It
is
the
season
to
be
jolly.
And
boy
oh
boy,
if
it"s
a
festive
fiesta
of
flamboyant
filminess
that
you"re
looking
for,
then
Action
Replayy
is
your
one-stop
masti
mela.
It"s
is
a
feisty
feast,
as
splashy
in
colour
and
mood
as
it"s
tangy
in
flavour
and
fervour.
Serving
up
its
delectable
back-to-the-future
core
idea
from
H
G
Wells" Time
Machine,
Action
Replayy
is
a
tongue-in-cheesy
retro-romp
replete
with
ostentatious
replicas
of
the
1970s
which
make
us
smile
and
chuckle
and
sometimes
groan
and
gasp
almost
simultaneously.
In
many
ways,
the
film"s
over-the-top
zip-zap-zoom
zest
and
rippling
ritziness
resonate
the
sparkling
era-aura
of
V.
Shantaram"s
cinema
where
the
art
director
was
allowed
to
go
amok
with
the
colours
all
in
the
name
of
art.
If
Shantaram
had
his
roots
in
Gujarati
theatre,
he
would
have
happily
made
Action
Replayy,
though
he"d
have
probably
titled
it
Jhanak
Jhanak
Pritam
Baaje.
The
film"s
team,
and
that
includes
Pritam
Chakraborty"s
hummable
score,
goes
blissfully
berserk
with
the
light
sound
fury
and
action.
Regrettably,
there
are
passages
of
conversation
that
do
not
work
their
mirthful
magic.
Aatish
Kapadia"s
writing
skills
seem
to
slacken
in
the
dialogues.
For
a
film
that"s
so
funny
in
its
theme,
the
treatment
needed
more
spicing
in
the
spoken
words.
The
humour
is
more
of
a
transient
humour
than
a
hardcore
brush
with
bravura
and
bacchanalia.
The
lines
are
so
corny
at
times
you
wonder
if
they
are
meant
to
be
homages
to
the
1970s
or
are
just
plain
trite
illustrations
of
uninspired
dialogue-baazi.
A
lot
of
the
film"s
chirpy
chutzpah
emanates
not
from
the
spoken
words
but
the
innate
charm
of
the
principal
players.
Aishwarya
Bachchan-Akshay
Kumar…gosh,
could
it
get
any
more
inviting?!
It
does!!!
The
young
semi-debutant
Aditya
Roy
Kapoor
(he
was
seen
earlier
in
a
small
part
in
Vipul
Shah"s
London
Dreams)
with
his
unruly
mop
of
hair
follows
no
set
patterns
of
film
acting.
He
is
a
reveller
without
a
pause
He
chooses
to
be
a
natural
in
a
film
where
artifice
and
affectation
is
the
key
to
effectuality.
Akshay
and
Aishwarya
get
it
right.
From
playing
the
cranky
quarrelsome
couple
in
contemporary
times
to
playing
the
flirty
frisky
eyeball-rotating
archetypal
'Kishen" and
'Mala"
in
the
1970s,
the
two
super-charismatic
stars
seem
to
have
a
ball
sinking
their
glistening
teeth
into
a
lost
word
retrieved
restored
and
saturated
in
flamboyant
colours.
Aishwarya
looks
like
a
long-lost
dream.
Akshay,
deliberately
echoes
a
fashion
nightmare
from
the
1970s.
Apart
from
the
three
principal
actors
(Maa,
Baap
and
Bitter)
the
other
characters
are
just
not
fleshed
out
in
any
detail.
A
pity.
Vipul
Shah
is
adept
with
incidental
characters…remember
Katrina
Kaif"s
boyfriend
(played
by
Upen
Patel)
in
the
director"s
best
work
Namastey
London?
The
guy
was
so
not-there
he
registered
for
not
being
there.
Action
Replayy
gives
you
no
opportunity
to
look
around
at
the
non-pivotal
peripheral
people.
It
swamps
your
senses
with
its
over-saturated
canvas
of
lights,
colours,
sounds
and
visuals.
So
who
says
life
in
the
1970s
was
bereft
of
bustle?
While
Sejal
Shah"s
cinematography
and
Aparna
Raina"s
art
work
is
more
provocative
than
evocative,
Shabina
Khan"s
costumes
indicate
she
hasn"t
really
seen
the
1970s.
Maybe
she
should"ve
traveled
back
in
time
with
Aditya
Roy
Kapoor,
quite
comfortably
the
male
discovery
of
the
year.
Story first published: Monday, November 8, 2010, 16:26 [IST]