Agneepath (transl. The Path of Fire) is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language action drama film produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Karan Johar under Dharma Productions and directed by the latter’s former assistant, Karan Malhotra, in his directorial debut. A remake of the eponymous 1990 film of the same name directed by Mukul S. Anand, it centers on a screenplay written by Malhotra and Ila Dutta Bedi on the basis of an altered version of the original story by Santosh Saroj, while the dialogues are written by Piyush Mishra. Johar pays tribute to his father, Yash Johar, the producer of the original, through the film. The music of the film was composed by Ajay-Atul, with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. As with the original, the title is taken from a poem of the same name by Harivansh Rai Bachchan, which forms a thematic link through the film, both literally and metaphorically.
Within the island village of Mandwa, the school teacher Deenanath Chauhan (Chetan Pandit) is highly respected by the villagers. The chief of the village, extremely jealous of Dinanath’s popularity in the eyes of citizens, summons his evil son Kancha (Sanjay Dutt) to destroy Dinanath’s image in citizen’s eyes. Kancha also has plans to start a drug cartel from Mandwa, knowing that the soil of Mandwa is rich for the cultivation of cocaine.
When Kancha requests the people to lend their lands to him under the pretext of expanding the salt industry of Mandwa, Dinanath dissuades the villagers from doing so. Knowing this, Kancha decides to get rid of the school teacher. He ambushes and murders a young girl inside the school, framing Chauhan for the murder. With the support of the villagers, Kancha then kills Chauhan by hanging him to death from a tree which is witnessed by young Vijay Chauhan (Hrithik Roshan), the son of the teacher.
Vijay, along with his pregnant mother Suhasini Chauhan (Zarina Wahab) leaves the village. Destitute, they find shelter in a chawl in Dongri, a suburb in Mumbai, but Vijay harbours intentions to go back to Mandwa and kill Kancha. While in Mumbai, Suhasini delivers a baby girl named Shiksha, while Vijay befriends a girl, Kaali Gawde. Vijay is attracted to Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor), a local girl-trafficker and importantly an enemy of Kancha and wants to get into his company.
He earns his favour by refusing to stand as a witness in court to a crime committed by Lala and joins his gang. Meanwhile, Suhasini takes Shiksha with her upon leaving Vijay’s side after he kills Kaali’s abusive father, a cop, at a young age and resorts to violence.