Poster: Aag (2007) — Poster: TMDB · Image rights notice

Aag

Ram Gopal Varma's Indian Flames

2007 · India · 171 min

Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Producer: Ram Gopal Varma

Cast

What it is about

Heerendra Dhaan and Raj Ranade work as bodyguards for a politician in Nashik until his circle is caught up in a scandal. After they assault a police officer, they flee to Bombay, where they fall in with a gangster. The police soon bring them in and make them an offer: help take the gangster down. Then Inspector Narsimha proposes a riskier job, hunting the feared bandit Babban Singh for a sum of money. The film reworks the framework of Sholay (1975) for a modern Indian setting.

How it was made

Ram Gopal Varma produced and directed the film, a reinterpretation of Sholay led by Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Sushmita Sen and Mohanlal. Ganesh Hegde, Amar Mohile and Prasanna Shekhar composed the score. During production, the Delhi High Court fined Varma for copyright infringement over characters such as Gabbar Singh, a ruling that described the act as deliberate.

Reception and legacy

Critics and audiences panned the film. Rajeev Masand gave it zero stars out of five, and The Times of India went so far as to say it had destroyed one of Bollywood's greatest films. It appears on several worst-of lists, including FHM's, which ranked it first, and Total Film's. Years later, Amitabh Bachchan himself called it a mistake.