The film is adapted from the play of the same name by India’s foremost playwright, Girish Karnad. Derived from ‘The Myth Of Yavakri’ – a part of the
renowned epic ‘The Mahabharata’, this film retains the essence of the story as told in the epic
though somewhat altered by the playwright. Agni Varsha is produced by iDream Productions (known for films like Monsoon
Wedding, Bend It Like Beckham) and directed by Arjun Sajnani. The film was shot entirely on location at Hampi,
the seat of the Vijaynagar Empire in the 13th century, which is now a World Heritage Site, under the stewardship
of the Archaeological Survey of India. The period has been accurately recreated in the film without
losing its contemporary insights that are so intrinsic to the original script.
Agni Varsha begins with a short narration by Raghuvir Yadav, which leads to the place where a ‘Mahayagya’ was being
performed by Paravasu (Jackie Shroff), the head priest. The Mahayagya is to please Lord Indra – The lord of rains. This takes you
to the past story of the main plot. The first half is more or less a combination of
couple of sub plots about the rivalry between Paravasu and Yavakari (Nagarjun), Raibhya and Paravasu. Also shown
is the romantic background of Vishakha (Raveena Tandon) and Yavakari. Most of these sub plots conclude before interval with the killing
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of Yavakari by the Bramha Rakshas (Prabhu Deva) sent by Raibhya. Paravasu leaves his family to hold the Mahayagya. But all
these also carry the romance of Arvasu (Milind Soman) and Nithilai (Sonali Kulkarni). In the meanwhile, Parvasu kills Raibhya when he
secretly comes to his home at night.
Arvasu and Nithilai dominate the second half. Nithilai could not get married to Arvasu as he could not reach on
time to face the Panchayat called by Nithilai’s father to arrange their marriage. Nithilai has to marry someone else.
Nonetheless she leaves the place and joins Arvasu. Aravasu joins a drama family and is to perform a play at the site of the Mahayagya. While performing, Arvasu sets everything on fire, which leads Parvasu to walk into the fire as he thinks that everything went wrong only because of him. Finally Lord Indra appears and blesses Arvasu and the land
is filled with a shower.
Milind Soman and Sonali Kulkarni dominate the story. The rest appear on and of for a brisk time including Jackie Shroff, Nagarjun,
Raveena Tandon, Mohan Agashe and Prabhu Deva. Amitabh Bachchan is in a very small role, playing
the character of Lord Indra. The story is too complex for a common man, but very gripping too.
Watching Agni Varsha is like reliving the age-old myth even as its multi-faceted characters, which transcend time, play out
its inexorable end. The film is not a regular masala flick, though it has beautiful and hummable songs. The photography is simple and great too. The director has had a very clear idea of the story and has not whisked from the script. The background score requires a
mention and music composed by Sandesh Shadilya is marvelous.
Lets see how the mass responds to this epic tale as compared to ‘Lagaan’. All in all, it is a
clean story, a plain narration of ‘The Myth of Yavakari’.
