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A. R. Murugadoss – that was enough for me to like this trailer – SUPER DUPER HIT – very well-made trailer – akki rocks…..after a long-time i’ll like to watch his movie – this shows how a good director can use the real potential of a star.
Like the trailer very much. The reception scene at the railway platform sets up the story well. There is a core idea. And the title with the tagline: Holiday: A soldier is never off duty brings it out very well. Nice shot taking in general. Better than the last few Akshay films for sure.
The original is a very good movie. Watch out for this one. If this had a top line star, this could have gone past 250 crores. With Akki’s current BO standing, one can expect 150 crores with good trending based on release date
much better GF than all those mindless films akki has given in last few years – ARM interweaves action/romance/script et all nicely – and it shows here – with due respect to the North Indian directors – South directors really neil it deeper in almost all the departments of film-making. Ghajini was a masala film but had all the emotions in it nicely intervoven and the way they present their actors/actresses (nice dose of style and substance) – people in mumbai lack it – they go more for style ….
Akshay Kumar’s recent films aren’t a particularly high bar. Leaving that aside I think Ghajini’s intent is more commendable than the actual film. What’s more worrisome about this one is Murgudoss’ previous film with Surya, which had some really chauvinistic, downright offensive stuff. Holiday seems like it’ll probably take this further.
Also in terms of the North/South comparisons these discussions especially lately feel a little odd or warped not least because Hindi cinema has been leaning on the Southern influence pretty heavily of late. I think Southern Indian masala has reached a stagnant point, I’m increasingly wary of it, and it’s almost become a forgotten point that when people praise a lot of Tamil or Malayalam movies they’re usually not talking about the mass entertainers involving more or less the same set of beats and characters. When I think of the best filmmakers working in those industries, the ones that create “deeper narratives” or whatever, Murgudoss isn’t one of them. Far from it really.
true – but what i am trying to say here is that ARM hasn’t forgotten the basics of the cinema – storytelling! he doesn’t carried away by only one aspect of the cinema – for eg – in the blood-n-gore of Ghajini’s story-telling – he stuns with a soothing “Kaise mujhe tum mil gayi…..” song – …he really does follow these curves where emotion / violence / romance……everything is almost at the right place. You don’t come out of his films feeling bore evenif u know you had seen all that earlier…….that is where he wins. And most of the south directors do have a story to tell in their films – that is the reason BW is turning to them. Akki has never been captured in so many different moods as far as i remember – here he is a revealation……
I’d add that the almost reflexive nature of these Bollywood remakes points to an ideological crisis where the Hindi film industry is concerned. It is almost as if these masala movies are being re-made because they’re the only way that the Hindi film industry today can imagine the idea of an Indian popular cinema, of a popular cinema that isn’t about representing a consumerist lifestyle, or a translation of a Hollywood genre. It is that idea, that possibility, that seems to have excited so many Bombay filmmakers (the Hindi industry’s own masala past is so irretrievable now that recovering it is akin to an archaeological enterprise), to the point where the latter have become like the Caucasian guy we all know, the one who thinks all Asian women are attractive. The mediocrity of the films re-made is almost beside the point; what is truly startling is the inability of Bollywood to tell the difference! The genuine remake here is the endless representation of this bankruptcy, this inability to think through the problem of popular cinema in India.
and to extend the point a certain kind of masala itself fulfills that consumerist paradigm. people consume masala the way they do other genres. Which of course is very different from the ‘experience’ (and quite often a cathartic one) that it [masala] once was. Of course this move took place in the South a long time ago but the distinction is that there audiences don’t generally insist on just this brand of masala. Telugu cinema, rather more lowbrow in most matters is possibly not the best Southern industry to make this point, but Tamil certainly has offered all kinds of masala. This quite apart from the new wave trends of the last decade or so. Perhaps history does become determinative in some ways. The Tamil compact is in many ways the Ratnam-Bharthiraja marriage. You split the difference between the two. The ethnographic privileging of the latter combined with the auteurism of the former. Of course there is plenty of multiplex stuff to go around here as well but within the industry’s larger contexts these bother one far less. In Bombay a strange thing happened which is that at some point the link with the past was almost totally severed and in ways which cannot entirely be explained by the normal ebbs and flows of taste and choice. The Bachchan signature is once again paramount here because you have the rather singular example of a star who does not just represent his industry’s very summit in various ways but also signifies its literal end. Ironically then he stands in for any sense of the historical in our more contemporary age. Before him the Bombay film past seems archaic. His work remains current but it is also biographically over-determined. Which is to say that it is legible for most people today through the prism of his biography rather than through any of the socio-political concerns animating those works. This I obviously find problematic in certain ways. If I could put it a bit theatrically ‘Vijay’ might have been assassinated by ‘Amitabh Bachchan’. An extraordinary irony if ever there was one! Needless to say this isn’t the entire story. There are doubtless social and political histories one would have to examine in a larger sense. But in any case a Hindi film history which through all its mutations signified some degree of continuity between the post-Independence period and the very early 80s expired in the years that followed. For a while the mostly awful 80s which represented nothing more than the detritus of the 70s, the ‘leftovers’ of all kinds that wash up on a beach sometimes (from garbage to animal parts!.. I am reminded of a very odd film by Kiorastami where the entire ‘action’ is about a piece of wood washed ashore or nearly washed ashore and that keeps bobbing up and down and back and forth more or less along a very limited distance), but even this perhaps retained some link to the authentic in its own frightful way. But since the 90s we’ve had boutiques selling designer entertainment masquerading as cinema..
Looking good…like the action and like the cohesive storyline from the looks of it. Ghajini was the best masala entertainer for me in recent times and ARM..will bring me to watch this one. Good for Akshay.
Man, this film seems so…humorless. This kind of masala doesn’t work if everyone takes himself so seriously. Case in point: that last dialog, where I thought Akshay was being set up for some grin-inducing dialog. Instead he says, “I’m waiting.” Really?! You’re fricking WAITING?!
Barring a few dialogs in RR and some other movies, Akshay’s dialog delivery has always been a letdown. It’s got to do with his voice, which sounds alright when at a higher pitch. But when he goes low, it sounds muffled, especially with his almost buck front teeth killing the delivery. Even some well written dialogs fall flat due to this ‘physical challenge’.
Aamir/SRK are leagues ahead of their contemporaries in this fundamental skill.
Only seen the trailor without sound and Akshay looks good here…pretty fresh compared to some recent films. Not inspired at all by this combo though. How many films have they done together now – something like 4 or 5? Its pretty ridiculous considering Sonakshi’s only been around for 4 years!
As per BOI; “Akshay still leads the count with 22 successful films since 2000 followed by Shahrukh Khan at 19. Emraan Hashmi is the surprise packet with 11 coverage to paying films since 2000 and features sixth in the list.
A successful film is a film which is average or better. Below are the list of actors with the most successful films since 2000, only counting the actors with who have seen some success lately” Ajay: 18/53: 33%, John: 11/32: 34%, Saif: 11/30: 37%, Emran: 11/28: 39%, Akshay; 22/57: 39%, Salman; 17/38: 44%, Hritik: 11/19: 58%, Shahrukh: 19/27; 70%, Ranbir: 8/11: 72%, Aamir: 9/12:75%
actually the list surprised me more: he has 14 out of 39(not including guest roles) and in rest to most different (hatke commercial films) in list
surprised to see this with the guy heavily criticised in commercialism front only.even commercially its better than akshay kumar or sanjay dutt in there respective time at this time of there career
Movie may still turn out to be decent watch due to a better director at helm but otherwise a very poor promo and dull ongoing. This after timid response to Jai Ho…
If terrorism is theme here, then this is further doomed looking at the past reception of similar project among Indian audience.
This probably looks like Akshay’s safest bet when you look at his line-up. Saw the original Thupakki and found it quite good. And I believe that Murugadoss and Akshay at least aren’t going to do any harm to the remake, so I do expect quite a good film here.
The only problem is that masala flicks aren’t really working these days. Only R. Rajkumar defied all odds and worked to an extent. But look at the BO of Jai Ho (110cr), Boss (55cr), Singh Saab (35cr), Bullet Raja (35cr) and all of these underperformed.
Damn…when these masala movies gonna stop coming…stale and lame…but given Thuppakki was well liked and director is same it might work…whats with Sonakshi in almost all of these masala/south remakes…whether she have got some copyright or what? She should wake up and sign more movies like Lootera
Great trailer and Akshay rocks. I have seen the original movie and Vijay rocked there he is a Superstar all right he is my favourite among tamil heroes after rajnikanth. Akshay in this trailer looks good and apt for the role. Hoping for a Hit.
Well, Sonakshi does look slighly overweight here. But look at around the 1’25 mins mark. She shows quite good technique of hitting the ball while playing tennis. And she does seem to hit the ball quite well there. I was watching some flick featuring Shilpa Shetty recently where she was supposedly playing tennis in a scene and she looked really lousy there. She was handling the tennis racket like a broom and her technique of hitting the ball looked more like ‘gilli danda’ rather than anything else.
SATYAMSHOT 
February 12, 2014 at 6:52 AM
Akshay looks awesome in action scenes
one of the best ‘looking’ films from Akshay in a while, although there’s nothing new in terms of story
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February 12, 2014 at 7:36 AM
From the trailer it looks like an exact remake of Thupakki ! Again a not so substantial role for Sonakshi
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February 12, 2014 at 9:11 AM
A. R. Murugadoss – that was enough for me to like this trailer – SUPER DUPER HIT – very well-made trailer – akki rocks…..after a long-time i’ll like to watch his movie – this shows how a good director can use the real potential of a star.
LikeLike
February 12, 2014 at 9:25 AM
Like the trailer very much. The reception scene at the railway platform sets up the story well. There is a core idea. And the title with the tagline: Holiday: A soldier is never off duty brings it out very well. Nice shot taking in general. Better than the last few Akshay films for sure.
LikeLike
February 12, 2014 at 10:12 AM
Stopped watching at a point. This looks pretty awful in just about every way.
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February 12, 2014 at 10:32 AM
The original is a very good movie. Watch out for this one. If this had a top line star, this could have gone past 250 crores. With Akki’s current BO standing, one can expect 150 crores with good trending based on release date
LikeLike
February 12, 2014 at 10:46 AM
much better GF than all those mindless films akki has given in last few years – ARM interweaves action/romance/script et all nicely – and it shows here – with due respect to the North Indian directors – South directors really neil it deeper in almost all the departments of film-making. Ghajini was a masala film but had all the emotions in it nicely intervoven and the way they present their actors/actresses (nice dose of style and substance) – people in mumbai lack it – they go more for style ….
LikeLike
February 12, 2014 at 11:48 AM
Akshay Kumar’s recent films aren’t a particularly high bar. Leaving that aside I think Ghajini’s intent is more commendable than the actual film. What’s more worrisome about this one is Murgudoss’ previous film with Surya, which had some really chauvinistic, downright offensive stuff. Holiday seems like it’ll probably take this further.
LikeLike
February 12, 2014 at 11:56 AM
Also in terms of the North/South comparisons these discussions especially lately feel a little odd or warped not least because Hindi cinema has been leaning on the Southern influence pretty heavily of late. I think Southern Indian masala has reached a stagnant point, I’m increasingly wary of it, and it’s almost become a forgotten point that when people praise a lot of Tamil or Malayalam movies they’re usually not talking about the mass entertainers involving more or less the same set of beats and characters. When I think of the best filmmakers working in those industries, the ones that create “deeper narratives” or whatever, Murgudoss isn’t one of them. Far from it really.
LikeLike
February 12, 2014 at 12:28 PM
true – but what i am trying to say here is that ARM hasn’t forgotten the basics of the cinema – storytelling! he doesn’t carried away by only one aspect of the cinema – for eg – in the blood-n-gore of Ghajini’s story-telling – he stuns with a soothing “Kaise mujhe tum mil gayi…..” song – …he really does follow these curves where emotion / violence / romance……everything is almost at the right place. You don’t come out of his films feeling bore evenif u know you had seen all that earlier…….that is where he wins. And most of the south directors do have a story to tell in their films – that is the reason BW is turning to them. Akki has never been captured in so many different moods as far as i remember – here he is a revealation……
LikeLike
February 12, 2014 at 12:30 PM
LikeLike
February 12, 2014 at 1:52 PM
I’d add that the almost reflexive nature of these Bollywood remakes points to an ideological crisis where the Hindi film industry is concerned. It is almost as if these masala movies are being re-made because they’re the only way that the Hindi film industry today can imagine the idea of an Indian popular cinema, of a popular cinema that isn’t about representing a consumerist lifestyle, or a translation of a Hollywood genre. It is that idea, that possibility, that seems to have excited so many Bombay filmmakers (the Hindi industry’s own masala past is so irretrievable now that recovering it is akin to an archaeological enterprise), to the point where the latter have become like the Caucasian guy we all know, the one who thinks all Asian women are attractive. The mediocrity of the films re-made is almost beside the point; what is truly startling is the inability of Bollywood to tell the difference! The genuine remake here is the endless representation of this bankruptcy, this inability to think through the problem of popular cinema in India.
LikeLike
February 12, 2014 at 2:57 PM
this is an outstanding comment Qalandar..
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February 12, 2014 at 3:28 PM
and to extend the point a certain kind of masala itself fulfills that consumerist paradigm. people consume masala the way they do other genres. Which of course is very different from the ‘experience’ (and quite often a cathartic one) that it [masala] once was. Of course this move took place in the South a long time ago but the distinction is that there audiences don’t generally insist on just this brand of masala. Telugu cinema, rather more lowbrow in most matters is possibly not the best Southern industry to make this point, but Tamil certainly has offered all kinds of masala. This quite apart from the new wave trends of the last decade or so. Perhaps history does become determinative in some ways. The Tamil compact is in many ways the Ratnam-Bharthiraja marriage. You split the difference between the two. The ethnographic privileging of the latter combined with the auteurism of the former. Of course there is plenty of multiplex stuff to go around here as well but within the industry’s larger contexts these bother one far less. In Bombay a strange thing happened which is that at some point the link with the past was almost totally severed and in ways which cannot entirely be explained by the normal ebbs and flows of taste and choice. The Bachchan signature is once again paramount here because you have the rather singular example of a star who does not just represent his industry’s very summit in various ways but also signifies its literal end. Ironically then he stands in for any sense of the historical in our more contemporary age. Before him the Bombay film past seems archaic. His work remains current but it is also biographically over-determined. Which is to say that it is legible for most people today through the prism of his biography rather than through any of the socio-political concerns animating those works. This I obviously find problematic in certain ways. If I could put it a bit theatrically ‘Vijay’ might have been assassinated by ‘Amitabh Bachchan’. An extraordinary irony if ever there was one! Needless to say this isn’t the entire story. There are doubtless social and political histories one would have to examine in a larger sense. But in any case a Hindi film history which through all its mutations signified some degree of continuity between the post-Independence period and the very early 80s expired in the years that followed. For a while the mostly awful 80s which represented nothing more than the detritus of the 70s, the ‘leftovers’ of all kinds that wash up on a beach sometimes (from garbage to animal parts!.. I am reminded of a very odd film by Kiorastami where the entire ‘action’ is about a piece of wood washed ashore or nearly washed ashore and that keeps bobbing up and down and back and forth more or less along a very limited distance), but even this perhaps retained some link to the authentic in its own frightful way. But since the 90s we’ve had boutiques selling designer entertainment masquerading as cinema..
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February 12, 2014 at 3:38 PM
by the way still haven’t seen the trailer. LOL!
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February 12, 2014 at 10:59 AM
Looking good…like the action and like the cohesive storyline from the looks of it. Ghajini was the best masala entertainer for me in recent times and ARM..will bring me to watch this one. Good for Akshay.
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February 12, 2014 at 12:20 PM
Looks like a winner!
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February 12, 2014 at 12:47 PM
off-topic: for satyam and big b lovers – here is a vintage Big B song:
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February 12, 2014 at 1:44 PM
thanks… yeah like this one a lot.. bachchan himself did a slower version in the movie.
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February 12, 2014 at 1:46 PM
Man, this film seems so…humorless. This kind of masala doesn’t work if everyone takes himself so seriously. Case in point: that last dialog, where I thought Akshay was being set up for some grin-inducing dialog. Instead he says, “I’m waiting.” Really?! You’re fricking WAITING?!
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February 12, 2014 at 3:03 PM
LOL couldn’t agree more,
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February 12, 2014 at 4:09 PM
I havent seen this trailor but Vijay rocked in the ‘I am waiting’ dialogue…
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February 12, 2014 at 6:48 PM
Barring a few dialogs in RR and some other movies, Akshay’s dialog delivery has always been a letdown. It’s got to do with his voice, which sounds alright when at a higher pitch. But when he goes low, it sounds muffled, especially with his almost buck front teeth killing the delivery. Even some well written dialogs fall flat due to this ‘physical challenge’.
Aamir/SRK are leagues ahead of their contemporaries in this fundamental skill.
LikeLike
February 13, 2014 at 6:49 AM
Only seen the trailor without sound and Akshay looks good here…pretty fresh compared to some recent films. Not inspired at all by this combo though. How many films have they done together now – something like 4 or 5? Its pretty ridiculous considering Sonakshi’s only been around for 4 years!
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February 13, 2014 at 12:41 AM
As per BOI; “Akshay still leads the count with 22 successful films since 2000 followed by Shahrukh Khan at 19. Emraan Hashmi is the surprise packet with 11 coverage to paying films since 2000 and features sixth in the list.
A successful film is a film which is average or better. Below are the list of actors with the most successful films since 2000, only counting the actors with who have seen some success lately” Ajay: 18/53: 33%, John: 11/32: 34%, Saif: 11/30: 37%, Emran: 11/28: 39%, Akshay; 22/57: 39%, Salman; 17/38: 44%, Hritik: 11/19: 58%, Shahrukh: 19/27; 70%, Ranbir: 8/11: 72%, Aamir: 9/12:75%
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/Details/art_detail/actorssuccesscountafterjaiho#.UvxXe2KSznY
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February 13, 2014 at 6:42 AM
“A successful film is a film which is average or better. ”
fallen in trap with names like john and emraan but not abhishek having more even in term of there source in 39 movie
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/Star_Cast/actor_detail/abhishek_bachchan
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February 13, 2014 at 6:45 AM
sucess:
solo:
refugee, bluffmaster, bunty or bubli and guru is to more
verdict of dum maro dum is absurd..
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February 13, 2014 at 7:04 AM
actually the list surprised me more: he has 14 out of 39(not including guest roles) and in rest to most different (hatke commercial films) in list
surprised to see this with the guy heavily criticised in commercialism front only.even commercially its better than akshay kumar or sanjay dutt in there respective time at this time of there career
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February 13, 2014 at 12:33 PM
Movie may still turn out to be decent watch due to a better director at helm but otherwise a very poor promo and dull ongoing. This after timid response to Jai Ho…
If terrorism is theme here, then this is further doomed looking at the past reception of similar project among Indian audience.
LikeLike
February 13, 2014 at 1:13 PM
check this out friends: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=602331359848436&set=vb.275699185844990&type=2&theater
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February 14, 2014 at 6:12 AM
This probably looks like Akshay’s safest bet when you look at his line-up. Saw the original Thupakki and found it quite good. And I believe that Murugadoss and Akshay at least aren’t going to do any harm to the remake, so I do expect quite a good film here.
The only problem is that masala flicks aren’t really working these days. Only R. Rajkumar defied all odds and worked to an extent. But look at the BO of Jai Ho (110cr), Boss (55cr), Singh Saab (35cr), Bullet Raja (35cr) and all of these underperformed.
LikeLike
February 16, 2014 at 4:00 PM
Damn…when these masala movies gonna stop coming…stale and lame…but given Thuppakki was well liked and director is same it might work…whats with Sonakshi in almost all of these masala/south remakes…whether she have got some copyright or what? She should wake up and sign more movies like Lootera
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March 11, 2014 at 3:00 AM
Great trailer and Akshay rocks. I have seen the original movie and Vijay rocked there he is a Superstar all right he is my favourite among tamil heroes after rajnikanth. Akshay in this trailer looks good and apt for the role. Hoping for a Hit.
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April 16, 2014 at 1:32 PM
Well, Sonakshi does look slighly overweight here. But look at around the 1’25 mins mark. She shows quite good technique of hitting the ball while playing tennis. And she does seem to hit the ball quite well there. I was watching some flick featuring Shilpa Shetty recently where she was supposedly playing tennis in a scene and she looked really lousy there. She was handling the tennis racket like a broom and her technique of hitting the ball looked more like ‘gilli danda’ rather than anything else.
LikeLike