Action (2019 film)


Action is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Sundar C. and produced by R. Ravindran under his banner Trident Arts. The film features Vishal and Tamannaah in the lead roles alongside an ensemble cast including Aishwarya Lekshmi, Akanksha Puri, Ramki, Yogi Babu, and Kabir Duhan Singh play supporting roles. This film marks Aishwarya Lakshmi's Tamil debut. The music was composed by Hiphop Tamizha. This film is the second collaboration of Vishal and Sundar C. after their previous outing Aambala and also the second collaboration of Vishal and Tamannaah after Kaththi Sandai.
The film follows Colonel Subash, an Indian Army intelligence officer who embarks on a globetrotting mission to hunt down a terrorist responsible for a bombing that resulted in deaths of his loved ones. Accompanied by his colleague Diya, Subash puts his combat skills and intelligence to use as the duo uncover another major conspiracy to rip apart India.The movie was praised for its action sequences.
Action was released theatrically on 15 November 2019.The Satellite rights Of The Film Were Bagged by STAR Vijay.

Plot

The film opens with Colonel Subash fighting off a group of men in Istanbul and rescuing his colleague Lieutenant Diya. The film then goes into a flashback before Subash proceeds to shoot the last man.
A few weeks ago, Subash's father, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, retires to be succeeded by his elder son Saravanan. During a campaign involving the prime minister candidate, Saravanan finds out that his friend Deepak has flown away after extracting a huge amount of money on loan. On the other hand, Saravanan's brother Subash tries to converse with his fiancée Meera during the campaign and sends her a message. Realizing 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, she gives a call to the cell phone bomb placed in a cooler at the stage. The bomb goes off, knocking down Saravanan and his family while killing the prime minister candidate. Subash 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 in which the latter told him to escape from the stage, Saravanan calls a press conference at his house amidst violent protests but is found hanging in his room, thus making the media believe he was involved.
Subash then 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, Subash instantly recognizes her and through further investigations, traces the woman, a wanted contract killer, to be in London. With the help of a hacker Jack, Subash manages to trace the woman, fight off her henchmen and kill her by hanging her in the same way she killed and hanged Saravanan to death. Subash then arrives in Istanbul and is joined by his brother-in-law and Diya. Targeting Deepak's account, they plan to pull off a money extracting mission. The mission goes as planned and Subash succeeds in retrieving money from Deepak's account. However, when the trio goes to meet Deepak, the latter is found murdered and a chase ensues, resulting in a heroic escape. Subash realizes a cop posing as a blind man has killed Deepak and framed him. Using Diya as a bait, Subash lures the cop and his henchmen into a trap and fights them off. Back to the present, Subash threatens to kill the cop who then reveals it was Syed Ibrahim Malik, a Pakistan-based wanted terrorist, the real conspirator behind the explosion.
Informing his captain, Subash then decides to bring Malik in on his own and accompanied by Diya, goes to Lahore, Pakistan illegally where an undercover agent introduces him to Malik's location and armed forces. Learning of Malik's daughter's wedding, Diya enters the house with a fake identity card during the celebrations and secretly drops flammable balls that lead to a fire with the sunrise the next day. Malik is ordered by the Pakistan Military general Tahir Iqbal to accompany his officers to a safe house. Using the opportunity, Subash chases after the vehicle and successfully takes Malik hostage. Following a car chase, he manages to escape while Diya and the agent wait for him at the airport. Malik is however left behind in the car and Tahir admits him to a hospital where he realizes it's his body double who was ordered by Malik himself to accompany Tahir's army, due to being held on gunpoint by Subash. The two fought, following which Subash captured him. Both disguised, they board the plane before Tahir intervenes and orders to stop it after the airport authorities identify Subash. The flight to India is stopped and Tahir rushes inside, only to realize Subash and his team took off in a flight to Nepal. Landing in Nepal, Subash hands over Malik to the Indian Army. During an event honouring Saravanan after more conspirators are arrested, it is revealed Subash shot Malik in a staged escape.

Cast

The soundtrack album is composed by Hiphop Tamizha, collaborating with Vishal and Sundar. C for their previous outing Aambala. The lyrics were written by Pa. Vijay, Hiphop Tamizha, Arivu, Paul B Sailus and Navz47.
The album features five tracks and all of them were released as singles, before being released as an album on 30 October 2019. The Telugu version was released on 1 November 2019.
Telugu actor Rana Daggubati making his debut as a singer, crooning the rap portion for the Telugu version of the song "Lights Camera Action", while the original version of the song, was performed by Hiphop Adhi and Paul B Sailus.

Release

The official teaser was released on 13 September 2019, followed by the trailer which was released on 27 October 2019. The film was theatrically released in India on 15 November 2019.
Action received mixed reviews from critics. Firstpost gave 2 out of 5 stars stating "Vishal, Tamannaah starrer is a formulaic entertainer with no proper storyline. If only the film had a script with some logic and was a bit racier, it could have been a time pass entertainer".
The Times of India gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "A handful of action set pieces, set in exotic locales, strung together by a semblance of plot. If you dig the corniness of the lines and the OTT-ness of the stunts, then you might be able to enjoy the film".
Sify gave 2 out of 5 stars stating "Action is a below-average action thriller from Sundar C- Vishal combo". Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "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".