Rocky Handsome

Directed by Nishikant Kamat, this Indian action film is an official adaptation of the 2010 Korean film The Man from Nowhere, and by one critic's description almost a frame by frame remake. Kabir, a recluse running a pawn shop in Goa, befriends his neighbor and her young daughter. When the woman hides stolen drugs inside a camera she pawns with him, a crime syndicate tortures her and abducts the girl, and Kabir, revealed to be a former intelligence operative, goes after them. There is a curious production detail: director Kamat played the Goan gangster boss himself, an idea that came from his assistant directors, who reasoned he knew the script best. John Abraham trained for a month in Hong Kong before shooting for the fight sequences, and Kamat said he conceived it as a classic oriental action film, remarking that this kind of kung fu had not been seen in India. Critics praised the action and Abraham's physicality while finding the film emotionally hollow, and box office trackers marked it a flop after a strong opening collapsed in its second week. Who it's for: Anyone who enjoys tightly choreographed revenge action and is curious how the Korean original translates to India. Who it's not for: Not for those who have seen the original, since this follows it almost exactly.