HOLIDAY: Think twice! Entertainment is off duty! [2/5]

It is quite hard to decide what is more exasperating in A R Murugadoss’ HOLIDAY- A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, the distasteful-impolite & offensive exposé of modern Indian women or the overenthusiastically proud praise of Indian Army? The leading lady here [Ms ‘100 Cr’ Sinha] is apparently a new-age rebellious daughter who could give serious threat to the mother and slap hard to her father if asked to do something not of her interest. Meanwhile, she’s also dumb as a doll to decide getting married instantly whoever comes in way as guys with sharp brain & good looks are vanishing fast from earth. Right!

And now the driving force; if not busy in trying to fulfill his lady’s wish to perform a kiss [???] or shaking his legs too often, the soldier never off duty [the ageing Akshay Kumar] constantly gets into a preachy mode to justify and establish how and why the Indian Army men are better & more dependable for country’s security than police and civilians. Yeah! Right!!

HOLIDAY- a remake of Murugdoss’s Tamil superhit THUPPAKKI is not a bad film at all as it has all the possible & potential ‘masalas’ for a ‘dhansu’ action entertainer. A hero who’s always a step ahead of villain’s deadly plans of mass-destruction, a heroine who’s ever ready to step in to the dancing shoes, non-stop action, solid dialoguebaazi but what it lacks is the sense of being and belonging. Though I know this is not a kind one should look out for much reasoning but the common sense not to be found even in traces is rather hurtful.

Film sustains and succeeds in introducing the concept of ‘sleeper-cells’ in India but sadly it is presented more of as a plain verbal threat and no inside out hard-hitting visuals to support the premise. I wish it could have explored the functioning of this dreadful modus oparandi of terrorism rather than just focusing on one man behind all this especially when you aren’t equipped with an impressive antagonist. Though he has the built and basics of a good baddie, Freddy Daruwala as the brainy guy behind terrific act of terrorism looks more like a sidekick to Vidyut Jamwal who had played the same role in the original. Govinda makes a short & sweet special appearance but looks completely off sync. He sure deserves better roles to justify his age and caliber. Sumeet Raghvan is some relief.

On the whole; with a nearly 3 hours of duration, this ‘trying to be smarter than the smartest’ thriller-cum-entertainer is like a dull, boring and extended holiday trip where you don’t really have much to explore and sight-see but the luxury and comfort of a premium hotel. Just fall in the bed, sleep, eat, sleep again and come back with a promise never to be back in the same territory again. Hope Akshay could hear this out! [2/5]

DHOOM 3: The Great Indian Bollywood Circus! Formulaic but Spectacular & Extremely Watchable [3/5]

It’s not very hard to predict what’s in store for you, if you have booked your tickets to take a roller-coaster ride in the latest & the third installment of Bollywood’s first of a kind film-franchisee DHOOM: 3. High octane action, vrooming bikes, eye-catching locales, brilliantly choreographed song & dance sequences, fantastic production design & twists in the tale that you can only see it coming just a few moments before it actually comes. So, what are the additional elements that make YashRaj Film’s DHOOM 3 an extremely watchable action thriller, better and bigger than the previous two installments?

Written & directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, DHOOM: 3 is the most spectacular presentation of all in the series, one would never question that, but it’s the writing and the performances [I desperately wanted it to make singular but then you’ll agree to it after watching it] that take it to another level.

Set in Chicago, story takes you back in 90’s when the owner of ‘the great Indian circus’ [Jackie Shroff in a delightful cameo] kills himself after losing his battle to save the property from financial crisis. Years later, his only son Sahir [Aamir Khan standing tall as a towering inferno] decides to bring the Bank responsible for his father’s death down all in the dust by constantly robbing all its branches. With no valid logic behind, ACP Jai Dixit [Abhishek Bachchan in his one-expression mode] & his ‘still irritating’ associate Ali Akbar from Nagpada [who else?? The ‘Uday Chopra’] are called in to help the Chicago Police Department. Rest is the thrilling cat-and-mouse chase sequences with good amount of bike-stunts, an unpredictable pinch of emotions and a satisfying surprise in the box that I wish I could tell you more about.

Though the story seems & is very filmy, formulaic and borrowed straight from some late 70’s vengeance potboilers, the surprise in the box alone keeps you thoroughly engaged and entertained. Till the time it reaches you from various sources, I don’t want to be the spoiler. All I can say is it brings lots of emotions on the board and in a very well executed manner. Keep guessing!

Of the cast, let’s talk about Katrina first. She’s sexy, sensuous & stunning as all the Dhoom girls in the past. Though the writing doesn’t provide her a good meaty role, watch her introduction scene in the ‘Kamli’ song and as briefed by the character of Aamir in the film, you are bound to not take off your eyes from her for once. What an electrifying appearance!

Same goes with Aamir. The certain amount of charisma and the sincerity in the performance that he brings with himself is totally infectious. He sets screen on fire in the magical & the magnificent ‘Malang’ song. Look at the kind of effort he makes to meet the expectations par level to the new generation in industry. Commendable job! This is the most commercial performance of his after GHAJINI.

In a whole 3 hours of duration, it is not plausible that you do not get carried away with some really putting off sequences like the typical ‘Uday Chopra’ comical scenes, disregard of a good mix of logic in the screenplay and a hurriedly conceptualized love-angle between Katrina & Aamir! But the grand canvas, great production quality, good performance and the surprise element compensate for the most of it. If you love ‘no logic’ formula Bollywood, you will love it more! [3/5]