User reviews

Akshay Kumar is back after his last dud "Boss" and back with the two genres he does best, Action and Comedy.

"Holiday: A soldier is never off duty" is an interesting take on the unexplored subject of Sleeper Cells. The plot is interesting and is executed well by the director. It is a refreshing dispatch from the usual films made on The Indian Army. The film is triggered when Captain Virat Bakshi played by Akshay Kumar, intelligently stops 12 serial blasts with his team. Thus ensues a cat and mouse game between the sleeper cell head played by Freddy Daruwala and Captain Virat Bakshi.

The music is not up to the mark and the romance between Akshay and Sonakshi gives a few light moments. The chemistry between Sumeet Raghavan and Akshay Kumar is better than that between Akshay and Sonakshi. Sumeet Raghavan gives a good performance among the cast. Freddy Daruwala as the antagonist fails to leave an impression but the film is carried beautifully by Akshay Kumar who gives a superlative performance. He throws himself into the action sequences and performs them excellently, he has spot on comic timing and also gives a restrained performance when he is needed to. The actor is in top form here. Sonakshi Sinha doesn't have much scope.

Overall, "Holiday: A soldier is never off duty" is worth a watch for its novel concept and makes one stand and salute the Indian Army. Go Watch IT!

Another hit by Akshay Kumar. the film is all about some real action and good story. Akshay has played different role in this similar to special 26 rather than his roles like boss. the movie is around a soldier who on holiday but gets on a mission to save Mumbai. A Defence intelligence agent who takes on the gang of sleeper cells without telling about his mission to his family friends as well his love ( who is Sonakshi Sinha).Akshay plays role of soldier who has courage to do anything to save his country. flawless acting with tremendous acting as usual A movie to watch with family. A complete blockbuster and in nutshell PAISAA WASOOL MOVIE

A remake of the 2012 Tamil film Thuppakki, 'Holiday' is A Super Entertainer, that ranks amongst the better films of 2014, yet. Its well-written & sharply executed!

'Holiday' Synopsis: A military officer attempts to hunt down a terrorist gang & deactivate the sleeper cells under its command.

'Holiday', despite a running-time of over a 169-minutes, never really loses pace or momentum. Sure, the romantic-track could've been shortened & even the songs could've been avoided, but other-wise, the action-sequences as well as the thrilling moments are hugely arresting.

'Holiday' is sharply executed by A.R. Murugadoss, who directed the engrossing 'Ghajini, a few years back. Murugadoss's Screenplay, after a slow-start, gathers tremendous momentum & manages to hold your attention till the very end. The second-hour, especially, is top-notch! Cinematography is good. Editing is fairly done. Action-Sequences are outstanding. Music by Pritam is lovely, however, the songs act as a deterrent in the narrative.

Performance-Wise: Akshay Kumar is in top-form. He enacts the heroic solider with amazing energy. He owns the film! Sonakshi Sinha does an okay job. Freddy Daruwala is impressive as the menace. Sumeet Raghavan is first-rate. Zakir Hussain is adequate. Govinda, in a cameo, is terrific, as always.

On the whole, 'Holiday' works big time as an entertainer. Recommended!

Akshay Kumar is an amazing actor. His stunts are jaw breaking no doubt. But, the film hits the write notes. Sonakshi Sinha was wasted. Freddy Daruwala makes a god villain.

This is an edge of the seat thrilled that will keep you hooked right till the end!

It's just as hard to imagine "Holiday" without Akshay as it is to imagine last week's elegiac and thoughtful "Citylights" without Rajkummar Rao.

They both breathe life into their characters from different respiratory systems.

We often tend to think the grammar and language of mainstream cinema to be far easier to convey than the language of the so-called serious cinema.

Wrong! A full-on massy product, which doesn't resort to outlandish inanities or outright vulgarity, is the most difficult form of filmmaking. In "Holiday", Murugadoss has some absolutely unflinching support from his writers and technicians, all out to create that increasingly elusive cinematic entity .

The perfect entertainer.

Not that "Holiday" is not without its flaws. What would life in the movies be without those?

Sonakshi Sinha's role and presence in the plot can at best be termed as comic relief. She is less diva, more Mehmood. It is interesting to see how the director weaves the romantic element into what is predominantly a rugged man-to-man confrontation between an armyman on leave and a super-intelligent terrorist, who is seen to work out not from a dingy warehouse, but a normal home teeming with the scents and images of domestic harmony.

Holiday – A Soldier story turns into a full-time action mission to save Mumbai from terror attacks. The one man army that he is, he takes it upon himself to man up and save the city from this mayhem. The whole plot of the movie is compelling and finely directed by one of the finest director Murgadoss who gave us Gajini. Akshay's stunts are jaw – dropping and he's in top form and impressively leads the show. Finally Holiday is fierce and it leaves you clutching to the edge of your seat plenty of times. The climax is a spectacle to watch.

The movie will keep you hooked to your seat till the end. Finally a role that Akshay Kumar should take up in all his forthcoming movie. Go watch, its a sure shot winner at the box office.

Over the years Akshay Kumar's choice of selecting the films has completely deteriorated with classic insignificant examples being BLUE, Once Upon in Mumbai Dobara, Joker , Khiladi 786 to name few. Fortunately, Holiday will throw a pleasant surprise to you and a big relief for Akshay Kumar's fan.

While on a vacation , an army officer witnesses a bomb explosion killing innocent children, he investigates the brutal killing which leads to uncovering of a plan by a terrorist and his sleeper cells to blow up the entire city of Mumbai.

Directed by A.R. Murugadoss, whose previous work included Ghajni, Holiday is a remake of Tamil Hit "Thupakki" directed by Murugadoss himself. Holiday takes some time to build upon you as the opening scenes, romantic track, forced comedy will bore and irritate you. The film gains some steam as Akshay Kumar gets involved into the investigation and the cat-mouse begins. From here onward there is no turning back as the movie gives you nice twist-n-turns with well- choreographed action scenes. The scene where Akshay involves 11 members including him to track the terrorist hovering in different parts of the city, the scene where Akshay Kumar rescues the girls and climax scenes has been well executed. On the flip side, the unnecessary inclusion of the songs, amateurish acting by Sonakshi Sinhi will put you off. Screenplay is decent but could have better, editing could be more crispy. Art direction and cinematography is average. Background score gels well with the mood of the film. None of the songs were good. Dialogues are fine. It is Akshay Kumar all the way. A thumbs up to him for doing something different from his usual masala potboilers. It is high time Sonakshi Sinha to choose a meaningful role. She is just repeating herself in every film.

Overall, Holiday is a fine effort. Baring few scenes, it does have style and substance. Good 3/5

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Holiday delivers thrilling scenes with relish and energy. It is a slick Action thriller that keeps you engrossed, enthralled and captivated all through, thanks to its fascinating premise and a watertight, sharp Screenplay. Holiday' is one film that will be liked by both the masses and the classes equally. It's sheer brilliance. It's fierce and it leaves you clutching to the edge of your seat plenty of times. The absorbing pace of the movie, the intelligent thinking of the proceedings, and Akshay Kumar gratuitous action sequences wins the show. Holiday is mostly a delectable film. This is Akshay Kumar's most engaging entertainer in recent times.

From a Akshay Kumar flick you expect action, comedy, romance, thrills and the movie as promised. As Capt. Virat Bakshi, he challenges the sleeper cell network hidden in the city, while romancing his lady love Saiba (Sonakshi Sinah) and placing everything including his family at stake. A movie dedicated to all our country's soldiers and their sacrifices, this movie unlike any other throws light on terrorism and the selfless act in any soldier.

Songs have catchy tunes by Pritam and location of songs are very fresh.

The movie is a definite must watch and make sure you have a tub of popcorn for every tantalizing twist the movie offers!

The film manages to hold on to its fast pace, even as it swings back and forth from Akshay Kumar's romance with Sonakshi to his fight with a gang of terrorists. To the script's credit the romance bits are never boring, thanks in part to Govinda in a rather unexpected guest appearance. Where I would fault the script is in it's treatment of the villain, as played by Farhad (real name: Freddy Daruwala). Here's a villain who is better looking and more charismatic than the hero and he's built up as a very sharp and intelligent guy. But then, he gets all brawny in the end and the intelligence vanishes. Which goes with advice given to Sonakshi by her soon-to-be-married girlfriend in the film: "Men who are good looking are not seldom intelligent. The intelligent men are seldom good looking. So if you find one who is both good looking and intelligent, grab him."

The team behind Holiday supposedly had a "vision" before they started on the movie and it can be described in vivid detail as PAYCHECK......hmmmmm paycheck....

So how does Bollywood encash its cheque??!! Switch on any Hindi movie channel, watch dubbed south Indian movies for 1 week.

Note down the names of a few of the movies you saw and feel will sell.

Contact director/writer of said film.

Either he will agree to remake it in Hindi, or you can buy the rights and ask another desperate (and hopefully less talented) team to do it.

Finding an actor for a remake used to be a problem, but thanks to blessings of the greats like Aamir, Salman that's no longer the case.

Actresses are even easier, either you take sonakshi, or put out an ad for a south Indian actress who wants to make it in Bollywood.

Everything else is just a formality, a few songs, 1 or 2 from honey/ mika singh if you can afford it, some cool stunts, a few overacted scenes involving love, family ,loyalty to country/village/city/house/boss.

Being a remake by the original South Indian team technically the movie is upto standards but neither excels or fails in any department.

Complaining about trivialities like script, cast, stereotypes isn't prudent when you know what your getting into.

So lets get to highlights.

The timing was perfect after the IPL before the Football world-cup with no major releases and a bankable cast.

Your never completely suicidal at any time, at the lowest point you will wallow in self pity and shame for giving into boredom/helplessness and taking the effort to watch such a movie.

If your reading this review now, the drought has passed, the football world-cup is on, a few entertaining low budget movies are in the theatres, just wait till the movie is released on TV.

Do the right thing and don't encourage such ordinary cinema unless you absolutely have to.

-s script, dialogues, epic scenes bordering on ridiculous, poor songs.

+/-s Sonakshi (love her hate her.....), Southern Formula (love it...hate it...), Secular terrorists (sic).

+s standard technical values, Akshays Panache and Charisma.

Akshay kumar had won heart of Indian as he played a positive role of Indian army... very nice movie.. if songs are nice then i might give 10 instead of 8

in Hollywood we watched many movies of U.S. army and we like it... but watching this movie in Hollywood we feel proud

also some comedy to entertain a lot and hope akshay kumar will continue making this type of SUPER HIT movies...

and what to say about sonakshi..she always rocks

don't miss this movie to watch in theater and now Indian army will go too high ,kyu ki abki baar MODI sarkar

With his usual dose of action comedy, Akshay Kumar strikes the right chord with 'Holiday: A Soldier is never off duty.' A story of a military DIA agent who makes it his mission to save the city from a cancerous threat of sleeper cells, Captain Virat Bakshi (Akshay Kumar) is a fearless, tactical and has a plan behind every step he takes. Smitten by the bold and beautiful Saiba (Sonakshi Sinha), Capt. Virat knows how to woe his lady love while saving the city.

AR Murugadoss created another gem of a movie after Ghajini

Watch Holiday for some sleek action sequences, awesome dialogues and groovy tunes!

Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty is a 2014 Indian Action thriller film, war drama film written and directed by A.R. Murugadoss, and produced by Vipul Shah. It features Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha in the lead roles, along with Govinda, Freddy Daruwala and Sumeet Raghavan in supporting roles. It is a remake of the 2012 Tamil film Thuppakki which was also directed by A. R. Murugadoss.

On a break from active duty, Captain Virat Bakshi (Akshay Kumar) finds himself up against the mastermind (Daruwala) of a terrorist outfit, who is busily planting 'sleeper cells' through the country to be activated when the time is ripe. So, we have Virat careering around Mumbai, leading his men into hair-brained ambushes in which people are dispatched speedily. It's all very wild West and vigilante. he only job of the leading lady (Sonakshi Sinha), who wears boxing gloves-and-tight-shorts in one scene and a flowing dress in another, and pulled out only when the plot remembers that it needs a song- and-dance.

Holiday: A Soldier is Never off Duty. Akshay Kumar after a long time gets a meaty role where he is doing bone crunching action more than jaw breaking comedy. Captain Virat played effortlessly by Akshay is home on his holidays but finds himself at the center of a serial blasts scheme by a terrorist group. He takes the matter into his own hands and runs a one man army from start till end.

Movie works pretty well whenever it sticks to its central plot. Action scenes are very well cut and thrills embedded with firing dialogues makes it an interesting watch. What works in favor of the movie is the linear screenplay with not confusion around who is who. Sonakshi Sinha does well in her mandatory heroine role. Govinda in a listless cameo falls flat and seems totally out of the place in otherwise well knit story. Songs also do not help and interrupt in the thrilling fun. Songs and Govinda episode convert a two hours worth thrilling story into a two hours and fifty minutes entertainer. Sumeet Raghvan as Akshay's dumb friend is good and evokes few light moments during thrills. Despite its evident flaws Holiday is consistently watchable because of Akshay Kumar. Confrontation scene in climax between Akshay and his counterpart played by Freddy Daruwala does satisfying end to growing tension.

I am going with strong 7 out of 10 for Holiday. After a long time you can enjoy Askhay doing what he does best.

Holiday is a complete Bollywood movie package. Dedicated to all the soldiers at the border, the movie packs in action, comedy, romance and thrills right to the end. Although there have been many movies that have focused on terrorism but Murugadoss showcases how one soldier can make a pivotal difference.

Movie also give a positive message that "where there is will, there is a way"

With some awesome comedy timings, Akshay Kumar gives the movie the essential turn it requires at every mode. Holiday is definitely a captivating, and exciting watch to look out for!

it's predictable to be bad, but still surpassed my 'horrible films' standard. childish elementary-school-level screenplay, exaggerated overacting, ridiculous scenario and plot, awkward out-of-place sound track. a 47 years old guy still trying to play a young Valentino love bird with a middle aged face, passing prime physical structure. a 27 actress with fat and plump body and meaty face still trying to play an inappropriate young girl. when the storyline gradually evolved into a supposed to be serious, suspenseful terrorist and anti terrorist, cat and mouse thriller....suddenly, it turned into a stereotyped Bollywood singing and dancing musical crap! the bad acting, non-talent, pretending to be a young girl actress were forced to play with her loose, fleshy and meaty face and body in boxing and sprint. there are scene after scene of stupid and totally absurd crappy things stuffed and forced into 'a soldier is never off duty' grand premise, and turned out to be another cluster-fxxked Bollywood joke. nothing worth you guys' blind praises that only makes me feel embarrassed for you.

a word to Hindi movie industries: grow up, dude, it's time to get rid off those stupid singing and dancing stereotype Bollywood crap. better sooner than later. otherwise, international viewers would never take your Hindi movies seriously. get out of the never-ending musical nightmare NOW.

Holiday- A soldier is never off dutyyyyyyyyy……yawn

To be fair, I did not have very high expectations from a movie that has a name that induces yawns. Plus the lead pair's previous outings still give me the shivers- Joker, Rowdy Rathore, and after all director AR Murgadoss is the master of on screen verbosity. The last point comes to bite back an otherwise watchable effort.

Based on the Tamil hit, Thuppaki, Akshay plays Virat Bakshi, a defense intelligence agent who is on leave visiting his parents, who in turn have only one achievement left in life- to get their son married. But as the title says, a soldier is never off duty. He quickly latches on to a master terrorist plan that involves 12 simultaneous bomb blasts across Mumbai. Typical of South Indian movies, there is a regressive love triangle involving him, Sonakshi Sinha and Govinda. She indulges in her brainless bimbette routine- loves slapping her father, indulges in all the sports we do not expect her to, and does not think much about dating bald men. Govinda, the natural comic, in the few scenes that he is in, brings the smile back.

The movie though is all about Akshay, the all in one package- combining the deductive abilities of Sherlock, the daring of Jason Bourne and the vigilante spirit of the Batman, jumping rooftops, kidnapping, torturing and killing terrorists at will. Being a defense intelligence agent gives you the right to do that? No.

But then it is an out an out mas-ala flick, with kind of comic book silliness, there is no question of logic. The good part is though that Holiday does not take itself too seriously. Dedicated to the men who protect our borders, there are enough action sequences to balance out the boring songs. Notwithstanding age, the fact that Akshay is still India's top action star shows in the stunt-work.

Is Holiday Akshay Kumar's finest film in recent times? Not really- that title belongs to Special Chabbis. But is it the finest character he has played, as he has claimed? Maybe, since this is a dream role for a star- basically a superhero in army fatigues, kind of like the Dark Knight, but with the license to kill. This character shouts for sequels :)

Made for the masses- 7/10

Holiday review:

Director Murugadoss reintroduced south action remakes in Hindi with Ghajini (2008). Since then, we have had an onslaught of star driven south actioners made with only 100 cr business in mind. Holiday is one such type. Considerable time is spent on the mandatory love angle diluting the thrills and realism of the plot. While Akshay Kumar deserves credit for defying age and looking fit as an army man, he needs to reinvent himself fast. Such repetitive masala fare may sell. Question is : for how long?

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

I really feel happy to see akshay kumar in a ARMY officer dress, it's totally suit on kumar. Holiday is a mission against terror attack in Mumbai, Virat Bakshi(Akshay kumar) is a ARMY officer, he helped to Mumbai police diffuse a terror attack with his colleagues. They find out 11 points for bomb blast in Mumbai akshay and team each person took a place to diffuse bomb. And they successfully diffuse bombs and killed tarriest. Virat is a master mind in this movie. And Akshay kumar work is amazing excellent job. Evey country should have army like this and we got a message by this movie, army is always on duty. I request to everyone watch it and hit it on the screens.