Had to shave body hair too: Sanjay Dutt

Since the first trailer was unveiled, Sanjay Dutt’s bald look has been the talking point of Agneepath. The actor was initially supposed to go in for prosthetics but when the make-up started melting in the heat of Diu, he decided to shave his head for the first time in his life.
And since his
character, Kancha, suffers from a disease that has left him completely hairless, he had to shave off his body hair too. “Fortunately, I didn’t have to tweeze my eyebrows and eyelashes, as they were removed digitally during post-production,” reveals Sanjay, who’s encouraged by the reactions to his menacing look.

His favourite baddies have been Sholay’s Gabbar Singh and Mr India’s Mogambo. In the 1970s, mothers would put their children to sleep saying, “Beta so ja nahin to Gabbar aa jayega (Go to sleep or Gabbar will come).” A decade later, these children would mimic Amrish Puri’s laugh and say, “Mogambo khush hua (Mogambo is pleased)!”

Sanjay believes his laugh, inspired by Jack Nicholson’s The Joker in the 1989 Batman movie, and punchlines like ‘Vijay Dinanath Chauhan ko marna padega (Vijay Dinanth Chauhan will have to die)” will become as popular.

In a recent press interview, Danny Denzongpa, who played Kancha Cheena in the original Agneepath (1980), admitted Sanjay’s get-up is different and agreed that he’d have essayed the role in his own style. But he insisted that had he been a successful filmmaker, he wouldn’t have tampered with Agneepath.

Says Sanjay, “Our film is not a remake but a tribute to Agneepath and its director Mukul Anand. It’s Karan Malhotra’s vision and story. It took guts for a debutant director to take on an iconic film, but he’s come through with flying colours. He even made life simple for me by sketching out Kancha perfectly. I’ve messaged Danny sir and want to hold a special screening for him.”

He’s equally anxious to know the reaction of Amitabh Bachchan who played the original Vijay. “It would be a big honour for both Karan Malhotra, Karan Johar (producer) and me if he watched Agneepath. I’m one of sir’s (Bachchan’s) biggest fans.”