Action Replayy

About the film

Action Replayy is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language science-fiction romantic comedy film directed by Vipul Amrutlal Shah starring Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aditya Roy Kapur. Neha Dhupia, Rannvijay Singh, Om Puri, Kirron Kher and Rajpal Yadav play supporting roles in the film. The film is an uncredited remake of the 1985 film Back to the Future. Director Vipul Amrutlal Shah however insists that it is an adaptation of a Gujarati play of the same name, and of H. G. Wells' The Time Machine.

It follows a young man named Bunty, who enlists the help of his girlfriend's grandfather, a scientist, when his parents are about to divorce. With the help of a time machine created by the scientist, he travels back to 1975 when his parents were unmarried, and tries to make them fall in love.

Plot

The story focuses on Bunty, who does not want to get married because of the loveless relationship between his parents. Bunty's girlfriend, Tanya, keeps proposing to him but he always rejects. She takes Bunty to her grandfather, Anthony Gonsalves, who happens to be a scientist and he is working on a time machine. Anthony asks Bunty why he refuses to get married. Bunty says that he is scared of marriage because his parents seem so unhappy with theirs.

On their 35th anniversary, Bunty's parents, Kishen and Mala get in an argument because of her friend Kundan. Kundan used to bully Kishen and tries to repeat it after all these years. Mala doesn't stop him, moreover laughs over Kishen along with her friends. This leads to a fight between Kishen and Mala and it goes too far that they decide to get a divorce. When Bunty hears this, he runs to Anthony's lab to use the time machine and go back in time, so that he can make his parents fall in love.

Without Anthony's supervision, Bunty enters the time machine and goes back to 1975, a time before his parents got married. He finds his grandfather's house, where he sees Kishen. Bunty realises that the younger Kishen was an unattractive, weak and socially awkward youth, whereas the younger Mala was attractive as well as spirited. Mala keeps making fun of Kishen. Bunty makes Kishen over into a 'cool dude' with the help of money he borrowed from younger Anthony. Mala's friend Mona falls in love with Bunty.

Production

Filming scheduled for Manali in July 2010 was rescheduled when landslides blocked the roads near Rohtang Pass and the crew was evacuated by the army. Akshay Kumar's hairstyle was inspired by Sunil Dutt's long-haired look from Zakhmee (1975).

Reception

Action Replayy was panned by critics. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN rated it 1.5/5: "Sorely lacking in drama and genuine humour, Action Replayy is mind-numbingly dull because there's no conflict or plot progression, and everything seems to fall into place too conveniently". Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times rated it 1/5 "Scenes may well be dull and weak in parts. And they are. But for a musical, the soundtrack is pure third rate". Raja Sen of Rediff rated it 1/5: "This is, first and foremost, a tacky film. The tastelessness flowing right down into the script, however, makes for a very different league of disaster". Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated it 3/5: "Action Replayy is a light-hearted rom-com that should be viewed without really seeking much rationale or logic behind every action and reaction". Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India rated it 2.5/5: "Action Replayy needed a much smarter script to keep the laughter ringing". Sarita Tanwar of Mid-Day rated it 2.5/5: "Watch it for the effort and for Akshay-Aishwarya's crackling chemistry."

The film ultimately grossed ₹480 million.

Music

The film score was composed by Salim–Sulaiman, while the songs and four remixes were by Pritam and lyrics were penned by Irshad Kamil.

Key details