Action Replayy

The film by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, based on the 1994 Gujarati play Action Replay, reminds you of Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future, only that the narrative isn't as tightly woven, and the time travel element and danger kept to a bare minimum, other than being a plot device to bring Bunty (Aditiya Roy Kapoor) back to March 1975 before his parents Kishen aka Kitchen Kumar the hotel restaurateur (Akshay Kumar) and Mala (Ash) got married. They had spent the last 33 years in a never-ending bicker, putting up false pretences at times, while at other times just let it rip in public or in front of their restaurant employees. This culminates in their wedding anniversary celebrations, where a decision is made to go their separate ways. Not wanting that to happen, Bunty conveniently hijacks a time machine belonging to his girlfriend's uncle, who just so happens to be a scientist, believing that if his parent's arranged marriage was instead a love marriage, things will turn out a lot better.

The main gist centers on the virtues of a love marriage, which is still something of a taboo back in those days, where arranged marriages were the norm. Some will argue of course that you'll grow to love someone when things get arranged, but in this case, it reflects on what if the marriage turned out to be sour from the start? And as Bunty soon finds out, the characters of his parents cannot be at more odds with each other, his dad being the cowardly bucktoothed teenager who gets frequently bullied by his Dad (Om Puri) and peers, including that of Mala, who's a headstrong, bold tomboy lacking feminine grace, exuding a steely exterior and up to her fair share of shenanigans with her gang that includes Kundan (Rannvijay Singh) whose affections for her will be one of the major obstacles Bunty and Kishen have to overcome.

It is manipulation of the first order, where the first half deals with how Bunty creates desire between the two enemies, trying to turn them into lovebirds. But here's where the story fails big time, tackling this in rather choppy instances with large plot gaps forgotten to be filled out, especially how Bunty becomes major chums with both his dad and mum (and his grandparents for that matter as well) despite literally appearing out of nowhere. While I understand a song and dance had taken care of this, I still felt it was rather hastily done just to get that cumbersome development out of the way. And hasty is probably the word most apt in putting aside logistics such as clothing and money, in how a boy from the 21st century doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, and conveniently too goes back to the future in what turned out to be yet a hasty wrap up of the film that does the emotional core of Bunty great disservice in his about turn and attitudes toward marriage.

Thankfully things start to pick up in the second half where the Kishen undergoes a major exterior makeover to woo the girl of his manipulated dreams, and becomes that suave lady killer, although always shaking on the inside once his game is over, which lead to numerous opportunities for mirth which does get tired after a while, despite great comedic timing by Akshay Kumar, spouting what I suspect would probably be a popular catch phrase amongst the younger crowd when they emerge from the theatres. The plot after the interval will probably irk feminists out there, as it suggests that girls get easily taken over by those with the bad boy image, and who will fall for the many manipulative games the guys play on them. There never was a real threat experienced in a way despite competition from Kundan who can sing in two voices, because the time travel paradox doesn't seem to kick in on Bunty each time Kishen and Mala seem to drift emotionally further apart which would have threatened his existence.

Action Replayy marks the reigning Queen of Bollywood's third release (out of four) this year with the likes of Raavan starring opposite her real life husband and Endhiran with Superstar Rajnikanth, and her role here is quite unlike those that I've seen before, since her Mala is mostly displaying negative traits at least for the beginning of the film, before succumbing back to a vulnerable, wistful lass who thinks Kishen does not like her for her meanness displayed earlier. I thought she had lighten up the film thanks to a refreshing portrayal of a spoilt and bratty teenager who doesn't tolerate nonsense from her peers, but dishes some of her own on unsuspecting, weaker folks like Kishen.

As with most Indian films, the song and dance numbers are perhaps what saved the film from becoming a bore. Retro is in, as seen from the success of Once Upon a Time in Mumbai, and this factor cannot be ignored as the filmmakers here have recreated costumes and sets reminisce of the time, aided by special effects to recreate the landscapes from the past. But if you were to treat this as a time travel film, then the paradoxes here are just tremendous to be ignored. So the best bet to enjoy this is to accept the plot device for what it is, and to marvel at the performances of the stars and the beautiful retro look and feel instead. I wished the story could have been more coherently delivered though, and the English subtitles should have been more in sync for the first 20 minutes.

I don't know why Akshay Kumar is still making comedy movies. The worse part is that they are very predictable, and the ideas are stolen from Hollywood movies!! His comedy movies are just not funny!!!! The story line is weak, poor acting specially Aishwarya Rai which made me very disappointed. And what's with the bad spelling with the title? and the other thing which made me laugh (they didn't intend to make the viewer laugh) is the bad spelling in one song, just to make ladies rhyme with men they made it "MANS"! His movies are really getting low in quality. As a fan of Akshay I wish he would raise the bar of his target viewer. In conclusion this movie will remain a scar in Bollywood movies record, don't watch it.

Akshay Kumar and Vipul Shah returning together with a time travel comedy on the Big Diwali weekend sounded great and exciting for every Bollywood fan. But sadly, once again the HIT machine fails to deliver and the actor ditches his every die-hard admirer with a simply awful movie which keeps hanging between different genres of Fiction, Adventure, Comedy and Science Fiction. In fact ACTION REPLAYY forced me to think that whether Akshay ever watches the rushes of the movies he is working in and discusses the product in the making with his director? The thought came to my mind because after consistently giving weak and bad movies in the past, Akshay repeatedly commits the same mistake again and returns with a thoroughly unlikable film which is even less entertaining than his miserable duds, Chandni Chowk to China and Blue.

First of all, nobody can say that it's an Original Story Plot as the writers take all their inputs from the Classic English Trilogy "BACK TO THE FUTURE (Part I-III)" and they cannot deny it in any way. And further talking about this inspirational angle, ACTION REPLAYY can be easily rated as "One of the most destructive rip-offs or inspired movies made in the history of Indian Cinema". The statement will be more clear and meaningful for the viewers who have actually watched the Original English Classics and still remember them. In straight words ACTION REPLAYY brutally murders the interesting plot taken from BTTF and completely ruins the idea with a highly amateurish, silly and boring kind of product which stands not even close to the 'B' of BACK TO THE FUTURE Series.

Frankly speaking, How can you seriously enjoy a movie made on the Time- Travel subject in which the director does not even care to explain you anything about the concept and only shows a professor and his weird machine which can take you back to the past years just like a Local BEST or DTC Bus going towards your home street. Moreover, the boy moving back to the past (in the year 1975), easily goes there, makes some changes and then returns back, just to find everything in the present changed as per his own requirements. That was really the most silly thought put in by the writers with a very poor visual imagination and creativity.

Although made with good production values and eye-catching colourful backgrounds ACTION REPLAYY fails to make an impression mainly because it is neither a good science fiction nor a fine emotional drama. And more importantly, it is quite far from being called a COMEDY since there is not even one good scene which can make you laugh as you did in some of Akshay's earlier famous comedy classics. The writing is bad, the characterization is poor and the acting is pretty loud at most of the places by all the prominent actors. Akshay is not at all funny and also looks quite weird in his 70s getup. Aishwarya does look beautiful in those well worked upon dresses but on the entertainment quotient the entire cast performs over the top and fails miserably. Particular the individual tracks of Rannvijay Singh, Om Puri and Kiron Kher are all below the standards. Randhir Kapoor, Neha Dhupia and Rajpal Yadav are hardly there on the screen and get wasted. Only Aditya Roy Kapur as the time travelling son of Akshay and Aishwarya leaves an impact and the boy would certainly get more work after this, that's for sure.

Pritam as the music-man once again remixes some old hit punjabi phrases in "Zor Ka Jhatka" and also gets his inspiration from a "Bombay Rockers" Song. He certainly knows something about the art of getting inspired and yet keep on going without any fear. However I felt the background music by Salim-Sulaiman more enjoyable than the entire musical soundtrack.

Overall, ACTION REPLAYY is a bad attempt made on the subject of time travel with a small pinch of love. In fact it's a patch on the films made on the similar plots. It has simply got no entertainment value as such and fails to keep you hooked in right from its starting reels. But the point here to be noted is that what BACK TO THE FUTURE does to you in just 90 minutes, ACTION REPLAYY is not able to give you even 10% of it in its more than 2 hours of duration. So we should seriously study this difference, in order to come up with at least 50% of the Original Inspiring movies with some added Indian touches. At times Bollywood has delivered equivalent or even better remakes like "Ek Ruka Hua Faisla" or "Chhoti Si Baat". But ACTION REPLAYY remains one of the most under- worked and lifeless inspired movies of the current times.

In short, even the repeat telecast of Akshay's MASTER CHEF T.V. Serial will entertain you more than this tacky rip off. And I think the statement says it all.

I was hoping for a lot more when i first saw the trailers and promos. But i was wrong. The movie was alright, nothing great.

Akshay Kumar was very good as always, he is always 1st class in a comic role.

Aishwarya Rai B was looking amazing in all the 60s costumes and hair, acting was very good from her too.

But the film overall was not worth it, i mean it is worth watching once and they should be for the great performance from both Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai B.

Music was decent, nothing great.

My review on Action Replayy: 5/10

Vipul Shah's 'Action Replayy' is an entertaining film, that worked for Me. I still wonder why were critics so harsh to this flick, and why did the audience reject it outright? Surely, an under-rated escapist fare!

'Action Replayy' is escapist cinema. The main character travels back in Time through a Time Machine, to sought things out. And even after he's done the impossible, there are a couple of sequences that make no sense.

But, non-sense fares do wonders in Cinema. Look at 'Avatar' or the hugely over-rated 'Transformers', they are absolute fiction, but they worked, and the topic ends there. 'Action Replayy' entertains, especially in the second hour, which is superb. The first hour is flawed, but surely not unbearable.

Vipul Shah's direction is good. The Writing is flawed in the initial portions, but picks-up majorly in the latter hour. Cinematography is fine. The art direction deserves a mention as well, as it truly brings back the era of the 70's.

Performance-Wise: Akshay Kumar is Fantastic. As a geek, the superstar delivers a performance that easily ranks amongst his finest works. Aishwarya Rai is very likable. Aditya Roy Kapoor is excellent. Neha Dhupia gets limited scope. Ditto for Sudeepa Singh. Om Puri, Rajpal Yadav and Kirron Kher are decent. Rannvijay Singh is least impressive.

On the whole, 'Action Replayy' surely deserves a watch, as it offers some genuinely entertaining moments, that remain with you. Thumbs Up!