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T-Series Films, Colour Yellow Productions Pvt. Ltd. and Star Films & Entertainment Ltd.’s An Action Hero (UA) is the story of an action hero.
Manav (Ayushmann Khurrana) is a very popular action hero of the Hindi film industry. One day, he has a scuffle with local politician Bhura Solanki’s (Jaideep Ahlawat) brother, Vicky Solanki (Sumit Singh). He pushes Vicky who falls on a pointed stone and dies. Scared to death, Manav runs away to London. In no time, news of Manav being Vicky’s murderer and of his running away to London make it to the headlines of all television news channels. As if escaping from the London police (who are hot on his trail) is not tough enough, he also has to fight it out with Bhura who follows him to London. Sai (Neeraj Madhav), a wheeler-dealer in London, promises to save him but that doesn’t happen. Is Manav able to prove his innocence? Or do the London police arrest him on behalf of the Indian police? Or is he arrested in India?
Anirudh Iyer has written a story that’s quite different from the usual commercial potboilers. However, it is not clear to the audience why an A-list star would escape to London, especially after he is sure that Vicky’s death was an accident rather than a murder at his hands. Agreed, it would be a task to convince the police or, later, the courts too, but did Manav think that law would never catch up with him? He would have to fall back on the sequence of events to save his skin, so what was the need to run away? If anything, Manav was only weakening his own case by escaping to London and then fighting the London police too. With his status and connections, wouldn’t it have been easier for him to surrender before the police? The audiences seek an answer to this query which keeps troubling them at regular intervals, but Iyer does not even address the issue. Neeraj Yadav’s screenplay is quite engaging but again, there are some weak links. For instance, Bhura is so livid that one would imagine, he’d kill Manav at the first given opportunity. However, he instead challenges Manav to defeat him in a one-on-one, throwing his revolver away. Manav does the same much later when he can eliminate Bhura (to save his own life). It is scenes like the above, which give the viewers the impression that the drama has been unnecessarily stretched. The track of underworld don Masood Abraham Katkar (Gautam Joglekar) looks far-fetched and forced but the twist in the tale with regards to the don is the best part of the screenplay. It is unlikely that the audience will enjoy this twist so much that it will forget the aforementioned minus points. Another major flaw is the casting of Ayushmann Khurrana in an out-and-out action role which goes against his image. Public acceptance of Ayushmann in this role — that too, in a film titled An Action Hero — seems unlikely. Several usual ingredients of a commercial film, like romance and mass-appealing comedy are absent. In fact, there’s no heroine in the film. Also, the film moves on one track only. Neeraj Yadav’s dialogues are very real.
Ayushmann Khurrana does a wonderful job as Manav. Despite playing a character which does not go with his image, he does full justice to it. However, as mentioned above, it is unlikely that his fans and loyal audience would want to see him in such a role and, what’s more, in a film with a title like An Action Hero. Jaideep Ahlawat is splendid as Bhura Solanki. His performance is supremely natural and his very persona sends chills down the viewers’ spines. Neeraj Madhav stands his own in a brief role as Sai. Vaquar Shaikh is alright as Kaadir. Harsh Chhaya lends able support as Madhav’s secretary, Roshan. Gautam Joglekar is effective as Masood Abraham Katkar. Sumit Singh is natural as Vicky Solanki. Garima Jha, Girish Sharma, Rahul Shanklya and Sandeep Dhabale play the four TV news readers with élan. Natranjan Balakrishnan and Dinesh play the RAW officers with conviction. Akshay Kumar adds star value in a brief special appearance. Malaika Arora and Nora Fatehi exude oomph in special appearances. Pankaj Mathur (as Guddu), Akanksha Vishwakarma (as the film’s assistant director), Partha Akerkar (as the film producer), Dinesh Kaushik (as the Bombay police commissioner) and Ravi (as Manav’s cook) provide good support. Others are adequate.
Anirudh Iyer’s direction is good. The debut-making director knows the craft of filmmaking. Parag Chhabra’s music is quite alright. Remixed songs and old songs (by Tanishk Bagchi, Biddu, Amar Jalal, Gurinder Seagal and Faridkot) are nice. Lyrics (by Vayu Shrivastav, D’Evil and Shah Rule) are okay. Vijay A. Ganguly’s choreography of the ‘Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye’ song is eye-filling. Bosco-Caesar’s picturisation of the promotional song is also appealing. Sunny M.R.’s background music is effective. Kaushal Shah’s cinematography is very nice. Action and stunt scenes (by Ian Van Temperly and Stunt Silva) are exciting. Ravi Srivastava’s production designing is of a good standard. Ninad Khanolkar’s editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, An Action Hero is a well-made film but its commercial prospects are bleak because of the casting and some inherent flaws in the script.
Released on 2-12-’22 at Inox (daily 5 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: so-so. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.