An Action Hero

An Action Hero is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language action film directed by newcomer Anirudh Iyer and produced by T-Series and Colour Yellow Productions. It stars Ayushmann Khurrana and Jaideep Ahlawat. In the film, an action star (Khurrana) goes on the run after accidentally killing the brother of a ruthless politician (Ahlawat).

An Action Hero was announced in October 2021, followed by shooting schedules in India and London in the first quarter of 2022. It was released on 2 December 2022 to positive reviews from critics, but underperformed at the box office.

Plot
Maanav Khurana, a popular actor known as a leading man in action films, arrives at Mandothi, Haryana 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 Ford Mustang and goes for a long drive. Enraged, Vicky follows and manhandles him, but Maanav pushes him away and Vicky dies from blunt force trauma, on the spot after landing head first on a rock. Frightened, Maanav flees to his house in Portsmouth. 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 London 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 D-Company 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 underworld. 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 Indian Embassy 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 Mumbai airport.

Cast

 * Ayushmann Khurrana as Maanav Khuranna
 * Jaideep Ahlawat as Bhoora Singh Solanki
 * Jitender Hooda as Inspector Roop Kumar
 * Neeraj Madhav as Sai
 * Harsh Chhaya as Roshan, Maanav's assistant
 * Gautam Joglekar as Masood Abraham Katkar
 * Malaika Arora as Maanav's dance partner in the song "Aap Jaisa Koi"
 * Nora Fatehi as Maanav's heroine in the song "Jehda Nasha"
 * Akanksha Vishwakarma as Sheetal, the Assistant director
 * Ajay Raju as a spot boy
 * Akshay Kumar as Action Star Anupam (cameo appearance)

Development
The film was announced in October 2021.

Filming
Filming began in January 2022 in London and concluded in March 2022.

Music
The music of the film is composed by Tanishk Bagchi, Biddu, Parag Chhabra and Amar Jalal. The background score is composed by Sunny M.R. and the Action Hero Theme is composed by Parag Chhabra.

The song "Jehda Nasha" was recreated from the 2019 track Nasha 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 Qurbani sung by Pakistani singer Nazia Hassan, and was composed by British Indian producer Biddu. The song was featured in the film as an item number, picturised on Zeenat Aman.

The film version of "Aap Jaisa Koi" replaces original male vocalist Altamash Faridi with Yash Narvekar.

Release
An Action Hero was theatrically released on 2 December 2022.

Home media
The satellite and digital rights were acquired by Sony Max and Netflix. The film was streamed in Netflix on 27 January 2023.

Critical response
An Action Hero received positive reviews from critics

Bollywood Hungama gave 4/5 stars and wrote "An Action Hero works due to Ayushmann's action-oriented role and Jaideep's screen presence. The twist in the last 30 minutes adds to the fun". Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV 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 News 18 gave 3.5/5 stars and said that the film is "wacky, breezy, bizarre and outlandish". Pratikshya Mishra of The Quint 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 Filmfare 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 Cinema Express 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 Pinkvilla gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "An Action Hero 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 The Free Press Journal 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 OTTplay 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 Rediff gave 3/5 stars and wrote "An Action Hero 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 The Times of India 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". Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost 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 The Hindu 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 Hindustan Times 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".