Holiday features Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha in leading roles. Seen in supporting roles are Govinda, Sumeet Raghavan and Freddy Daruwala. Holiday is said to be a remake of 2012 Tamil film Thuppakki. Here’s what we thought about the Hindi version by A.R Murgadoss…
What’s it about
Virat Bakshi (Akshay Kumar) is a Captain in DIA (Defence Intelligence Agency), a wing of the Indian Army. He returns to his hometown for a holiday, but is set off on a mission rather than bunking it out in his room. His mission involves tracking down sleeper agents in Mumbai as he discovers their plan to blast six different areas simultaneously, within the city. His ultimate quest is to find the leader of the sleeper cells played by Freddy Daruwala. He is helped by his police inspector companion, played by Sumeet Raghavan. The plot running on parallel lines, involves Saiba( Sonakshi Sinha) who is a boxer and is Virat’s love interest in the film.
What’s hot
Akshay steals the show with his dare devil stunts and action scenes. He looks every bit an Army man and thankfully does justice to the role. Known for his deadly stunts and mighty kicks, there’s no beating Akki when it comes to action. Apart from Akshay, Sumeet Raghavan is surprisingly a treat to watch. Perfect comic timing topped with witty one liners, Raghavan has managed to create an impact with his character. Along with this, the sudden twist in the story is interesting. Where this film starts out with the cliched “girl hates boy and vice-versa” nonsense, it grows intense with a scene showcasing the first bomb blast followed by Akshay Kumar’s chasing sequence. The action stunts although hideously defying the entire law of science on the whole, still manage to create that “wow” effect. The best part about the whole movie is a Labrador, yes a dog. We won’t give it all away…
What’s not
Sonakshi Sinha disappoints us in Holiday.There isn’t much she has to do apart from being in the songs and dancing with Akshay. Freddy Daruwala on the other hand would win “the best looking villain” contest if there was one. However this villain falls flat when it comes to convincing the audience of his sheer monstrosity. The plot of the movie starts on an appealing note, but gradually loses its marbles. Certain scenes are unintentionally funny. For instance there’s a scene where Akshay Kumar twists the bones of his fractured arm to their original place, and continues to fight the villain. At this stage, one would be certain that logic isn’t one of the strong points of the film. Another “not hot” aspect of this film is the limited role of Govinda. Where we wished to see more of Govinda and less of Sonakshi, the makers to our utter disappointment, evidently didn’t agree. The music of the film (by Pritam) fails to make us hum the tunes. Although the dance sequences manage to grab eyeballs with their unique choreography, the songs are worth a miss. Although setting out to change our notion of the Army and representing the functioning of terrorist networks to create a general awareness, Holiday creates a different impact instead where the viewer is left confused with the entire plot and is forced to question the pretentious sentiment of integrity depicted in the film.
What to do
Watch it for Akshay and his amazing ability to make even the unreal stuff look real!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Reviewed by Rukmini Chopra
* Poor
** Average
*** Good
**** Very good
***** Excellent
