The story of Ghayal Once Again, which is set in Mumbai 2015, is a continuation from 1990, the first time Ajay Mehra (Sunny Deol) was ghayal. He was hurt then by the malicious and malignant Balwant Rai (Amrish Puri) whom Ajay eventually obliterated from the face of this earth. When we meet him now, he's already a little ghayal. It's hurt lingering from then. No one from his family and past is alive except Joe D'Souza (Om Puri). An ACP then, Joe is now an RTI activist.

A sequel to one of our most iconic revenge dramas Ghayal (1990), the film marks an action-packed comeback of Sunny paaji and his Dhai kilo ka haath. After teaching Balwant Rai and his kuttey a lesson, 26 years later, vigilante Ajay Mehra (Sunny Deol) returns to fight the corrupt system and bring a shrewd businessman Bansal (Narendra Jha) and his accomplices to justice.

There's just one song and edge-of-the seat action that is sure to make GHAYAL ONCE AGAIN, a huge hit. Inserting songs into action films, or any films, (even if it makes no sense) has become the norm. But thankfully, Sunny Deol who is also the director of this film knows what works best here. He does away with dream sequences and silly poolside shots, with 'noise' which qualifies as today's music.

Way back in 1990, Sunny Deol as Ajay Mehra had taken the law into his own hands to avenge the murder of his brother, following which, he had been sent to prison. Cut to 2015-Ajay Mehra is back and as lethal as ever! When four happy-go-lucky youngsters (Neha Khan, Shivam Patil, Diana Khan and Aanchal Munjal) witness the son of super-rich industrialist Raj Bansal (Narendra Jha), murder a retired cop-turned-RTI activist Joe D'Souza (Om Puri), Ajay Mehra, who now runs a newspaper, is the only one to stand between the bad guys and the innocent do-gooders.

Ghayal Once Again marks the return of Sunny Deol as one of the best-remembered characters he has ever played on screen. Ajay Mehra from 1990's Ghayal, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, preceded the signature "dhai kilo ka haath" Sunny held up in court as a lawyer in Santoshi's Damini (1993). These two films gave the actor the two National Awards of his career and were a source of much viewing pleasure, even to some among us with increasing reservations about flaring nostrils, red eyes and yelling in the midst of flying fists.

25 years later, 'Ghayal Once Again' attempts to continue the story from Sunny Deol's big hit 'Ghayal'. The intense and passionate 'Ghayal' had won many awards, which include the National Award for Sunny. It would be safe to say 'Ghayal Once Again' is a worthy sequel. Thankfully, Sunny or the film is not stuck in the time warp and the sequel is quite contemporary and written to suit today's times. The only things that stay intact are Sunny's 'dhai kilo ka haath' that still throws multiple punches to make goons fly in air and his fight for injustice.

What do you expect from a Sunny Deol flick? Lots of action, punches and some hard-hitting dialogues? But, his latest outing 'Ghayal Once Again' which was earlier titled 'Ghayal Returns' lacks in these core Sunny Deol speciality areas. Although there is a lot of adrenaline pumped up shots and they do make us feel the thrill, we would certainly expect much more. Let's take it step-by-step.

Every single time Sunny Deol got angry in Rajkumar Santoshi's Ghayal, I thought he would actually tear the screen and erupt from it. His fits of fury felt so overwhelming and tangible. Twenty-six years later, he's back to playing the same character in a new story with some nostalgia and very little skill. That it's not directed by Santoshi but Deol himself, also taking top billing in writing credits, has something to do with it.

Sunny Deol's Ajay Mehra hasn't been healthy off-late (read mentally). Well, he never was. Who kills so many people in one go? Still, we loved him in Rajkumar Santoshi's Ghayal (1990) for taking Balwant Rai and his dogs to task. We knew only he could do this, but what we didn't know was that he would be returning with a sequel 26 years later. He does so with a hangover which refuses to go before thrashing at least 500 people. What we finally have is a film still stuck in the '90s.

The year 1990 was really special for Bollywood's 'Punjab da puttar' Sunny Deol as it was in this year that his film GHAYAL (directed by Rajkumar Santoshi) went onto make history at the Box-Office. So much so that the echoes of 'Balwantrai ke kuttey', 'Jhakh marti hai police' and likes resonates and echoes amongst the cinegoers even today. Maybe that explains the reason as to why Sunny Deol has come up with this week's release GHAYAL ONCE AGAIN (which he has directed himself), a sequel to the original GHAYAL.

It is amply clear from the very outset that the quaintly antiquated Ghayal Once Again is unlikely to achieve its avowed goal - help Sunny Deol's dhaai kilo ka haath regain its lost box-office potency. Several other Bollywood stars have since moved into the fists of fury space and the deadly Deol's dumbbells and decibels are no longer as saleable as they once were. On his part, the actor, coming out of a longish hiatus, has left nothing to chance. He has produced, written and directed the film himself, thereby ensuring that he is in virtually every frame.

For once, Bollywood has come out with a sequel which feels organically grown. The 1990 hit 'Ghayal', featuring Sunny Deol as the ordinary-guy-forced-into-taking-the-law-into-his-own-hands, gave the leading man a lasting edge in the snarling stakes. No one could do it better.

Ajay Mehra who was sentenced to a prison term for killing Balwantrai and his men in 1990 has served his jail term and owns a news channel named Satyakam now. His nemesis Raj Bansal is now a big deal in Mumbai. He is the second Balwantrai who has political control. Raj has a druggie son Kabir whose anger and arrogance knows no bounds. In a fit of rage, Kabir kills a man and the evidence of this crime is captured in a video accidentally by four college students Zoya, Varun, Rohan, Anushka.