An Action Hero

<p>Maanav Khurana, a famous actor known as a leading man in , arrives at for his upcoming film shoot. Vicky Solanki, an aspiring politician currently contesting the local elections, wants to meet Maanav to gain publicity. Due to the busy shooting schedule, Maanav does not pay heed. When Maanav is about to meet Vicky, he gets distracted by the delivery of his new and goes for a long drive. Enraged, Vicky follows and manhandles him, but Maanav pushes him away and Vicky dies from , on the spot after landing head first on a rock. Frightened, Maanav flees to his house in . Unbeknownst to Maanav, Vicky’s brother Bhoora Singh Solanki, a municipal councilor of Mandothi, is on his tail to hunt him down. The Haryana police concludes the role of Maanav in Vicky’s murder citing the side mirror of Maanav’s new Mustang. Maanav’s reputation is degraded and his films are boycotted. The news reaches UK as well and Maanav is forced to hide himself from the UK police, where he later witnesses Bhoora killing two British officers at his home. Maanav manages to escape the scene and tries to seek help from his UK lawyer, who does not respond. During his attempt to escape, Maanav’s car runs out of gas and Bhoora confronts him. Maanav tries to prove his innocence, but Bhoora does not listen and tries to kill him. Maanav manages to overpower and lock Bhoora in the car’s trunk. Upon pressuring his manager Roshan for help, Maanav finally gets to meet Sai, a lawyer and fixer, for capturing potential footage of Bhoora killing the two police officers. Sai tells Maanav to meet his contact in for collecting the footage. Meanwhile, Bhoora escapes by calling a towing company, where he follows and kills Sai. When Bhoora was about to kill Maanav, he is intercepted by Sai’s friend Kaadir. Maanav and Bhoora together overpower Kaadir, but Maanav gets in the car and flees again leaving Bhoora behind. Bhoora manages to learn about Maanav’s whereabouts from Kaadir as a hostage. Maanav gets fed up of hiding and surrenders himself to the police with the footage that Sai’s contact procured from the dashcams of the cars nearby Maanav’s house in Portsmouth. Masood Abraham Katkar, a feared terrorist from the and was earlier taunted by Maanav as irrelevant, abducts him through his men and is taken to a rooftop, where Katkar is awaiting him. Katkar takes a photograph with Maanav, seemingly planning on sending it to the media to paint a picture that Maanav has contacts in the . Katkar tells Maanav to perform at his granddaughter’s wedding in exchange for his freedom. Bhoora arrives and disrupts Maanav’s performance, only to be held at gunpoint by Katkar’s men. After an interrogation, Katkar advises Bhoora to kill Maanav. Maanav’s image with Katkar becomes viral on social media. Just as Bhoora is about to shoot, Maanav deflects him and Katkar gets shot dead in the skirmish. Katkar’s men are alerted and arrive to kill them both. Maanav and Bhoora manage to defeat Katkar’s men before turning on each other. With his newfound inner strength, Maanav defeats and wounds Bhoora. Later, Maanav formulates a plan to make a deal with the to project a story that the government used Maanav’s situation and assigned him for the mission to track and kill Katkar, thus saving him from imprisonment. Bhoora refuses to spare him out of ego despite being aware of his innocence from the beginning. Without any choice, Maanav kills Bhoora and his plan succeeds. Maanav returns to India to find himself surrounded by greetings from his fans and the public outside the . The film was announced in October 2021. Filming began in January 2022 in and concluded in March 2022. The music of the film is composed by , , Parag Chhabra and Amar Jalal. The is composed by and the Action Hero Theme is composed by Parag Chhabra. The song “Jehda Nasha” was recreated from the 2019 track which was sung by IP Singh, Amar Jalal, written by Amar Jalal Group and composed by Faridkot, Amar Jalal. The song “Aap Jaisa Koi” was recreated from the 1980 film sung by singer , and was composed by British Indian producer . The song was featured in the film as an , picturised on . The film version of ” ” replaces original male vocalist Altamash Faridi with Yash Narvekar. was theatrically released on 2 December 2022. The satellite and digital rights were acquired by and . The film began streaming on Netflix from 27 January 2023. received mostly positive reviews from critics. On the website , 85% of 13 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10. gave 4/5 stars and wrote ” works due to Ayushmann’s action-oriented role and Jaideep’s screen presence. The twist in the last 30 minutes adds to the fun”. of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote “The film bustles with coiled energy every time Jaideep Ahlawat is on the screen as a toughie responding to a rough, ready and rustic notion of justice and self-worth”. Sonil Dedhia of gave 3.5/5 stars and said that the film is “wacky, breezy, bizarre and outlandish”. Pratikshya Mishra of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote “The film makes fun of everything it can get its hands on while weaving a story worthy of its strong cast”. Devesh Sharma of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote “The film is cleverly written. It serves us twists and turns admiringly well. The insider jokes are a hoot. The arrogance of a superstar is on point”. Kartik Bhardwaj of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote “Ayushmann Khurrana and Jaideep Ahlawat lock horns in this cheeky take on stars, fans, and media culture”. Himesh Mankad of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote ” is an intelligently written action thriller, wherein the director follows his conviction to strike the right balance in the genre with some humor and whacky scenarios”. Rohit Bhatnagar of gave 3.5/5 stars and said that the film might derail from the set formula concept, but it might entertain and delve deeper into world affairs. Pallabi Dey Purkayastha of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote “Forget about the questionable choice of title, An Action Hero is actually an intelligent dark comedy that will leave you in splits on more than one occasion. And that, for any moviegoer, is good enough reason to give it a go”. Sukanya Verma of gave 3/5 stars and wrote ” oil and water combination of genres doesn’t always gel, gets overly far-fetched in places but still holds up on the strength of whimsy and surprise”. Archika Khurana of gave 3/5 stars and wrote “The interesting thing about the film is not so much the story itself, but seeing Ayushmann Khurrana get into the skin of an action hero and flex his muscles (literally) on screen”. of gave 2.75/5 stars and wrote “An Action Hero combines slick action with crackerjack chemistry between its leads. The near-erasure of women in the story is depressing, but the film’s pace gives us little time to think”. Anuj Kumar of wrote “Debutant writer-director Anirudh Iyer delivers a piquant entertainer that makes sharp observations on the fickleness of fame and futility of bloated egos”. Monika Rawal Kukreja of wrote “Watch An Action Hero for some brash and raw action, and if you enjoy cat and mouse chase, you would find this crazy ride equally funny”.</p>