''Action'' is a 2019 Indian
Tamil-language
action thriller film directed by
Sundar C
Vinayagar Sundar Vel (born 21 January 1968), known professionally as Sundar C, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, and playback singer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He has directed over 30 films and received the Kalaimamani#2009, Kalaim ...
and produced by
Trident Arts. The film stars
Vishal and
Tamannaah Bhatia, alongside
Akanksha Puri,
Aishwarya Lekshmi,
Ramki,
Chaya Singh,
Yogi Babu and
Kabir Duhan Singh. The music was composed by
Hiphop Tamizha, while cinematography and editing were handled by Dudley and
N. B. Srikanth respectively. The film marks Aishwarya Lekshmi's debut in
Tamil cinema
Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...
cinema and Vishal's second collaboration with Sundar after ''
Aambala'' and Bhatia after ''
Kaththi Sandai''.
Plot
Subhash is a
Col in the
Indian Army, whose father is the retired
CM of
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
, and is now succeeded by his elder son Saravanan. Subhash calls his whole family along with his lover, Meera for a short trip. During a campaign involving the
Prime Ministerial candidate Guptaji, Saravanan finds out that his friend Deepak has fled after extracting ₹40 crore on loan. Saravanan calls Deepak, who tells him to leave the ceremony.
On the other hand, Subhash tries to converse with Meera during the campaign and sends her a message. Realizing that she left her phone in the car, Meera goes to the parking lot, where her phone gets exchanged with that of a killer. After noting the killer duo's vehicle number, Meera tries to escape but gets attacked and brutally stomped to death by a woman disguised as a cop. Retrieving the phone, the woman gives a call to the cell bomb placed in a cooler at the stage. The bomb goes off, killing Guptaji and knocking down Saravanan and his family.
Subhash gets shattered to find Meera's corpse, while Saravanan gets framed for the assassination with the help of Deepak. Having recorded a conversation with Deepak, Saravanan calls for a press conference at his house amidst violent protests, but is found hanging in his room thus making the media believe that he was involved. Subhash finds out about the killer woman through the vehicle number Meera noted on her palm. Looking at the tattoo on her neck in the CCTV footage at the vehicle store and her phone's screen, Subhash manages to track her and finds that she is Kaira, a
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
-based assassin.
Subhash, with the help of a
hacker
A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who achieves goals and solves problems by non-standard means. The term has become associated in popular culture with a security hackersomeone with knowledge of bug (computing), bugs or exp ...
Jack, manages to trace Kaira and fights off her henchmen and kill her by hanging her in the same way she hanged Saravanan to death. Later, Subhash arrives in
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
and is joined by his brother-in-law Maya Kannan and friend
Lt Diya. Targeting Deepak's account, they plan to extract the money. The mission goes as planned and Subhash retrieves the money from Deepak's account. However, the trio traces Deepak's location and finds him in ''Algornia'', where they find him dead and a chase ensues, resulting in a heroic escape.
Subhash realises a person, posing as a blind man, has killed Deepak and framed him. They find that the person is the police commissioner of
Turkish Police Service. Using Diya as a bait, Subhash lures the commissioner and his henchmen into a trap and fights them off, where he threatens to kill the commissioner, who then reveals that Syed Ibrahim Malik, a
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
-based terrorist is the real conspirator behind the explosion.
With the help of his
Lt Gen. Rehman, Subhash decides to bring Malik to India on his own, where Diya accompanies him. They reach
Lahore
Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...
illegally, where a covert operative Imran Khaleel introduces him to Malik's location and armed forces. Learning of Malik's daughter's wedding, Diya enters the house with a fake ID card during the celebrations and secretly drops flammable balls, which led to a fire accident during the sunrise. Malik is ordered by the
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...
Gen. Tahir Iqbal to accompany his officers to a safe house. Using the opportunity, Subhash chases after the vehicle and successfully takes Malik hostage.
Following a car chase, Subhash manages to escape, while Diya and Imran wait for him at the airport, but Malik is left in the car. Tahir admits Malik to a hospital, where he realises it is Malik's body double, who was ordered by Malik to accompany Tahir's army due to being held on gunpoint by Subhash. The two engage in hand-to-hand combat, following which Subash captured him. Disguised, Subhash and his gang board the plane before Tahir orders to stop it after the airport authorities identify Subhash.
The flight to India is stopped and Tahir rushes inside, only to realise that Subhash and his team took off in a flight to
Nepal
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
. Landing in Nepal, Subhash hands over Malik to the Indian Army. During the posthumous honouring of Saravanan, more conspirators including Saravanan's senior and ex-PM candidate Varma are arrested and it is also revealed that Subhash killed Malik during a staged escape.
Cast
Music
The film's music was composed by
Hiphop Tamizha, who had previously collaborated with
Vishal and
Sundar C
Vinayagar Sundar Vel (born 21 January 1968), known professionally as Sundar C, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, and playback singer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He has directed over 30 films and received the Kalaimamani#2009, Kalaim ...
on ''
Aambala''. The album features five tracks, all of which were released as singles before the full album was released on 30 October 2019.
Release
Theatrical
''Action'' was theatrically released worldwide on 15 November 2019.
Home media
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
began streaming the film from 16 December 2019. The film was released on DVD in
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
on 4 November 2020, and the Hindi-dubbed version was released on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
by Goldmines Telefilms on 4 October 2020.
Reception
Critical response
''Action'' received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics.
''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'' gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "A handful of action set pieces, set in exotic locales, strung together by a semblance of a plot." Sreedhar Pillai for ''
Firstpost
Firstpost is an Indian news website owned by Network18 Group, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC TV18. It has posted misinformation on multiple occasions.
The Network 18 group was originally owned by Raghav Bahl. In January 2012, the gro ...
'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote "If only the film had a script with some logic and was a bit racier, it could have been a time pass entertainer". ''
Sify
Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...
'' gave 2/5 stars and "Action is a below-average action thriller from Sundar C- Vishal combo."
Baradwaj Rangan wrote for ''
Film Companion'', "Like any self-respecting popcorn entertainer, there are OTT moments aplenty. Killer mehndi cones? Bring ’em on, but there’s always a little surprise around the corner." Anjana Shekhar of ''
The News Minute'' wrote "The film jumps, rolls and air flips from one chase-action sequence to another of which just a couple of them are memorable." S. Srivatsan of ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'' wrote "Sundar C wants his film to retain the international-ness of the ''
Mission Impossible'' series, but its tone-deaf attitude doesn’t even cross the Mayavaram border."
Box office
''Action'' grossed ₹7.7 crore in Tamil Nadu, ₹4 crore in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and $82 thousand (₹57 lakh) from overseas during its theatrical run.
Controversy
The
Madras High Court
The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...
directed Vishal to compensate Trident Arts for the financial losses incurred from ''Action''. Vishal had committed to covering any shortfall if the film did not earn ₹20 crore, but it grossed less than ₹12 crore. Despite agreeing to make another film, ''
Chakra'', as compensation, Vishal produced it under his own banner. The court allowed ''Chakra'' to release on streaming and ordered Vishal to provide a guarantee of ₹8.29 crore for the losses.
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Sundar C
2019 action adventure films
2010s Indian films
2010s Tamil-language films
2019 action thriller films
2019 films
Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police
Films about military personnel
Films about terrorism in India
Films about the Research and Analysis Wing
Films directed by Sundar C
Films scored by Hiphop Tamizha
Films set in Istanbul
Films set in Lahore
Films set in London
Films set in the Caribbean
Films set in Uttarakhand
Films shot in Baku
Films shot in Chennai
Films shot in Istanbul
India–Pakistan relations in popular culture
Indian action adventure films
Indian action thriller films
Indian Army in films
Indian films about revenge
Indian nonlinear narrative films
Military of Pakistan in films
Tamil-language action thriller films
Tamil-language Indian films