Action Replayy - Review

Diwali is here and it brings along with it the first of the big releases of the season, Action Replayy. Akshay Kumar, who's had some disastrous releases in the last 2 years dons a retro avatar in this comic caper which takes us back to the Eastman color days.
Is it any good though?
This Back to the Future meets Hitch can well be reserved for a television watch.

Kishen Chopra(Akshay Kumar) is henpecked. His wife Mala(Aishwariya) bosses over him, much to the ire of their son Bunty(Aditya Roy Kapoor) and hence he devises a master plan of going back in time to play out a better future.
Back in time, the bucktoothed, bellbottomed Kishen is scared and bullied over by all pushing Bunty to take on the responsibility of transforming him into the cool, suave man who women would swoon over.
Throw in a ton of songs, random references to the future, geeky humour & some more songs and you give birth to Action Replayy.

Let us put one thing straight, the main plot of AR is a straight lift of Back to the Future and is followed by a Hitch style turnaorund. The movie tries hard to transport you to the 70's but is half-baked. The clothes, colours and dance steps are perfect but songs are amiss.

The major flaw of the film is the script itself, or the lack of originality in it. Another issue is the excessive screentime of Adity Roy Kapoor, which reaches a point of irritation.

On the plus side, the film has some hilarious sequences that literally have you in splits. Akshay Kumar is stupendous. After long, he leaves you spellbounded with his geeky style and one really wishes he had an even meatier role(Yes, its almost the same as the new kid). Aishwariya Rai.B looks stunning to say the least and plays the glam-role perfectly. Aditya Roy Kapoor is decent, but its disappointing to see him have such a humongous role. Rannvijay is patchy but has a well scripted role.

Director Vipul Shah fails again after London Dreams. Far from his earlier work like Aankhen and Waqt, this one is a mediocre effort. Also, for a film where music is so important, the score by Pritam is a disaster.

In short, Action Replayy is a timepass movie which is your perfect cable tv watch on a Sunday afternoon. As the 16 other people in the theater would agree, it is not worth spending your Diwali weekend on. Watch Golmaal instead as this 70's show is a damp squib.

Rating: 2/5