I don’t think I’ve liked a masala movie this much since Vettai. It was a completely enjoyable experience. Akshay Kumar! He’s badass! He’s hilarious! He’s engaging in ethically questionable vigilante justice! I forget how much I like watching him because of his less-than-stellar taste in scripts, but this one is a winner. It’s a remake of the Tamil movie Thuppakki, which I haven’t seen, so I can’t compare them.
Akshay is Captain Virat Bakshi, Indian Army, home on leave to see his family. They drag him to meet a potential bride, Saiba (Sonakshi Sinha) and there are comical misunderstandings and charming songs as they fall in love. Also a Govinda cameo! But at the same time, Virat is drawn into a single-minded hunt to uncover a terrorist bomb plot.
Sona and Akshay are just about the cutest thing ever, even if Saiba is a little silly. See?
The terrorists are your standard-issue shady bearded men, with no backstory or agenda besides “go to Mumbai and blow up lots of things”. It helps that they’re irrevocably evil with no backstory, because Virat will do anything to stop them, taking on the terrorists by himself when the police are proved incompetent. He’s a good match for the terrorist mastermind (who comes complete with evil underground chem lab!) and he manages to stay just ahead of the villains with plans that are crafty, dangerous, and very exciting to watch. Or I just like Akshay beating people up.
I can’t actually get behind Captain Virat’s methods. I don’t actually agree that just because he’s putting his life on the line for his country that he should be allowed to take justice into his own hands and be exempt from democratic scrutiny, and I don’t actually want rogue soldiers chopping off prisoner’s fingers in their spare bedrooms. Within the context of the movie, though, it’s very satisfying to watch Virat’s utter confidence in his plans to take down the bad guy. Holiday could have gone somewhere interesting by exploring the question of whether these things were justified or not-- the guy purposely plants his sister as a hostage without her knowledge, is that really okay just because it works out in the end? Those questions might have made it some other movie, though, and I did really like it as the neat little package it was, pro-military patriotism and all.
It was just a really enjoyable movie experience. The comedy and dancing kept it from being too dark (and brought us humorous moments like Virat hiding a captured terrorist in one of his closets and his girlfriend in another) and the hero was awesome. You just can’t help but cheer for him, whatever he’s doing. Finally, although they cut it from the movie, there’s a dance number with Govinda on youtube!
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