rgv aag Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Mohanlal, Ajay Devgan, Prashant Raj Sachdev, Nisha Kothari, Sushmita Sen, Sushant Singh, Rajpal Yadav, Gaurav Kapoor, Urmila Matondkar, Abhishek Bachchan; Director: RGV; Rating: *

Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag tells the story of a certain Inspector Narsimha (Mohanlal) who takes on one of the dreaded underworld dons – Babban (Amitabh). Needless to say, he pays for it dearly and practically loses his entire family to Babban’s wrath.

Rendered helpless because his fingers have been chopped, Narsimha hires two conmen – Heero (Ajay Devgan) and Raj (Prashant Raj). Babban has also been eyeing the colony – Kaalinagar, a prime real estate land – which has been a home to fisherfolk (and Narsimha) for generations. The battle, in a way then, takes on a ’social cause’ to protect the rights and interests of the helpless people.

Narsimha’s only family is his widowed sister-in-law Durga Devi (Sushmita Sen), who runs a clinic in the locality. And of course, there is Ghungroo the local tomboy, who makes a living out of driving a rickshaw.

The plot pretty much sticks to Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay, bar the ending, which is full of blood and gore – trademark RGV style.

Shushmita in RGV ki AAG Sushmita Sen and Mohanlal are probably two of the few reasons why we stuck around till the very end. The onscreen chemistry between the two has been very sensitively explored. Sadly though there are very few scenes involving the two. Newcomer Prashant Raj, though pretty raw, does seem to display potential. Moreover, the attempt to take the story out of Ramgarh to Kaalinagar, though not well executed, has been laudable.

Frankly the list is quite endless. So here are few top grouses: The characterisation – of Heero and Raj especially – seems pretty flawed. In the initial reels they are made out to be naïve fools, which goes against their basic character sketch. Moreover the dubbing leaves a lot to be desired. You can actually see people saying Veeru instead of Heero and Gabbar instead of Babban. That apart, for someone like RGV whose films rely heavily on editing, Aag comes across as a half-hearted effort. Disconnected scenes, randomly cut dialogues tend to jar.

Finally, adaptations are fine – Maqbool and Omkara are brilliant examples of that. And indeed the attempt to remake/adapt a classic like Sholay may have been noble. But that does not discount the many flaws that have gone into telling the story an entire generation has grown up listening to.

DO NOT watch the film! And we aren’t even comparing it to the original here. A well-told story needs no comparison and a badly narrated one should not be compared.

Source: buzz18
 

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