Vijay Deenanath Chauhan’s Home

This memorable dialogue,delivered by Amitabh Bachchan in the 1990 film Agneepath,catapulted Mandwa to the nation’s popular consciousness. With the film’s remake releasing on January 26,the spotlight is back on this small fishing village. However,outside of the films,this Maharashtrian village — with its serene beaches lined with fishing boats,palm-fringed bays and coconut groves — is like any other along the Konkan coastline.

While Agneepath made Mandwa famous,off the screen,its claim to fame lies in its proximity to one of Mumbai’s favourite weekend holiday destinations,Alibaug. For revellers heading to Alibaug,which boasts of having second homes of most of Mumbai’s rich and famous ,the Mandwa jetty is the connecting point. Boats ferry them from Apollo Bunder to Mandwa for a nominal price.

Spread across a 5 kilometre radius,Mandwa is dotted with both hutments and concrete structures. The winding bylanes,however,mostly remain deserted since the closest marketplace is in Alibaug,7 kilometres away. The weekends and holidays witness a frenzy of activity with an influx of tourists from Mumbai.

Due to its porous coastline,Mandwa was once considered a soft spot for the smuggling boats to unload the goods. While these activities ended back in the 1970s,the perception,fuelled by Agneepath,has stayed in the popular psyche. Yet,much to the dissatisfaction of its residents,the film established Mandwa as a backward village and the centre for a crime syndicate. “Smuggling is an old story. That generation is dead and gone,” snaps the village head’s wife Vatsala Namdev Koli. “Such nefarious activities were earlier common in every coastal village,” she says.

Mumbai historian Deepak Rao is sympathetic. “This village — too far from the main Gujarat port,guarded furiously by the navy,and a preferred holiday destination of the rich — was never a location to unload smuggled goods,” he explains. Nevertheless,our guide promptly points to the spot which was frequented by the smuggling boats.

In contrast to popular perception,the roads are well-maintained and lined with beach-facing resorts. Huge bungalows — fenced and secluded,can be spotted every few metres. “Sachin Tendulkar,Vijay Mallya,the Tatas,they all have bungalows close to the jetty,” says Uttam S Patil,an auto-rickshaw driver-cum-guide.

Most villagers depend on tourism for livelihood. Some find manual labour work at the construction sites. The fishermen,prefer to stick to the family business. Mandwa experienced tourism boom in the early 1990s when the Maharashtra government started the waterway connecting it with Mumbai. The village has since prospered and witnessed growth in the realty sector.

Agneepath’s impressions of Mandwa when Bachchan’s character Vijay was still a young boy,however,may be closer to reality. “We had electricity but it was limited,and very few people went to school as the closest was in Alibaug,” Koli recounts. Even today,Mandwa has only one school. The villagers travel to the town to avail hospital facilities.

Incidentally,Mandwa — despite its scenic location — has never been a favoured shooting locale. In fact,neither the original Agneepath nor the recent remake were shot there. Only portions of a handful of films,including Ram Balram and Khiladiyon Ke Khiladi were filmed here. Karan Malhotra,the director of the new Angeepath explains,“During our recce,Mandwa proved too congested. But the name of the place sounds so fantastical,especially the way Mr Bachchan says it in the film,that it is impossible to not be taken in by Mandwa.”