Holiday – A Soldier Is Never Off Duty (Hindi) (2014)

Celebrated South Indian filmmaker A R Murugadoss (Ghajini), has cracked the secret of maximizing revenues from a story / film.  First make it in Tamil with a superstar like Vijay.  The audience will lap it up because the story really doesn’t matter in Amma Land.  A couple of years later, remake it in Hindi because of late, aspects that make good cinematic sense apparently don’t matter to Bollywood either.

Star value does. And so, millions of Akshay Kumar fans across this country will throng to the halls to see the remake of the 2012 Tamil movie – Thuppakki (translated as The Gun).  But unlike Ghajini, which had the semblance of some attention to detail in the story (remade from Nolan’s Memento mind you), Holiday falls short by a few miles.  But that will not bother the audiences much because Akshay hogs the limelight throughout.

Some things that you learn from Holiday include fascinating stuff like legal forward passes in rugby.  We also learn that Govinda can run the 400 meters in 48 seconds (thankfully a claim was not staked on the world record of 43.16 seconds).  Also, dogs that are part of the Mumbai Police Force are released as strays once they have outlived their service.  Of course, Software Engineers in India wear suits to conferences.

Virat (Akshay Kumar) is part of a secret Armed Forces organization that has been creatively named Defence Intelligence Agency i.e. DIA.  He is entitled to an annual 40 day leave (WOW!!!).  When he gets home, he is forced to be part of a girl hunting trip where he first meets Saiba (Sonakshi).  Virat politely refuses to get married because Saiba appears to be too homely and soft for his taste.

Little does he know that Saiba is an expert in Boxing, Judo, Rugby, Basketball, 100m dash, Javelin Throw and Volleyball… phew!!! Well, our man realizes that the girl is, “What a rocker, What a shocker, If I get her, I’m gonna keep her”.  By then her ship has sailed but our hero doesn’t give up and pursues her to submission.  Along the way, he also handles a terrorist or 2 or should I say 12.   Yawn.

Holiday – A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, is one meant only for die hard Akshay Kumar fans.  Even they may find it to be a drag.  There are enough action and fight sequences to keep the audience entertained but they aren’t close to AK’s best.  Maybe the one sequence where Virat decides to climb down from a building with effortless ease may be worth looking at (Did AK do it on his own???)

Sonakshi is as irritating as ever – so what if she has only 2 minutes and 33.83 seconds of screen time.  She makes the most of that as well.  Nothing much to look forward in terms of dialogue as well except a meek attempt towards the end.  The music is drab.  In all, barely a 4 on 10.  AK fans may like it.  If you aren’t one, don’t bother with it.

Watch the trailer on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6GTnnB23s