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

He played the role differently and, in my opinion, played it well. I wonder if he was required to replay Sanjeev Kumar.

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

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..

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.