Movie Review - Action Replay * Aishwarya, Akshay Kumar ' All noise, no action, trying to find the fastforward button'

All of us at some point of time have wished we could go back in time and change a thing or two about our life. Well, mercy be, Action Replayy takes the liberty of fantasizing just that. Having seen some very fine films of this director and especially considering that most involved his amazing chemistry with his lead-in-many-films Akshay, it didn’t take a lot for this film to get a average opening (despite not having to many pre-release marketing/promotions). Although I was hugely wary about viewing this one as I didn’t find any aspect of it remotely appealing, I went for it nonetheless expecting at least a decent watchable fare.

First up – let’s try to connect the dots of the scattered beads like plot – In one line – an adolescent son (in 2010) travels back 40 odd years, to his parent’s youth (read 70’s), to correct his parents past, so as to set things right in the present (2010). Did I lose you already?! Read further.

Bunty (Aditya Kapoor) flees at the idea of marriage with girlfriend Tania, blaming it on his experience of the failing marriage of his parents Kishan (Akshay) & Mala (Aishwarya). Unable to take his parents sparring at their 35th anniversary (YUPP! why they are still together is beyond anyone’s comprehension), Bunty decides to travel back in time to the beginning of the Kishen-Mala ki LOVE ishtory and make an attempt to rewrite it. (Brain boggles!!) His timing of thought couldn’t have been more perfect as Tanya's grandfather; Professor Gonsalves (Randhir Kapoor) has invented a time machine (gaudier than LS2050) to transport Bunty into the past. Zoom, boom, kaboom, Bunty is now in the 70’s playing Love guru to help PAA patao MAA (trauma! trauma!!!!)

Everything about Action Replayy spews failure. Firstly the concept of time travel which as it is, is not accepted elatedly requires strong background, story or rationale for the audience to be able to connect to it. ALL of it is lacking in this one. Moreover, the basic premise of the movie as mentioned in one line earlier is impossible to register, relate with. The humor track tries very hard at being haha but except from evoking a couple of smiles (mostly sarcasm or frustration) it comes across as amateurish and superfluous. Ironically, leads on whom the project was spotlighted and promoted have very little to do, besides wheezing through song dances in polkas, bell bottoms and caricatured hairdo’s on hills, carnivals & under shiny disco balls in front of CST (?!?!)

In all, Vipul Shah’s Action Replayy is completely deprived of comprehensible screenplay (let me not even go into intelligence), humour, authenticity to the setup or any other ingredients required to make a film. The loud colours, fancy (bordering on garish) getups do nothing to lift the characters or their acts. The recent flicks OATM and OSO did a greater job at depicting the gone-by eras with far more subtleness and restraint. Here they all look pretty, happy, slightly visually appealing in patches, but sadly abandoned by everyone from the dialogue to the art to the music department.

At the end of it, I wished I want to borrow that time machine, take the film’s tagline ‘REWIND YOUR LIFE’ very seriously and go back in time – just a couple of hrs!

Phukat ka advice: AVOID at all costs. Go next door for Golmaal 3 instead. Atleast it guarantees few laughs of its own.