (particularly in dealing with Islam), as most of us here are keyboard ninjas, atleast the general threat perception is being raised in a informed way which may go a long way in crystallizing a small number amongst us who will actually effect ground realities.
@ Yourfan2
Interesting link…
The labeling game is seeing an arms race- earlier it was secular versus & communal, now it’s truly secular versus pseudo-secular. Ironically enough, I would see that as signs of a maturing democracy for two reasons
Firstly it’s better to ‘fight’ with viewpoints & arguments than with guns and bombs. Secondly our arguments- hopefully- would evolve with time and balanced viewpoints would outweigh the extreme ones.
Finally people have balls to say something against Bachchan, the most hyped actor in history. He is one big, clumsy , annoying, ugly guy.
GB, I see repeated references to urine in your recent reviews? What’s your fascination with that? Is it supposed to make for you being funny? I guess that’s the American comedians think to do – a few jokes on excretion and a few on sex and the routine is supposed to be funny.
I don’t know about the quality of Hindi movies, but the reviews are getting stinkier and stinkier – it’s not fun to read RTDM reviews anymore. Just not the former you, GB.
a secular psuedo-secular debate on a movie post… here we go again
Hey GB please accept my bucket full of sympathy for having endured this inhuman torture (of whatching whatsisname’s aag) for the sake of your fans. However I must say if RGV hadn’t concocted this monstrosity we would have been deprived of all the brilliant reviews of Aag. I sympathize with all the reviewers of aag and thank them profoundly. You guys have proved it once again that being a reviewer of Bollywood movies is no easy task. Cudos to you!
@ W.T.F
“a secular pseudo-secular debate on a movie post… here we go again”
That was a private conversation… you were eavesdropping 🙂
If not for your review, I wouldn’t have watched the full movie – Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani today on Zee Cinema. It was indeed a classic. So, going by your jnan, I shall give the latest RGV flick a miss. Thanks for being there!
oh my god.. the second picture/caption is hilarious! 😀
Hey Chandra
What’s wrong with you man?……….
GB please tell him that you are not forcing him to read your blog. After all there are thousands of blogs on the net.
Go figure.
@ ravi ivaturi: sorry sorry. my bad. 🙂
Apt review… after watching the movie (my only excuse is I got free tickets… and yes I know that’s just not good enough…)… my only thought was … Would GB sit through this movie for the sake of RTDM…
As it turns out… you chose honour over death… “Blog Ke Liye Saala Kuchch Bhi Karega”… 🙂
Whenever Ramu lets his dick take over, disaster follows. Look what came out of his Antara Mali phase (till “Aag” came along “Mr. Ya Miss” was the worst piece of trash in contemporary Bollywood). And now see the pile of turd his obsession with Nisha Kothari’s bum has produced.
Or Ramu should just go back to lusting over Urmila – at least he made better movies.
I feel sorry for talented actors like Sushant Singh (a college senior of mine – go Sushant!) who’ve hitched themselves to the Ramu bandwagon.
Thanks for the much awaited review GB. Now I am waiting for the Pritish Nandy to add his own facial hair to Mona Lisa after RGV added his. PNC has got the rights to make a prequel, sequel and a remake – all animated. http://www.indiafm.com/news/2007/09/03/10042/index.html
correction above – * the Pritish Nandy Communications
Loved the review 😀 !! I’m sure all are eagerly waiting for the your thoughts on the next gem from the RGV factory – “Darling” !!!
@thalassa:
“And now see the pile of turd his obsession with Nisha Kothari’s bum has produced..”
perhaps the spirit of the movie may be captured in this one line.
@Thalassa – “Or Ramu should just go back to lusting over Urmila – at least he made better movies.”
That was his best phase. Rangeela, Daud, Satya, Mast, Kaun – All good movies (Well Daud was watchable just for Paresh Rawal and Sanjay Dutt).
Ramu’s lusting for Urmila was pretty much evident. The differance was that Urmila can actually act!! Imagine Kaun with Antara Mali or Nisha Kothari!! That would have been the turd of the century.
Lesson for Ramu – Go lusting after a lady who can act!!!
@Thalassa – “Or Ramu should just go back to lusting over Urmila – at least he made better movies.”
That was his best phase. Rangeela, Daud, Satya, Mast, Kaun – All good movies (Well Daud was watchable just for Paresh Rawal and Sanjay Dutt while Mast was a brave attempt which was again at least worthy of a one time watch).
Ramu’s lusting for Urmila was pretty much evident. Even in Satya, there was that sexy “Geela Geela Paani” song picturization. The differance was that Urmila can actually act!! Imagine Kaun with Antara Mali or Nisha Kothari!! That would have been the turd of the century.
Lesson for Ramu – Go lusting after a lady who can act.
hilarious read!!
@rich and famous:
agree.
One can’t understand why these movies are made considering how miserably remakes have invariably failed in recent times. Maybe our film-directors have too much of money in their hands that they do not how to spend, so they churn out this garbage.
The trailers were enough to prevent me from thinking to go for this movie!!!
Hi there, it was fun reading your review… especially cause i dint really bother seeing the film and your review made me think i was clever to have skipped it. anyways… gr8 going… i will probably be visiting your site often. God bless
‘Tis a pity that there was no classic hindi movie called “Maa ki” – I’d have loved to see the title of RGV’s remake of it.
My movie Duplicate Sholay is now available in DVD for Rs.45 in T Series (TSDVD 1827) released 02/2007. Enjoy!
Kanti Shah
Some of my other films like Munnibai, Daku Ramkali, Garam and Free Entry are likely to be released in T Series DVDs for Rs.45 each very soon.
Enjoy
Kanti Shah
Thanks all to all who liked the review. Sympathies to all who sat through it.
A shoutout to RichandFamous: AB may be ugly but Ganguly is uglier. Wonder why you forgot to say it.
@Kanti Shah: In the unlikely eventuality that it is indeed you, the director of Loha and Gunda, and not some one pretending to be Kanti Shah, I declare that I am honored to have you here on my blog. I shall definitely buy all your movies once they are released on Tseries DVDs as I am a mad fan of Gunda, Loha, Free Entry and Pyasa Haiwaan
Great review.
I had the good sense of not going for the movie even before the disastrous reviews hit the news and blogs.
As I was going through this review, I realised that it would be great if you reviewed the original Sholay. A great fan of the original, I had never realised how great the sound recording of the film was until you pointed it out in your post (“Gabbar’s belt dragging on the rock”).
In fact, it would be great if you could review other films from a few decades ago which are your favorites. An earnest request, Arnab Da. I’m sure GB fans would be delighted.
Taran Adarsh has managed to find praise, again, where all else see only scathing criticism. I don’t watch any movies unless I’ve read both your review (which helps me tell others why I won’t watch it) and Taran’s (which helps me skin those who have watched it and like it).
As a result, I manage to escape almost everything that Bollywood churns out and yet appear erudite and knowledgeable about cinema as a whole.
Thanks, GB!
“Ram Gopal Varma Ki G…. Mein Aag”
Is Aag ke Kaaran Banda Chain Se Baith Nahin Pata Hai, Aur Chal Parhta Hai Ek Aur Bagair Sir Pair Ki FIlm Banane.
Pata Nahin, Yeh Aag Kab Bujhegi, Aur Kab Tak Hamein Uski Badboodar Paad Jhelna Parhega. Uff…
Ponde Byatha
But the hype created for this movie by the media was more than any other recent ones…
RGV KI G MEIN A.
ROFLMAO 😀
brilliant man .. super review …though I thnk dis piece shit that is Aag dsnt evn deserv 2 b subject of discussion …
RGV has totally lost it …
The moment i saw the promos and saw the name of the movie as RGV ki Aag, i had lost all hopes on it. At best, it is a B-Grade move, unfortunately it won’t even work as that 😦
Where is RGV headed – like a mad scientist inviting his own doom, RGV seems hell bent on the same…
I WATCH THE MOVIES TOO MUCH & I SAW THIS TWO TIMES BUT STILL I COULDNT UNDERSTAND WATS WRONG WITH RAMGOPAL VERMA . WHY? HE MAKES MOVIES. IT WAS A BUNDLE MOVIE.HE WOULD BE USED SOME OLD THEAME SONGS AT THE SAME SITUTATION. WELL BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME.
Damn, I though I didnt want to see this film, but after reading this review, I am actually very interested. You know, more than the adds and everything, I think your review will do more publicity for Aag.
Thanks to RGV, else i would have missed on this brilliant review.
Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks !
I went to see this movie coz i didn’t have anything to do on a long weekend (Grrrr.). there were total 6 people in the hall (NC) incl stayed there and survived the show.
its very usual in a civilized world; a mad dog is either poisoned or put to sleep in a non cruel manner… former method should be used to take care of film makers suffering from creative diarrhea… this was my first reaction to the trash called AAG…
i have no sympathy for actors who worked in it… specially amithabh… i’m waiting for him to do a condom ad’ … it will be a good thing for a social cause and i’m sure he’ll make some money also… he is living in utter poverty… he dying without food… his family would’ve been on roads if he had not acted in RGV’s AAG.
“nails grinding on chalk” nahin, “nails grinding on chalkboard” 🙂
I heard somebody commenting that u cant make film like Sholay,it gets made.This comment holds true more for Ramu ki aag,than original Sholay.Certainly Ramu has earned its place in history by making a master piece.The day i saw the promo i was never keen on watching the movie,but with ur delightful input i think i should watch it now with totally different perpective,i.e.1001 ways to screw a classic and screw scores of ppl career.i think there will not be any servent with name Ramu,such would be the impact of this moive on the employment front.But i strongly object ur comments on Nisha Kotha-ree.i would prefer watching miss Kotha than- wats his name playing Amitabh—-oh forget it…and ajay devegan and the king of all..Mr Bacchan.It was highly unlikely the amitabh could be do a moive like RKA(dont even feel like pronoucing the full name of the movie)after his golden run during which he did classic movies like toofahn,jadugar,ganga jamuna saraswati(remember the scene where spider web is shown trearing and amitach bacchan climaxed seeing that).It one of the most enduring images of indian cinema.I want to ask a questing to Ramu in the interest of this movie buff nation-YEAH AAG KAB BUJHEGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…….
After hearing so much criticism, I got time to watch the movie on DVD..RGV ki Aag on October 2nd. some of my friends in BBC London told me that this is the worst movie of the century in any language in which the superstar of century played centre(?) role..Anyways… It was really a horrible movie and it was tough to watch the movie even in house. I was so desperate to make relations with Ramu’s sisters and mothers but I couldn’t. I wished I should have been watched the movie in theater to open my mouth as much I can to abuse RGV. He is a sick man. jerking cameras, low lights, Nish kothari, slow framing in picturisation and long horrible background would kill anyone who would watch the movie..
The Build up..
Where can i start with this one?? i couldn’t believe it when someone told me that a re-make of sholay was being done, i didnt want to believe it.. i searched the internet for clues, and lo and behold i found out it was true.. and then came the blow – the cast! what the hell was ajay devgan doing in the film at all??? and who the hell is Prashant?? and Amitabh as gabbar – no way!! it was at least some concilation when the film was finally released that it was called ‘Aag’ and not ‘Sholay’.
The movie
From the onset, this film totally failed to deliver what one might expect from modern cinema let alone a re-make of one of the biggest films ever made. The lame actors brought down te mood of the film with their lack of acting ability. The film just did not have a touch with reality, and Basanti’s character was ridiculous. Though the UK thatrical release was heavily edited in order to make the certificate, Aag failed to connect with it’s viewers, where as the original totally captured the audience from start to finish and had viewers rivetted. The original touched so many emotions and carried the viewer through the film, Aag however seemed to be hopping from one place to another and in all honestly looked as though it had been shot in a week. The only acceptable piece of acting came from Amitabh, and i still didnt like him playing Gabbar, he must have turned in his grave. I was totally against re-makes until i watched the new Don, although not comparable to the original, was quite an exciting film in its own right, with good use of camera and excellent cinematography, however Aag just did not do the same. If RGV REALLY REALLY wanted to do it properly he should have chosen a better cast, stuck more appropriately to the original story, and used much more innovative improvisations. If i was forced to cast this movie today, I would do it this way:
Jai – Abhishek Bachan (a bit cliche i know but the only actor who has a similar on screen presence)
Veeru – Aamir Khan (seriusly underated actor)
Basanti – Aishwaria
Thakur – Sunjay Dutt
Gabbar – Nana Patekar
Overall a very poor movie, very disapointed, but also pleased in the same breath, just to know that somebody else failed trying to re-create my favourate film..
E L A A N
An assertive Declaration and Proclamation
This urban modern day reworking of the Sippy’s classic works primarily as it scours the prodigal body of law and order and questioning the effete judiciary as well as making some very relevant comments on the international extradition treaties, but it has a crisp script and a fine narrator as Vikram Bhatt who stylishly translates this dark but fast paced thriller onto the silver screen.
The modern tale of a menacing, cold, calculating mastermind criminal is played by a highly charged Mithun who looks every bit the international criminal who publicly announces the assassination of a billionaire for ransom and then executes it while making a mockery of the law and order, his malignant smile, mean sneer and panther like posture are enough to make this a truly dark character as evil as Hannibal Lecter, this is a stellar act and he walks away with the highest plaudits, but Rahul Khanna as the bereaving son who must reap justice for his fathers soul is superb too as the quiet and shy but extremely intelligent youth who recruits a brilliant ex army mastermind to plan the vendetta, played with Elan by Arjun Rampal as the single parent with a young daughter and they are accompanied by John Abraham, a conniving, but cunning criminal who joins the group for lust and greed.
The weakest link are the 2 female leads, while Lara Dutta as Abraham’s femme fatale Mata Hari lookalike girlfriend as a dancing diva injects the movie with a lethal dose of glamour, Amisha as the investigative journalist posing to be Rahul khanna’s lover is very ineffective as are the romantic production numbers which mar and hamper the narrative.
But the visual splendours are enough to make up for these shortcoming as the thriller progress from Mumbai to a gondola chase in venetian canals and a motorbike-lorry sequence caught on an alpine freeway against a panorama which puts bond to shame.
The movie is darkly yet atmospherically shot from Italy to the Bavarian heartland and the gunfights are breathtakingly staged on the snow capped alpine slopes with a technical finesse rarely seen in Hindi cinema, it is here that the soul of this erstwhile classic is imbued with its urban metaphysical form as the style and content come together with a brilliant director and an ensemble cast.
This is one of the most alluring products from the Bhatt stable and despite somewhat hurried and makeshift finales; it is a worthy successor to its classic predecessor.
The socio political comments on the Indian judiciary and the establishments impotency to protect a victim or punish the aggressor are chillingly narrated in a highly affective manner and this makes an effective declaration of a great proclamation an eye for an eye and while some may argue that can make the whole world blind, I would rather live in a blind world rather then an unjust world.
This is how you execute a criminal and an erstwhile classic when you are remaking Sholay’s and Dons, the only other Hindi thriller made by the talented Farhan Akhtar which was even better then this fine product in totally overshadowing its predecessor even though the original products are just as credible as the remakes, but they have to be executed with a vision and finesse and not just technical wizardry which while exciting can lead to a damp squid like recent remakes.
Usman Khawaja
“Mohan Lal, with his heavily accented Hindi and his unkempt beard that increasingly makes him look like an angry Inzamam as the movie progresses, lacks the silent underplayed intensity that Sanjeev Kumar brought to the original.”
He played the role differently and, in my opinion, played it well. I wonder if he was required to replay Sanjeev Kumar.
RGV ki Aag has earned 36th place in IMDB’s bottom 100 list
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473310/
BTW, can you design your blog so that the links open in a separate tab/window. Because it is bit irritating to keep on hitting back button everytime I click a link