Saloni Saxena

When I first saw the title “An Action Hero” my response was “ugh not another action movie” especially after watching Pathaan. My assumption was that it’ll be all action and no story. Now that I’ve seen the film, I realise it was a response that was supposed to be evoked by this grandeur yet meta title. It acknowledges the modern audience’s exhaustion with such heroic figures and presents us an image of a hero in a satirical way. This movie is very well written and incorporates metatheatre in a very nuanced way that I haven’t seen any other Indian film do thus far or honestly any show/film on Netflix. Both the protagonist and antagonist are multifaceted- I believe there’s no real “protagonist” in the story which just makes it more realistic and relatable. The characters have amazing chemistry and I loved that there was no forced romance within the film - have never seen such chemistry between a villain and hero, and I loved that this movie broke that archetype. At the end of the movie, although our hero defeats the villain, he’s lost all of his morals to get there. It’s definitely a must watch, and hope it doesn’t go unnoticed.

This was one of the best movies I’ve watched in the last 2 years. Finally, a big scale bollywood movie that questions the laws around prostitution in India - laws that are written by men, imposed by men and only benefit men. So easy to exploit those who do not have legal rights or social merit. The story really redefines “us versus the other” bringing light to the invisible - the unseen and unwritten about in white feminist literature/movements. This was a powerful and thought provoking movie that is important to remove the stigma of prostitution - not just a dirty or foul word that you whisper and quietly debate about but a reality of many women all around the world. I hope that a conversation about prostitution arises in families, friends, etc because so much more awareness is needed to bring change. Change always starts with awareness, education and empowerment. The only downside about this movie is that perhaps it may exploit the stories of red light areas without doing much to help the people who reside in them ~ I wish at the very least the credit scene provided some resources for education/ donations (I believe there would be existent NGOs who help women in these areas esp during times of COVID when financial aid is significantly needed). Though Gangubai encouraged changes this is not a historic or periodic reality of women. This is happening now. So I wish there was some action taken by cast/crew in raising awareness outside the scope of history showcased to us.