Stuntman Akshay rocks in 'Kambakkht Ishq'

2009 is a year evergreen hero Akshay Kumar would like to remember lesser and lesser. Into his early '40s then and maintaining a fierce competition with the Khan heroes and Ajay Devgn, Akshay had five releases in that year. Out of these flicks, only this Tamil remake of Kamal Haasan's ' Pammal K Sambandham' ('Brahmachari in Telugu ) and originally a 2002 release helped him stay afloat.

In Tamil too, the film, in which Kamal had the svelte Simran as his heroine (with whom he was allegedly involved in torrid affair then) the film was not up to the expectation of the critics to begin with. The dialogue writer Crazy Mohan (whose name is credited in the Hindi version also) had earlier spun a series of hits with Haasan, mostly sitcom and slapstick comedies, which are great hits still on Tamil movie channels. Yet, in this film, the balance between action and comedy was a little wayward which dampened the proceedings towards the climax.

Sajid Nadiadwala had taken up the remake responsibility in Hindi and had Sabbir Khan direct the film, which was his debut venture. Over the past decade he has directed films with Tiger Shroff, two of them went on to score at the BO.

Made on a budget of Rs 30 crore and more, the film was expected to include many celebrity names from Hollywood including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carmen Electra to heighten the promotional value. Yet by the time the delayed release happened, it had to tone down its explorations and hit the theatres tamely.

Critics were less forgiving. The initial response at the cash counters too was average, at best. In a notable development, as Wikipedia notes, Rachel Saltz from The New York Times concluded that "[the film] has only one frantic desire: to entertain. It spottily succeeds, despite its frequently crude humour, relentless pace and a few unpalatable racial bits.With Kareena Kapoor and Akshay flaunting their sex appeal, the film managed to score ultimately and collected close to Rs 84 crore making it a profitable proposition in the end.