This Akshay Kumar actioner was well received

Thuppakki' the original Tamil film was the third one to enter the billion club when it was released in 2012, following the top two starring Superstar Rajinikanth, released over the earlier five years. Helmed by ace director A R Murugadoss, 'Thuppakki' featured 'Thalapathy' Vijay who carried the action- packed drama effortlessly on his shoulders aided by some razor-sharp editing and the comely presence of Kajal Aggarwal. It was for the first time that Tamil cinema boldly took on the 'sleeper cell' theme, moving away from trans-border terrorism and focusing on the problem within the country. It was dubbed into Telugu with the same name and despite positive media support did not make an altogether impressive mark at the BO.

Over 18 months later, in 2014, Akshay Kumar took up the task of showcasing it in Hindi as A R Murugadoss crossed over to Mumbai with his successful venture. Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who had by then produced many films with Akki, as the actor is popularly known went ahead with this project too. Titled 'Holiday' with a tagline 'A soldier is never off duty' it immediately placed the film in the action thriller format. It was a revised name to the film which originally began production under a working title of 'Pistol'.

True to the original, the story was all about what happens to a soldier who returns home to Mumbai on a break and is forced by turns of circumstances to hunt down and deactivate a set of desperadoes out to hurt India badly. Akshay had Sonakshi Sinha as his lady love, making him work harder, losing weight to fit the role of a lean, hungry army officer.

Like the Tamil version which received both critical and commercial acclaim, the Hindi version was also noted for many standout issues. 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". It was also hailed as a 'genuinely smart, action thriller'.

The faith on the remake was vindicated when the Rs 50 crore budgeted film went on to earn Rs 1.78 billion in Hindi also, making it among the top box-office grossers of 2014.