Footpath review :

A remake of Hollywood hit State of Grace (1990) which was already remade earlier as Angaaray (1998) by Mahesh Bhatt. Vikram Bhatt took the same plot written by Mahesh Bhatt and made Footpath with a different cast. Aftab Shivdasani was main hero and he got some steamy scenes with the hot and sexy Bipasha Basu. Footpath was Emraan Hashmi's debut though he attained stardom a year later with Murder (2004). He played the role of Aftab's buddy and a good natured thug. One wonders why Vikram Bhatt chose to remake the flop Angaaray. Did he think that he could handle the plot better than his mentor Mahesh Bhatt? Hmm!!!

I remember seeing this movie on Independence day holiday at Gaiety Galaxy, Bandra and while the Housefull board was neatly propped outside the hall, the auditorium was half empty. Clearly, the blackers had lost a lot of money!!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

Footpath is a crime thriller film directed by Vikram Bhatt and stars Aftab Shivdasani, Emraan Hashmi, Bipasha Basu, Late Irrfan Khan, Anup Soni, Aparna Tilak and Rahul Dev.

An undercover policeman reunites with his childhood friends who are now criminals and tries to make change their way.

A futile attempt to remake the flop film 'Angaaray' directed by Mahesh Bhatt which itself is a remake of the Hollywood classic 'State of Grace'.

I went through lots of public reviews and everyone was going gaga about the acting of Emraan Hashmi and no one is talking about how the film is actually made, in my opinion the film was a big disappointment, be it screenplay, execution or the climax it looked like that almost every scene was copied from 'State of Grace' and no recreation is been attempted by director.

Acting is itsy bitsy decent but majorly disappointing, Emraan Hashmi in his debut film proved that he possess the talent and proved to be a dark horse in his career, Aftab Shivdasani looked impressive in few of the scenes but majorly got overshadowed by Emraan and did a forgettable role, Bipasha Basu cried throughout the film and was majorly disappointing, Rahul Dev is a talented actor but tired too hard to look tough (he had to fill the big shoes as his character was played by the legend Ed Harris in the Hollywood original) hence it seems that he wore the same face throughout. Anup Soni was very impressive in his limited screen-time, Late Irrfan Khan was wasted and Aparna Tilak was forgettable.

Screenplay of the film is slow and the length of the film is painfully 2.40 hours. Those who had seen State of Grace will easily anticipate the next scene but those who are watching the film for the first time might also not get too excited with the limited twists in the film.

The music of the film is good and the songs are beautiful and some of the songs are still played, the climax of the film is also average and doesn't impresses much. Overall a wasted attempt to copy/remake/recreate another Hollywood classic.

Mahesh Bhatt's ANGAAREY(1998) was a flop at the B.O, The film a remake of STATE OF GRACE(1990).Surprisingly even Salman Khan's AUZAAR had a similar story which released in 1997 and flopped ANGAAREY was a well made film with some flaws like some forced masala elements and a weird villain Gulshan Grover and the film tilted towards action to fit Akshay's action hero image but yet it stands out as Akshay's one of decent films of 90s when his career was going through bad times. FOOTPATH(2003) follows the same part but yet the film isn't entirely bad, In fact in many ways it's better then ANGAAREY. Vikram Bhatt has done some changes in the film, Emraan's character is a mix of Nagarjun and Irfan Kamal of the original and the bonding is handled much better this time. Even the villainy is not like the original and treated much better. The film starts off well though in old fashioned style but yet scenes are well handled though several questions are unanswered like how Aftab becomes a real estate agent? Childhood love of Aftab-Bips also looks far-fetched, Plus the reason Aftab runs away in childhood is not too clear Yet the scenes between Aftab and Emraan, their coming together, their bonding Emraan's scenes with his sweetheart are well handled, also Bipasha- Aftab story is well handled but too many songs do get on the nerves There are several well handled scenes like Aftab confronting Anup Soni, The transformation in Emraan Hashmi's character, the film manages to evoke emotions, though the end does come across as tad filmy yet the drama is well handled.

Direction by Vikram Bhatt is superb, The Mahesh Bhatt touch is evident throughout the film Music by Nadeem Shravan is tuneful, ZARA DEKH, KITNA PYARA and SAARI RAAT stand out but they do come at quick succession, the best song is Dost Milte hai by Kumar Sanu This film marks the first time Himesh and Emraan came together, as the song SOORAT TERI PYAARI is composed by Himesh Dialogues by Girish Dhamija are fantastic

Aftab Shivdasani tries very hard and does manage to play his character well, though at times he does try really too hard and it shows Yet this is one of his better performances. Bipasha Basu(with a dubbed voice) annoys with her heaving and hamming. The real find is Emraan Hashmi, who debuted this film, the actor was known as a serial kisser post MURDER but in this film he plays a lovable goon and plays it so perfectly for his debut, He even overshadows Aftab Shivdasani. Though his voice was dubbed by someone else(Regular in Bhatt films for a debut) Aparna Tilak is decent Rahul Dev is excellent, while Irfan Khan in a cameo excels as usual Anup Soni is fantastic rest are adequate