Agneepath

Mukul Anand's 1990 crime epic follows a boy whose father is lynched in front of him and who returns to the Bombay underworld fifteen years later for revenge. Amitabh Bachchan's Vijay Deenanath Chauhan is one of the sharpest roles of his career, and it brought him his first National Film Award. He deliberately deepened and roughened his voice for the part, intended as a nod to Marlon Brando in The Godfather; audiences disliked it, the opening week went badly, and the dialogue was re-recorded in his natural voice for later prints. The film never recovered its large budget, but it grew into a cult title over the years and was remade in 2012. Who it's for: viewers who enjoy Indian revenge cinema of the eighties and nineties and Bachchan in heavy dramatic mode. Who it's not for: anyone put off by a running time near three hours and the period's very broad register of violence.