Akshay Kumar, one of the most popular actors in the Hindi film industry, has given another hit with his most iconic role in ‘Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty,’ whcih was released worldwide by Reliance Entertainment on June 6.
His own company Hari Om Entertainment and Sunshine Pictures owner Vipul Shah are joint producers of the film, which is claimed to be ‘an intelligent, high-octane, edge-of-your-seat romantic thriller.’
The film has the usual boxoffice mix of terror cells, bomb plots and international espionage. According to market information, it grossed about Rs 25 crores ($5 million) during the first week.
Directed by A R Murugadoss, who made the worldwide blockbuster ‘Ghajini,’ the cast of ‘Holiday’ includes Sonakshi Sinha, Govinda, Sumeet Raghavan and newcomer Freddie Daruwala. Pritam Chakraborty has given the musical score to the movie.
Mumbai seiged
Akshay essays the role of Virat Bakshi, a military officer on holiday with his battalion in his bustling home city of Mumbai. However, unbeknown to his fellow officers, Virat is also an undercover Secret Defence Intelligence Agent, masterly skilled and trained in covert anti-terror intelligence operations.
Whilst on a family visit to Mumbai, Virat is caught up in a gruesome terror attack that sees a crowded bus blown to pieces.
But this is just the beginning of the story for Virat, as he gets drawn into a sinister web of lies and deceit in his quest to bring the very top echelons of the terror mafia to justice before they strike again in the heart of Mumbai – the city that Virat holds closest to his heart.
Intelligent thriller
According to Akshay, ‘Holiday’ is an intelligent thriller, based on the deadly notion of sleeper cells, which has plagued several nations and caused heinous terrorist crimes.
“I work as a Defence Intelligent Agent for the Indian Army and I come across a deadly terrorist plot to attack Mumbai. My character is skillful and patriotic, I’ve been protecting the boarders of India, but unfortunately when I return home on Holiday, I get sucked into defeating the ring leader of the terror ‘sleeper cell’ to save my city,” he said.
He believes that ‘Holiday’ is very relevant film as it deals with an issue about which many are not aware.
However, the impact of the film is transient, he said.
Easy transition
“With the terror issues going on, the screen play to this film and its overall treatment has never been touched before in India. In that respect, this is something unprecedented.”
Akshay does not think performing a serious role posed any challenge and difficulty.
“I have been acting for a very long time, and it has become easy to transition from character to character, and from scene to scene. When you have great co-stars like Sonakshi Sinha, you can bounce of each other’s onscreen emotions in seconds. One of the best things about this job is creating an atmosphere that draws everyone’s attention and sucks them into the film, rather than leaving them bored in their seats,” he said.
Based on material supplied by Sterling Communications, London.
