Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by A. R. Murugadoss, starring Akshay Kumar as an army officer.
Kumar revealed that the story of Holiday was signed by his production company Hari Om Entertainment after listening to the first action sequence of the film by Murugadoss even before the script was fully written.
Made on a budget of ₹500 million,[4] The film received generally positive reviews from the critics, particularly for Kumar's performance, writing and action sequences.
One day, while travelling in a bus with his friend, Sub-Inspector Mukund "Makhiya" Deshmukh, Virat, while chasing a man who he regards with suspicion when he tries to flee the scene of a check going on after a passenger reports his wallet as stolen, witnesses a bomb explosion killing innocent people.
Virat manages to capture the man, Ajmal Lateef, who he realizes is a terrorist and has planted the bomb, but he escapes from the hospital with the help of a police mole.
Virat remembers that on the day when the bombs are going to be planted, there is a wedding where his team member Joel is tying the knot, and all his Army officer friends are going to assemble.
Along with his fellow Army officers and Mukund, Virat manages to track these bombers, Ajmal included, and kills them before they could trigger the bombs.
He kills Kapil and his family, he being one of the army officers, through a blast, and forces Virat, who he discovers is the man responsible for Afsar's death, to surrender.
Virat decides to sacrifice his life and plans a suicide attack by instructing Mukund and his fellow officer Joel to follow him via a tracking chip inserted in his arm and plant a bomb at the terrorists' hideout.
ABP News similarly rated it 4.5/5, calling it a "fast-paced, exhilarating roller coaster ride"[18] Taran Adarsh gave 4/5 and states that it is a slick action-thriller that keeps you engrossed, enthralled and captivated all through, thanks to its fascinating premise and a watertight, razor-sharp screenplay.
[19] The Times of India gave the film 3.5 ratings describing it as "This one applauds the jawans who live in the jaws of death, and is a 'wake up' call for all the 'sleepers' that abound.
"[20] Rachel Saltz of The New York Times stated that "The action sequences mostly have tension and punch, even if the movie is old-school long – 2 hours 41 minutes – and the plot doesn't bear too much scrutiny".
[23] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave 2 stars out of 5, commenting "That this film is still not as awful as most typical Akshay Kumar starrers, despite several such harebrained sequences, is to the credit of director AR Murgadoss, who doesn't let something as insignificant as common sense come in the way of telling a convenient story.