Aatish was way ahead of its time, in terms of execution.
In terms of story line it may have been a rehash of John Woo's A Better Tomorrow but technically it is one of the best to come out of Bollywood, and definitely one of the most stylish. It introduced quite a few things in terms of the technical aspect.
Sanjay Dutt, Raveena Tandon and Aditya Pancholi are perfectly cast.
Truth be told it is a fairly successful movie but could have done better at the box office had it got the cast right.
Atul Agnihotri and Karisma Kapoor are completely miscast. So is Shakti Kapoor. Debutant director Sanjay Gupta in his effort to give equal screen space to all goofed up big time. The 'Ya Dilruba' number is a perfect example of this goof up. The perfect chemistry between Dutt and Tandon is lost amidst close-ups of Agnihotri and Kapoor.
Agnihotri didn't have the personality to stand up against Dutt. Mind you, the film is a face-off between the two. Had the former been consigned to a bit part, like Mehul Kumar cleverly did in Krantiveer - allowing the formidable Nana Patekar to take centrestage - it would have been okay. Alas it wasn't the case. In what was meant to be a serious role Agnihotri looked (and acted) comical.
Besides, when you are making a big budget, stylish film, your antagonist has to have style. While Gupta got it right giving supporting parts to Ajit saab - an epitome of style and class - and even Gulshan Grover, he got it wrong with the main villain.
Shakti Kapoor doesn't belong to this ecosystem, lacks class and comes across as cheap and petty. You can put him in an earthy, rustic film (Tohfa, Raja Babu, Gunda etc) but not one that is classy and elitist.
The movie also got it wrong as regards the selection of songs. While the album has eight songs in total, the three most hummable, 'Baarish Ne', 'Bolo Kahaan Gaye The', and the power-packed ditty 'Hasratein Hain Bahut Magar' don't find a place in the movie.
Instead the director was happy with average numbers like 'Aa aa meri Janiya' and 'Kaash Tum'.
With three of the six principal characters seemingly out of place, you have lost half the battle. And the best songs, that could have helped control the damage, were also absent. This is what happened with Aatish. What could have been among the year's top three hits was relegated to outside the top 10.
Still, it remains one of Dutt's best (albeit underrated) works, and most certainly Pancholi's best.
