Holiday
Year: 2014
Director: A. R. Murugadoss
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Sumeet Raghavan, Govinda, Freddy Daruwala

Both, Akshay Kumar and A. R. Murugadoss know a thing or two about converting a popular South Indian masala flick into a Bollywood blockbuster. While Akshay has starred in quite a few successful ‘conversions’ (including recent ones such as Rowdy Rathore and Boss), director Murugadoss has shown his mettle through Ghajini. So their new film Holiday- A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, a remake of a Tamil hit was certainly one to look forward to. How well does the film do in this South to North conversion?

What’s the plot?

A dashing soldier (Akshay Kumar) returns to Mumbai for a vacation. His family is eager to get him married but he refuses to marry their chosen girl (Sonakshi Sinha) because he finds her too simple and homely! But then he discovers that he had misjudged her personality and starts liking her. While his romance is taking off, the city is rocked by a bomb blast. The holidaying soldier, (who is actually an undercover army intelligence officer-cum-commando!) finds out that the terror act had been orchestrated through a sleeper cell network. With the help of his fellow army-men and his childhood friend, who is now a cop (Sumit Raghavan), the action hero now has to destroy the activated sleeper cell network and bring the terrorist mastermind (Freddy Daruwala) out into the open. Will he be able to do this in the nick of time?

What’s hot?

·        The counter-terrorism spy thriller part works well in the second half.

·        Akshay Kumar plays the daredevil action hero part to perfection.

·        Sumeet Raghavan and Govinda (in a surprisingly insignificant cameo!) have to play the buffoons, the proverbial jokers in the pack and they do a good job.

·        Sonakshi Sinha makes a mark despite not having a well-etched role.

What’s not?

·        Murgadoss could well have made Holiday into a taut realistic action thriller but instead chose to make it a Masala flick combining the typical Action-Romance-Comedy-Melodrama flavours. The resultant mishmash is palatable but falls short of expectations, particularly when you compare it to the stylish Ghajini.

·        The first half is slow and the overall pacing is uneven.

·        Akshay Kumar looks aged and jaded in his romantic-comedy routines.

·        Freddy Daruwala fails to bring menace to the character of the mastermind terrorist. Sub-par villain seems to be a recurring Murgadoss theme; even Ghajini had the same flaw!

Verdict

Holiday- A Soldier Is Never Off Duty had the potential to be an excellent edge-of-the-seat spy thriller but instead it has turned out to be an average mass entertainer, which dishes out far more fantasy than realism!

Rating

2.5 stars