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Action Jackson Movie Review

Action Jackson

Action Jackson

Action Jackson Movie Review. The film apparently is supposed to combine the Indian audiences love for action and dance (think late Michael Jackson) into one big fat blockbuster. Someone should tell director Prabhu Dheva though that you need much more than just mindless script, clichéd dialogues, gravity-defying action, funny-looking villains and a hysterical Sonakshi Sinha to justify the film’s title.

The fifth directorial attempt by Prabhu Dheva makes only one thing clear through its confusing mish-mash of deafening sound effects, haphazard story line and bind-boggling action sequences—that Dheva hasn’t really progressed as a director. Instead, he seems to have taken a step back and decided that since he has four stories out there anyway that are so similar, why not mix them all up and make one big story?

The recipe seems to have not worked, however, and we are left with the same thing we always get from Dheva’s films: glasses shattering, cars blowing up like fireworks and knives that reach intestines! Of course, let’s not forget glassy-eyed bimbos and unexplained hamshakals.

The story introduces what seems to be the formula in all Prabhu Dheva films (Read more about Film Making Formula): a good-natured goon named Vishi does bad things that through selective scenes shown to the audience are believed to be justifiable. However, for reasons known only an hour into the film, Vishi is being earnestly chased by everyone—ranging from the havaldars to gangsters dressed in cliché bad-guy attire. Even a mobster from – Bangkok named Xavier (Anand Raj) is looking for him.

But, wait let’s add a girl to the list of stalkers! Sonakshi Sinha redefines the connotation of ‘getting lucky’. She chases the hero around for 15 minutes trying to see his crotch so she can get lucky. No, we mean literally—lucky. Superstitious Khushi, played by Sonakshi, in her own twisted bimbo logic world of la-la land believes that a glimpse of Vishi (Ajay Devgan) in the nude brings her good luck. Suddenly, the horrors of the world: such as having too much salt in her soup, not being able to get a ticket to the film of her choice or arriving late to work magically reverse. Apparently, though one glance is not enough for a lifetime, and Khushi’s luck needs to be recharged like a pre-paid phone, the currency being more glimpses of naked Vishi. Something like ‘Ek baar jo maine dekha, fir mujhe luck kae liye bar-bar dekhna padega’ sort of deal. So this girl is running around looking to glimpse a guy with his pants off. Somewhere along the way, Khushi (introduced with her very own title track “Ooooo Khushiiiii” and Vishi, with the similar “Ooooo Vishi” fall in love, and if this was a Hollywood movie, they-she/they/he do/does get lucky, but in Bollywood there is just an item number with some subtle let’s-use-our-imagination kind of scenes. This is only second time Ajay Devgn has done double role (read more here).

Finally, we are told the reason why Vishi has so many people looking for him. Ta-da! It’s because, surprise, surprise, Vishi has a doppelganger, who through a this-happens-only-in-Bollywood kind of twist of fate is also a gangster, but a big, not little one like poor little Vishi. Jai aka AJ was the right hand man of mobster Xavier from Bangkok before things got sour between them. Why?

Enter crazy woman number two, Maria played by debutant Manasvi Mamgai as the feisty and sultry sister of Xavier, who is head-over-heels in love with the strong and silent AJ. Unfortunately for her, AJ is already taken by Yami Gautam. Maria is someone with some serious anger management problems (she can flick her stiletto at someone and cause them to go flying, crashing a window and hurtling down a skyscraper). So when she is Jilted by AJ, Maria is unable to accept the rejection and unleashes her crazy, wrathful side. Thugs are sent to kill off AJ’s partner every month and Maria plans and plots ways to seduce him to get him to marry her. Her darling bhaiya is assisting her in this crazy scheme. Thus the stalking of Vishi who looks like AJ.

Every effort is being made to make Mamgai look like an evil woman, right from the eerie soundtrack which plays in a loop similar to those saas-bahu serials to a dark tint to the screen when she arrives. However, the dangerous vibe is lost and the debutant needs a lot more practice to appear convincing.

Sonakshi Sinha tries to flutter her lashes and thrust her hips in her two songs as earnestly as possible, though she can’t do enough to save this film. What are the only two things that are the saving grace of this otherwise disastrous film are Ajay Devgan and sidekick Kunal Roy Kapur.

While his acting is not remarkable, what we like is how much Ajay enjoyed being in this film. He is constantly initiating Prabhu Dheva or Sonakshi Sinha and this is great to watch. Comic relief is also found in Ajay’s sidekick, Kunal Roy Kapur. He sticks to his image of the obese friend who gets ripped on for being fat, but he plays his part well. If Ajay Devgn wants to compete with Khans (read more Action Jackson star Ajay Devgan fights the three Khans for a place in Bollywood), he should be careful with his film choices.

All in all, the only unique idea in this film is the introduction of Maria, the vamp, into this otherwise formulaic flick which is almost the same as Dheva’s other Bollywood ventures like Wanted, Rowdy Rathore, R… Rajkumar and Ramaiya Vastavaiya. The film fails to live our expectation (7 expectations of Action Jackson from previous Prabhu Dheva cliches).

Are we Stupid as a Bollywood Audience?

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