Aag Ka Gola review :
An unofficial remake of the 1970 Jeetendra starrer Himmat, Aag Ka Gola had Sunny Deol in the titular role with Dimple Kapadia and Archana Puran Singh as his heroines. Prem Chopra played the main villain almost reprising his role from Himmat while Shakti Kapoor was cast as the honest but rigid inspector.
The plot revolved around a criminal who wants to turn a new leaf and start life afresh but his mentor and boss doesnt allow him to do it for his own selfish benefits. How the reformed criminal faces societal rejection and overcomes it bravely forms the crux of the narrative.
Sunny Deol was perfectly cast as Shankar aka Shakka the chor. His performance was superlative. The name Shakka draws inspiration from his dad Dharmendra's popular character in Phool Aur Patthar (1966). Dimple Kapadia was earnest as Shakka's wife who helps him to become Shankar once again.
The young Archana Puran Singh looked really hot and sexy which prompted even an otherwise shy Sunny Deol to smooch her in the film. She had two sizzling songs - "Sharaab cheez hai Buri" and "Aaya aaya woh aaya" - with Sunny as well. The Aaya aaya number was rip off from Pakistani singer Hasan Jahangir's Hawa Hawa song which was a rage in India in late '80s.
Produced by Pahlaj Nihalani and directed by David Dhawan, Aag Ka Gola clashed with two other films on 29th December 1989 - Kumar Gaurav's Jurrat also directed by David Dhawan and newcomer Salman Khan's Maine Pyar Kiya which was directed by debutant Sooraj Barjatya. Quite naturally, this was the biggie and first choice of cinegoers on opening day.
It will surprise you that even I preferred Aag Ka Gola over Maine Pyar Kiya for first day viewing at Badal Bijlee cinema where it took a fantastic start. Of course, by second week, the strong word of mouth made Maine Pyar Kiya a super hit while Aag Ka Gola tanked at the box office. It wasnt a bad film at all for 1989 but then Sunny days were still six months away for Deol when Ghayal (1990) arrived and got him immense appreciation and awards.
Regards,
Sumeet Nadkarni.
