Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar has been a part of the industry for a long time. Before making a mark for himself as a director-producer, he grew up watching his father, late filmmaker Yash Johar, who backed many iconic films. One of those films, the Amitabh Bachchan and Danny Denzongpa starrer Agneepath, recently completed 35 years. On the special occasion, he has now opened up about how despite having flopped at the box office, the film acquired a cult following, over time.
Apart from talking about the film gaining popularity after its release, he also shed light on his decision to remake the film in 2012 as a way to ‘avenge’ his father’s failure. In an interview with the Indian Express, Johar revealed that the 1990 film will always remain his father’s “most favourite film experience.” He went on to add that that the late filmmaker felt proud of Bachchan’s performance as Vijay Deenanath Chauhan. He went on to recall the time when they would stay up late at night, hoping the veteran actor wins a National award for the film.
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Commenting on how that dream came true, the Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani director shared, “When the film was at screenings — we used to call them trials those days. The trial reports of the film said it’s going to be a huge juggernaut at the box office; it was going to explode. Unfortunately, when the film released in February 1990, there were mixed opinions and all kinds of issues. Prior to release, we had heard only exemplary things about the film. So it (the failure) came as a complete shock to my father; it broke his heart.”
Despite receiving an underwhelming response at the box office, Agneepath received a massive response from Gen Z. He expressed that when renewing “rights for screening,” the Mukul Anand directorial “is on top of the list of the older Dharma lot that people really want to watch, and quote.”
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When asked if he remade the film, co-starring Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt, in 2012 as a homage to his father, the 52-year-old filmmaker expressed his gratitude over the fact that he could give the film a “hit status.”
Quoted by the media publication, he added, “It was always a homage to my father, to his dreams for that film. It was wonderful to get a hit status on the remake. And I think we managed a super hit status. I feel my job is done. Agneepath is about the revenge of a son for his father. In the sense, this was possibly the same for me. My Agneepath in 2012 was a son’s revenge… I don’t know what I was avenging, but I just felt my father was so broken. At the time when he was given a tag of a failure, his Agneepath didn’t deserve that.”
Opening up about the thought of re-releasing the film, as it is an ongoing trend, Dharma Productions’ head honcho dismissed the notion. “Not in the same form,” he said. Johar went on to reveal that he would like to work on a similar project as despite it being 35 years, the concept is still very relevant.
On the work front, Karan Johar is currently gearing for the release of Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor starrer Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari. He also has Ibrahim Ali Khan, Khushi Kapoor’s Nadaaniyan, Kartik Aaryan starrer Tu Meri Main Tera, Main Tera Tu Meri, and Triptii Dimri-Siddhanth Chaturvedi starrer Dhadak 2, among many others in his pipeline. He is also backing Kesari Chapter 2, co-starring Akshay Kumar and R Madhavan.
