By Goher Iqbal Punn, Film Critic & Entertainment Analyst, Showbiz Bites
Director: A.R. Murugadoss
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha and Farhad
Music: Pritam
Rating: (4 / 5)
Akshay Kumar, the actor who is widely famous for his comic acts, returns to silver screen in a serious role this time around. Holiday – A Soldier Is Never Off Duty is a remake of a Tamil blockbuster action thriller Thuppakki (2012) featuring Vijay and Kajal Aggarwal. Famed south filmmaker A.R. Murugadoss, whose last Hindi release was Aamir Khan starrer blockbuster ‘Ghajini’, directs this venture titled ‘Holiday’. The expectations of the viewers are quite high with this outing since Ghajini was a big hit and Thuppakki down south was a blockbuster as well. Let’s now analyze the movie.
Film tells the story of Captain Virat Bakshi (Akshay Kumar), whose is an army man. He returns to his land Mumbai to spend holidays with his family. He is taken to see Sahiba (Sonakshi Sinha) by his family, but he simply rejects the girl. Later, he comes to know that she is a boxer and gets surprised. A twist in turn happens when he is dragged into an anti-social activity happened in Mumbai. He is dragged into a big network of terrorists. The film shows how alone the army man lands into a combat with the terrorists.
Holiday – A Soldier Is Never Off Duty is not a humorous flick at all, as it touches a serious issue of terrorism. We have seen numerous movies on this subject in the past. But Murugadoss makes it different by injecting Akshay-Sonakshi’s romance and entertainment factor to entice the viewers. Also he modulates the film to suit the taste of the Hindi audiences.
The plot is brilliant. The script carries few flaws such as injection of few songs forcibly, but overall it is luminous. Editing is superlative. Cinematography by N. Nataraja Subramanian is marvelous and gripping. Direction is first-rate. Action is classy. Music by Pritam is ordinary.
Akshay Kumar does a bravura performance and impresses his fans with his superlative act as an army man. Sonakshi Sinha looks beautiful and acts well. Farhad, as an antagonist, is effectual and portrays the role with ease. Govinda in a cameo delivers fine act. Zakir Hussain does a fine job. Rest of the cast is fine also.
Final Verdict:
On the whole, Holiday – A Soldier Is Never Off Duty is simply a brilliant action thriller that is packed with gripping script, power-packed performances and first-rate direction.