Two new releases, "Musafir" and "Rok Sako To Rok Lo", have Sanjay Dutt and Sunny Deol doing what they are best at - flexing their muscles.

So are the great action heroes back in Bollywood?

After the stunt era of Dara Singh, his brother Randhawa and Sheikh Mukhtar when fist-friendly films were considered downmarket.

But action films again acquired stature and status when established mainstream stars began to patronise the stunt genre.

Right after Rajesh Khanna stormed in with the romantic era, there was a time when Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan blasted the screen with their high voltage actioners.

If Bachchan had fist-friendly blockbusters like "Deewaar", "Trishul, "Kaalia" and "Don", Dharmendra had "Phool Aur Patthar", "Jugnu" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat".

In the 1990s, Dharmendra's son Sunny Deol took on his father's macho mantle.

Ajay Devgan who kick-started his career with a fabulously successful action film "Phool Aur Kaante" has moved on doing "Bhagat Singh" and "Raincoat".

Brawn king Sanjay Dutt is happy raising laughter in "Munnabhai M.B.B.S. rather than fists. He'll soon be seen in "Shabd" where he plays a writer, completely contrary to his image.

There were Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty as well, hanging from cliffs and speeding vehicles in heart-in-the-mouth motion pictures.

But Sunny was the action supremo. Now after three major back surgeries he seems to have gone into compulsory hibernation resurfacing once in a while, as he did last week in "Rok Sako To Rok Lo".

While Akshay has moved on to a different league, Suniel who has a hardcore fist-friendly audience in the smaller centres, seems to have reached a dead-end in his career.

One was just wondering what had happened to muscle power at the box office when along came "Dhoom" to create a stir at the box office.

This celebration of machismo featuring Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Uday Chopra proved to be the surprise money-earner of the year. And now the same team plans to make a sequel to "Dhoom"....

"With more of everything, including action," promises the team with sinewy steam.

But before "Phir Dhoom" there's Anil Sharma's "Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon", a fast paced fiercely patriotic saga with booming guns and flaring ammunitions that's all set to give action film a new impetus.

Though Amitabh Bachchan has been in a war film ("Lakshya") quite recently this would certainly be his most action-oriented film in recent times.

Son Abhishek Bachchan features in yet another actioner due in early 2005. Anubhav Sinha's "Dus" has Sanjay Dutt joining guns with Abhishek in what promises to be a bone-cruncher in the tradition of a film called "Dus" which the late Mukul Anand had launched a decade ago.

So are action films back in vogue? If so which leading man can take over the action slot?

"Oh, there're so many of them," says Sinha. "Sanjay Dutt and Abhishek Bachchan are excellent at action. And Ajay Devgan can return to the genre whenever he feels. Didn't he prove it in 'Zameen' last year?"

Does the action genre have a shelf life equal to a romantic film? Yes, say trade pundits.

Among the all-time hits, for every romantic "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" there's a "Sholay", and for every "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun", there's a "Karan Arjun".

If some action films haven't done well lately then blame it on Hollywood. With action films from the West getting an all-India release, audiences have a clear cut comparative viewpoint. They'd rather watch "Spiderman" than "Zameen".

"Wrong!" says Akshay. "Our audiences are very loyal to their own cinema. They'd rather watch Sunny or me doing action than even Tom Cruise or Arnold Schwarzenegger as long as we give them action of an international quality.

"But for that we've to brush up our technical skills. Spend more on FX. In "Awaara Paagal Deewana", I had done "Matrix" styled stunt scenes dangling from invisible wires. The film worked. Now in 'Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon', we'll again give the audience their money's worth."

The coming year could well be the year when action films make a comeback.