The Next Action Heroes

Too few of our heroes get to fight anymore. As films become more realistic and comedies become sillier, our bigscreen heroes don't really kick and punch their way through celluloid life, not like they used to. There are hardly any villains anymore.

Even onetime action icon Akshay Kumar is working only on comedies these days. However, a lot of his peers are picking up the gloves and readying for some dhishoom-dhishoom. Here's a look at the heroes with upcoming action movies:

Ajay Devgn in Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai

Ajay Devgn might be raking in the moolah with comic roles, but as the actor showed in Raajneeti, he's still great at being furious and seething. In the upcoming Milan Luthria film, the actor wears all-white clothes and plays a Mumbai gangster in the 70s. Chances are he'll bring back that Omkara scowl.

Nope, SRK's film isn't anything like Mani Ratnam's latest, and apparently has nothing to do with the Ramayana. Khan enjoys action, and this film with the RA standing for Random Access sees him and Kareena Kapoor catapulted into all sorts of chaos, including a videogame. This one's surely for his kids.

Pip-up superstars Roshan and Katrina Kaif have finally been paired together in Zoya Akhtar's next film, with the actress learning to scuba-dive for her part in this wet actioner. We don't know plot details yet, but the film has an interesting cast, with Farhan Akhtar and Kalki Koechlin also starring.

Stars from the South are fast making waves in Bollywood, and Suriya is all set to make a splash. Ram Gopal Varma has gone on record to rave about his actor's body and from the early publicity, it won't be a surprise if Suriya ends up upstaging the film's leading man, Vivek Oberoi.

The Angry Young Man's son might not tap into the genre enough, but Abhishek's biggest hits have been action movies, with films like Dhoom, Dhoom 2 and Dus. This year however he's been working on two hardcore actioners, Dum Maaro Dum about the goa drug scene and The Game, a psychological thriller.

Abhinav Kashyap's much anticipated directorial debut features Khan as a corrupt cop. With brother Arbaaz, Vinod Khanna, Om Puri and Sonu Sood starring, one can expect significant testosterone and much pumping of fists as this Salman-produced film 'exposes the system.' No punches pulled here.

Goutham Menon's Tamil actioner was a massive 2003 success, scoring big with audiences and critics alike who were bowled over by the film's screenplay. After Ghajini and Wanted, it isn't a surprise to see Bollywood rushing to remake Southern hits. The original starred Suriya in the lead, and now Abraham will reportedly take over in the film's Hindi remake.