When AGNEEPATH was being made, there was a lot of talk about Sanjay Dutt emerging as the new face of villainy in Hindi cinema, but after the film has been released, it has been revealed excitedly that another actor has staked his claim for roles of villainy in future by giving a gem of performance in AGNEEPATH. The actor in question is Rishi Kapoor and his role of ‘Rauf Lala’ could go down in history as one of the fine performance in Indian cinema. The meanness, the cunning, the guile that he has brought to his enactment of the role is a visual treat worth watching.
‘Rauf Lala’ has indeed demonstrated and underlined what villainy is all about, it is all in the eyes and the romantic poster boy of yesteryears has indeed undergone amazing metamorphosis to enact the role. If there would be one singular point of departure that would be talked about in great detail with reference to remake of AGNEEPATH, it would be the role of ‘Rauf Lala’ as it is the character which was not present in the original version.
One always looks for an opening to get out of the image that has been cultivated around an acting persona, and Rishi Kapoor was no exception, as he was the first chocolate boy hero of Indian screen, and before AGNEEPATH, even the roles that he enacted as character artist continued to hark back to his romantic image. But one needs to complement Karan Johar and Karan Malhotra that they had the guts to create such moment of disruption in the acting career of Rishi Kapoor by casting him in the role of villain. It indeed needs a lot of conviction on the part of the actor, more so in the production team.
The present crop of production team which is functioning in the world of cinema indeed need to be complemented as it does not view an actor from the baggage of an image that he has in the past, but is ready to open a window of experimentation for the actor by offering him a role that is at tangent with the image that has been cultivated for him over the years.
Now that ‘Rauf Lala’ has become a part of folklore in the Indian film history, it would be interesting to find out whether some director and producer would now cast Rishi Kapoor as a villain in his son Ranbir Kapoor’s film. It indeed would be one of the high points in history of Hindi cinema and the way the things are gravitating, who knows, this eventuality may be around the corner.