“If looks could kill, Sanjubaba (Sanjay Dutt) in his menacing get-up of the ‘khatarnaak’ villainish screen-character Kaancha Cheena in ‘Agneepath’ would have possibly wreaked havoc,” asserts co-star Hrithik Roshan who plays the lead in the same Karan Johar banner mega-movie releasing this week.
The buzz in showbiz is that Dutt’s evil character Kaancha would soon join the big league of memorable screen-villains like Gabbar Singh and Mogambo. Like his late legendary actor-father Sunil Dutt who acted in diverse roles from a deadly dacoit in ‘Mujhe Jeene Do’ to a bumbling simpleton ‘Bhola’ in the classic cult comedy ‘Padosan, son Sanjay has also been making diligent efforts to acquire the versatile actor image. Which then explains that the same lovable small-time tough guy ‘Munnabhai’ with a romantic streak played by Dutt now dons the avataar of the sadistic devil ‘Kaancha Cheena’ in ‘Agneepath’.
But hadn’t Sanjay played the title-role in the yesteryear movie ‘Khalnayak’ (villain)? He wears a cheeky grin followed by a mock grimace. “But then there is a ‘zameen-asmaan ka farq’. In ‘Khalnayak’ I had played a romantic anti-hero whereas in ‘Agneepath’ it’s an out-and-out negative sinister bald-pate character with a rustic look and also wears dhotis. In fact, I must also add that in ‘Agneepath’ my co-star Chintu-ji (Rishi Kapoor) with whom I have just a couple of scenes also plays a nasty baddie, perhaps for the first time in his career,” chuckles the Dutt .
Was his Cheena character overshadowing Hrithik’s role in the movie ? “No way, it is Hrithik Roshan who is the formidable lead-hero character of the movie while I am just the catalyst who brings tension on the screen. In fact, audiences will enjoy the on-screen terrific takkar (clash) of two macho action heroes (Hrithik and me) in ‘Agneepath’.
Actually, if you recall, I have worked with Hrithik in one of his initial movies ‘Mission Kashmir’ which we shot much before his ‘Kaho Naa...’ had even released and he has evolved into a fabulous intense actor,” laughs Dutt.