Action Replayy

This movie lacks seriousness. Everything is just so childish.

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 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

I feel that I'm being quite generous on my rating of 7/10, as I was expecting a lot from Action Replayy and it did not live up to those standards. With Akshay Kumar playing a lead role, I was expecting gut-bursting laughs, and thankfully, that has fulfilled it's promise. I found the humour to be the saving grace in the movie, and there are laughs. I would not call them gut-bursting laughs, but there were many comical moments that evolved into a hearty laugh from me. Akshay did not disappoint.

The plot is basically non-existent, and is loosely adapted from Robert Zemeckis's genius "Back to the Future". Sadly Action Replayy is not in the same realm in the slightest. It's sad that BTTF has to be linked to this as it is a poor adaptation of a classic movie. The lack of plot is the key factor which lets the film down. In addition, the film is quite jumpy and many important details are left unexplained, confusing the viewer.

The casting is well done, although I never would have placed Neha Dhupia in her role of Mona. I feel she has the talent capacity of a grape, and was not wrong as she was just a pretty face in the movie. Akshay was lovable and funny, and the physical transformation we see him in is hilarious. He makes a fantastic geek. Aishwarya as his love interest was an interesting choice - they have not been seen together on screen for a while and I was curious to see the outcome. She looks stunning on screen, the 1970s style and attire suits her brilliantly and she looks very much like a Hindi Film heroine from that era. Her performance was satisfactory, I enjoyed her in the role of Mala, and there's no denying she performed well, if we excuse some overacting. Rannvijay Singh as Kundanlal was irksome and brings out a lot of the comedy in the movie - he was a great villain. Rajpal Yadav as always, made me laugh. However the most striking piece of the puzzle was the newcomer Aditya Roy Kapoor as the protagonist Bunty. He's very appealing and for one of his first few films I'd say he did a good job. There were points where I found him quite irritating but it was more the fault of the poor screenplay and lack of storyline. Bunty screaming "Woo Hoo!" at seeing his parents fall in love, made me cringe immensely, but I hold this more to the script and not him. Kirron Kher and Om Puri are wasted, but as usual play their parts par excellence as expected. And there is even another fresh face playing Bunty's love interest Tanya.

I loathed the "time machine" scenes because they were done with about the effort of a five-year old. We were told the bare minimum about the time machine and the CGI-travelling-through-time sequence is terrible. I also found the music less catchy than what I expected, and some of the lyrics are terrible - "all my ladies and my mans, and my mans and all my ladies!" - there were very few good quality musical bits.

Action Replayy is a flawed film, with it's plot (or lack of) being the main letdown, but I still wouldn't say this film is not worth watching. As much as I didn't want to, I did find the humour amusing and there are definitely laughable moments in the film. Action Replayy is more lighthearted than anything, and should be seen with an open mind and low expectations. This is good for a lazy evening in, but don't watch this expecting a great cinematic experience, because it's not that sort of film. If you're looking for an easy laugh, however, this could be it.

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.