An Action Hero

Note: This article contains spoilers. There is an exhilarating trend afoot for movie lovers - cinema about cinema. Inward looking, self-aware and ...

The pedestal the celebrity is then placed on is unforgiving, and any misstep is received as a personal failure by the audience. The perspective of the movie is like a swinging camera - first trained on the glitz of Bollywood, the next second behind the scenes, then at the relentless news machine, and the very next moment pointed at us, showing us how these perspectives merge and overlap. An Action Hero, however, does not disappoint, mostly by treating its characters so irreverently that you enjoy when bad things are happening to them, like when Maanav runs on the streets of London after buying bread and eggs like a commoner, has a meltdown in his car, or when the ‘fish out of water’ Bhoora sits in a cramped aeroplane seat with anger simmering in his eyes. His calm demeanour transforming into bewilderment is one of the most sparkling comic moments in the film. Captured through these facsimiles is the trending urge to hate the people in the business of glitz and glamour, conflating their visibility with arrogance, and ambition with greed, something that feels like ‘the othering of the artist’. The scenes centred around their conflict, unravelling layers of Maanav and Bhoora’s personalities, and the gradual begrudging respect that they develop for each other are especially delectable to watch and get you hooked on the characters.