Seven years after directing Shah Rukh Khan as a larger-than-life gangster in Raees, Rahul Dholakia has found a new set of more down-to-earth heroes for Agni. Dholakia wants you to look at firefighters in a new light – and at least on this count, Agni is an unqualified success.
The Hindi film, which is out on Prime Video, valourises firefighters as the first responders we always need but nearly never appreciate. Through thickets of smoke and layers of dust, blackened faces and choked lungs, a clear picture emerges of the men and women who put their existence at risk so that others may live.
There are two smart uses of fire in the film. One is the safe kind – the matches struck at gas burners or religious altars. The other is dangerous – caused by ignorance, neglect or, worse, criminal intent.
The locus of action is Mumbai’s Parel fire station. Station chief Vitthal (Pratik Gandhi) leads staffers who brave ravenous flames and collapsing rubble.
The firefighters play as hard as they work. They lay bets on how high the temperatures will get – 500 degrees? 1,000 degrees? A fire tender that arrives late after being misdirected by Google Maps earns mock applause from those who got there first.
The rise in the number of fires makes investigating officer Avni (Saiyami Kher) wonder. Might this be the work of an arsonist? The theory is dismissed by police officer Samit (Divyenndu), who happens to be Vitthal’s brother-in-law.
Vitthal has other fires to put out because of Samit. Vitthal’s efforts are not always appreciated by his son Amar (Kabir Shah). A corrupt cop who is living beyond his means, Samit has the swagger and social status that Vitthal lacks in Amar’s eyes. As Samit’s sister, Vitthal’s wife Rukmini (Sai Tamhankar) finds herself in the uncomfortable role of peacemaker.
Dholakia’s screenplay spins off in two different directions, and he is barely able to make them meet. Vitthal’s rivalry with Samit yields a hilarious display of petulance but little else. This manufactured mano-a-mano is meant to educate Amar about how amazing Vitthal is as well as show how firefighters are as good as, if not better, than the police. But it bogs down the narrative.
Divyenndu, reteaming with Pratik Gandhi after the comedy Madgaon Express (2023), has evident chemistry with his co-star. But Samit’s grubby-handedness is as irrelevant to the plot as his very presence.
The better strand remains underexplored. Might that be because of how incendiary the arsonist’s motives are? This aspect of Agni introduces a subversive element that fits well with the film’s overall concern for its overworked, undervalued firefighters.
The Mumbai setting yields a sub-strand on the megapolis’s precipitous decline. From violating building regulations to neglecting basic safety rules, the city’s residents are playing with fire, as Avni says. The non-nonsense Avni, sharply played by Saiyami Kher, has a ready solution: they should all be shot.
Some of the most memorable scenes are at the fire station, where firefighters catch their breath and joke with each other before rushing out to put on their uniforms yet again. So it’s a pity when the film cuts away to other locales.
The hectic editing pattern, in which we are unwillingly dragged from one scene to another, means that some of the more affecting moments rush by. There’s a feeling of far too much drama being crammed into a 124-minute movie. What lingers is Dholakia’s evident affection and empathy for the firefighters.
The action scenes involving actual fire fused with visual effects give a vivid sense of what it means to be in the middle of a conflagration. The film beautifully captures the camaraderie among the firefighters, their earthy banter, and their despair when they lose one of their own.
A typically wonderful Sai Tamhankar shows how these feelings affect the kin of firefighters too. Rukmini frequently beseeches her gods to protect her husband despite knowing that his problems are human-made.
Pratik Gandhi too aces Vitthal, who has a personality – impatient and irascible but sensitive too – that makes his character distinctive. Jitendra Joshi plays Vitthal’s embittered colleague Mahadev, while Anant Jog plays a buffoonish minister who is a reminder of what the firefighters are up against on a regular basis.
Also read:
Why Rahul Dholakia made a film about firefighters: ‘They are marginalised in every way’