odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Nov 22, 2013 4:53:14 GMT
This film has had a long, strange history; as best I can tell, Akshay Kumar, producer Vipul Shah (Force, Commando, Singh is Kinng, Namastey London, etc) and director A. R. Murgadoss (Ghajini) had started developing this some time back, with the idea that Katrina Kaif would play the love interest. Then Kat got busy with other stuff, Akki got busy with other stuff, and Murgadoss ended up making the film in Tamil first, with Vijay and Kajal Aggarwal, under the title Thuppaki. (The film is set in Mumbai, even in the Tamil version, and when Vijay was on location for the shoot, Prabhudeva roped him into doing his now famous cameo in Rowdy Rathore). It turned out to be a huge hit.
The story involves a soldier in military intelligence (Vijay/Akshay) who takes some leave to go visit his family, stops a bomb attack and starts digging into the question of who's responsible. The pacing and the plot of Thuppaki totally don't resemble Liam Neeson's Taken (although there is a brief homage to Taken's most famous dialogue exchange), but the tone of the two movies struck me as similar: grim, suspenseful, unapologetic about the sometimes disturbing things the main character does in pursuit of his goal. If that is not your kind of thing, or not the kind of thing you want from Bollywood, this will be a movie to stay away from. Period. If you don't like Akshay (or Vijay, in the case of the Tamil version) this will also be a movie to stay away from-the supporting cast does not get enough screen time to justify you putting up with a male lead you can't tolerate.
For comic relief, there is also a charming but brief "romcom" subplot, where the main character turns down a seemingly traditional bride (Kajal/Sonakshi), then falls for her after he discovers she's really a tomboy, only to discover that her family has now arranged the young lady's marriage with his own commanding officer (Jayaram/Govinda). Shenanigans ensue, and since there's at least one or two song picturizations that feature the lead couple and the CO hanging out at a club/party, I think we may be lucky enough to see Govinda strut his stuff. Film is currently scheduled for a March 28, 2014 release, but that may change. the March 28 date would possibly put the film up against Happy Ending, starring Akshay's old friend Saif. Also, the production company behind Holiday is reputedly kind of jittery about getting stuck with a weak release date for this expensive, ambitious action thriller, although industry insiders are reputedly fairly impressed by the rough footage of the project so far.
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Nov 30, 2013 22:13:44 GMT
Taran Adarsh just confirmed this one as having moved to May 1, 2014 (a Thursday, but some businesses give their workers the day off, plus it's a regional holiday in Maharastra state). This will be a lot more convenient for me (and potentially the More Casual Fan and the non-Bollyviewers I dragged to Special 26, all of whom reacted favorably to watching the idea of watching a mildly familiar actor waste some terrorists in between song and dance numbers), and usually May seems to be a moderately big moviegoing month in India, if not as big as it is in my country. Action Jackson (Prabhudheva's movie with Ajay) is reputedly headed for the same slot; I guess we'll see how that turns out.
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Feb 13, 2014 1:40:56 GMT
Okay, various updates: first off, some idiots in somebody's market department decided it would be a brilliant idea to release a 3-minute trailer for a movie that's nearly four months away from releasing:
My own reaction is that it's pretty much the movie I was expecting, based on having seen about 2/3rds of the Tamil version: a middling-good, far-from-earthshattering action thriller about a guy hunting vaguely Muslim terrorists and romancing a sassy chick in his downtime. My own hunch is that I will enjoy this one, the More Casual Fan probably would enjoy it, but I don't think it will set the box office on fire, unless they promote it well and it gets a solo release.
Second off, this movie and Action Jackson are both currently aimed for a June 6 release date (this is roughly equivalent to the release date for Rowdy Rathore 2 years ago). Not clear who's going to blink first, if at all.
Third off, Pooja Bhatt is mad about the title: she registered "Holiday" when she made a film by that title in 2006, did not release it to the producers of the Thuppaki remake, and was annoyed when producer Vipul Shah titled the Thuppaki remake "Holiday: A Soldier is Never Off-Duty" (shades of what SLB did to prove to that Ram Leela was not *that* kind of a ramlila). She apparently went through something similar with Thank You a couple years back although interestingly she was careful not to blame Akshay himself for either incident. My own attitude is kind of "Pooja, why the hell are you calling dibs on names too generic to google? Vipul, what the hell was wrong with calling it Pistol or Bahadur?"
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Post by corbie on Feb 15, 2014 5:08:00 GMT
Oh dear. What to do. I can't abide Akshay. I love Govinda.
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Feb 15, 2014 14:09:20 GMT
Oh dear. What to do. I can't abide Akshay. I love Govinda. Corbie, that part in my original post about "the supporting cast does not get enough screen to warrant sitting through a male lead you don't like" is addressed to you.  Govinda's got at least two other movies coming up IIRC, so you don't need to see this one to get your fix. If the makers of Holiday are smart enough to feature him prominently in one of the dance numbers, I will try to mention that when I post a link, but honestly the movie as a whole probably would not be your thing even if it starred someone else. Too much of an action film. |
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Post by coolalbatros on Mar 6, 2014 6:56:02 GMT
My Akki is back in action  |
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Apr 12, 2014 16:06:04 GMT
First song video (Tu Hi Toh Hai):
My main reaction is, okay, that's cute and funny, if weirdly cut (this is a new recording company, and although they reputedly treat the artists more fairly than the more established ones, they don't seem to have gotten the hang of making promo videos).
The Thuppaki equivalent, Antarctica:
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Apr 24, 2014 12:04:42 GMT
Making of Tu Hi Toh Hai:
I call your attention to the bit where Sonakshi says of her leading man "Since when did YOU learn to dance like that?" Because it is relevant to this:
the rather pretty Shaayraana:
Shaayraana seems to have been one of the last things they filmed, if not the last, and I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it will probably be the last ever bit of "Sonakshay" filming; because I have the feeling she's finally gotten a solid enough position in the industry to not be dependent on him for work, and moving on to younger (and/or equally middle-aged but more respected) costars is a thing Akki's leading ladies usually do after a few films.
Thuppaki equivalent, which IMO is a better song (perhaps the only really good one on the Thuppaki soundtrack, again IMO) but the picturization suffers a bit from Kajal Aggarwal's lack of dancing chops.
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on May 2, 2014 3:08:20 GMT
Making of Shaayraana, which is pleasant but lacking in behind the scenes silliness:
Blame The Night, which would be utterly charming to me if someone had found Sona a better dress:
Google Google, from Thuppaki, also charming (and better choreographed) although I think the song itself is weaker.
Blame the Night making of video:
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on May 26, 2014 14:09:30 GMT
The patriotic "Ashq Na Ho" video; spoiler warning: it occurs quite late in the film and contains flashbacks to earlier events. This was shot in late May, about two days after Akshay had injured his foot in a stunt sequence; after spending a day at home in bed he got bored with not working, or something, and called producer Vipul Shah at 2am to arrange the shoot for later that day. We have one more song video after this coming up, and hopefully it will be worth the wait; it seems to involve Govinda and Akki dancing at a party.  |
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Jun 6, 2014 20:27:24 GMT
Going to see this tomorrow, barring major catastrophes! first Bollywood at the theater in nearly a year.
Corbie: they reportedly cut the song where Govinda dances, so you will definitely, 100% want to avoid this one, if you weren't already. :/
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Since Sept. 6, 2022, Chiloka has not been reachable. (