An action hero must beat up a bevy of bad guys without needing weapons. An action hero must get up and fight even if he has been thrown through a glass window. An action hero must win car chases. And he definitely needs to have pecs and aaaaabs! Both Bollywood and Hollywood have taught us this. And by that definition, Ayushmann Khurrana is now a true-blue action hero.
Ayushmann ticks all the boxes in his first action hero role, in a film called An Action Hero about a reel-life action hero who is forced to become an action hero in real life. Meta enough? In this directorial debut by Anirudh Iyer, Khurrana plays Maanav Khurana, a superstar action hero who can’t get a shot right because he can’t tap into his anger — a problem solved by the news that his very expensive Mustang will not be delivered for another week. Because, you know, shallow megastars care a lot about their expensive toys and not getting them brings out the anger for a perfect climax scene. No, that’s not where the film takes off, though the car is very much involved in what sets the events of An Action Hero in motion.
Maanav brushes off a brash Haryanvi youth Vicky (and, of course, he is the brother of a politician) to take a spin in his new Mustang, delivered to the film set in Haryana. Maanav has a minor altercation with Vicky who follows him and he accidentally ends up dead, sending Maanav on the run. Not just from the police or the media that immediately starts a trial, but mainly from the best part of the film — Jaideep Ahlawat as Bhoora, Vicky’s politician brother.
From the first scene where he finds out his brother has died while eating dinner and his indecisiveness about whether to eat the extra roti, Ahlawat owns the screen. As Bhoora travels to the UK to hunt down Maanav to avenge his brother — if you are wondering if Maanav always carries his passport or how Bhoora managed to get a UK visa in a day and travel with a gun, then you are no action movie buff because these things are par for course — a game of cat-and-mouse ensues, giving us the best sequences of the film. Khurrana and Ahlawat’s chemistry is palpable, and Ahlawat manages to outshine Khurrana quite often, probably because he has the lion’s share of droll one-liners delivered with a straight face, in a flawless Haryanvi accent.
Khurrana is not very convincing as the reel-life action hero. Maybe it will take a while for him to shed the guy-next-door appeal. But he pulls off action sequences in real life (which is actually reel life?) pretty effortlessly, punching guys with conviction and showing off parkour skills reminiscent of Eggsy from Kingsman: The Secret Service. Khurrana is at his best, however, in the scenes where he is the off-kilter superstar forced to live like a common man on the run. He delicately balances the entitlement that comes from being a superstar with a surprisingly rational approach (even if that is about saving himself) and even more surprising acts of kindness, making it difficult to either hate him or root for him. He can be an ass but he also has a conscience.
A special mention needs to be made of the find that is Jitender Hooda, who plays a police officer, who is a riot every time he is on screen, which is, criminally, not enough.
An Action Hero works as a no-brainer action movie (if you feel like leaving your brain at home) high on entertainment. But this is an Ayushmann Khurrana film, so bringing the brain along might make it more enjoyable, because it is quite funny. Written by Iyer and Neeraj Yadav, the film celebrates (or subverts) Bollywood masala action flicks. Whether it is taking a dig at the random location hopping with timeline-place confusions, character additions without rhyme or reason, a cameo by a real action hero or an item number performed by Malaika Arora.
But the film also calls out the #boycottbollywood trend, the role of audiences, and the media witch hunt over any and every seemingly innocuous Bollywood thing. So the doppelganger of a well-known news anchor screams ‘give me druuugs’ amidst random rantings about Maanav’s actions (the case reports are never mentioned), there are headlines like ‘Naam Maanav, kaam daanav’ and there are people talking about boycotting all of Maanav’s films — often used as background noise to enhance some scene unfolding on screen. It also takes a dig at the speed at which the media changes its tune, leaving that lone voice asking the questions about the why and how.
An Action Hero also brings up the audience vs star debate with Bhoora’s (not particularly well-timed) dialogue about how the audience makes the superstar and therefore is more powerful and Maanav saying the audience should do what it is supposed to do — ‘watch’. And if you feel the end is a bit too convenient, remember that those with power and fame often get away with a lot, whether they are to blame entirely, partially or accidentally.
