Holiday: Nothing to Cheer about this Holiday….
“Holiday-A soldier is never off duty”, yes that is the complete title of the movie which is the remake of Tamil Hit film of 2012 “Thuppakki” staring Vijay and directed by A R Murugadoss.
A R Murugadoss re-creates the same movie in Hindi for Bollywood as his second movie with Akshay Kumar after the blockbuster “Ghajani”. Story & Screenplay by A R Murugadoss is the story of an Army Officer Virat Bakshi (Akshay Kumar) who comes for his annual holiday to Mumbai and look out for a girl for marriage and gets entangled in a web of terrorist attacks which threaten to rock Mumbai through the Sleeper cells.
The story has a novelty wherein a detailed knowledge is given as to how the sleeper cells of the terrorist organizations operate and work but it is the over stretched screenplay of 2 hrs 51 min which completely dilutes the real essence of the movie. The romantic track between Sonakshi Sinha and Akshay Kumar is unnecessary and has no connection with the main plot. To justify the romance there are songs which crop in and slows the pace of the movie. The characters also lack depth especially the main villain’s character, there is no background given. The screenplay looks disjointed at times. The Climax is too stretched. A R Murugadoss should have actually concentrated on the main plot of the terrorists and their sleeper cells and made it into a fast paced thriller which unfortunately “Holiday” fails miserably.
Akshay Kumar as Virat Bakshi the main protagonist is at ease in action sequences and when he is following the terrorists but fails miserably in romantic sequences, it is high time that Akshay should try to do some serious thrillers like “Special 26”. Sonakshi Sinha as Saiba Thappar is just for eye candy and does not create any impact in the overall scheme of things, would love to see Sonakshi in movies like “Lootera”. Newcomer Freddy Daruwala as the main villain the Head of the sleeper cells is one dimensional and has only one expression all throughout the movie and does not create any impact. Zakir Hussain is wasted in a brief role. Summet Raghavan as Mukund, Virat’s friend, is the only actor who impresses.
The main highlight of the movie is the action by Greg Powell & Peter Pedro the action directors of the Harry Botter series, Skyfall etc, the action is realistic and believable. Cinematography by N Natarajan Subramaniam is good and captures Mumbai well. Editing by Amitabh Shukla is average and is one of the flaws.
Music by Pritam is average and does not create any impact. Even the choreography by Ganesh Acharya & Bosco-Ceaser is nothing great.
A R Murugadoss fails to create another “Ghajani” and the movie remains half baked, I will go with TWO STARS….