Akshay and Sonakshi starrer Holiday is a militant film!

After the super success of Ghajini in 2008, director A.R. Murugadoss took a six-year holiday from Hindi movies but is now back with his next movie, the Akshay Kumar starrer Holiday.

Murugadoss struck gold with Aamir Khan in Ghajini but the director tells “Akshay was my first choice for Holiday.” He asserts, “No one could have played this character better than Akshay.”

Comparing Aamir and Akshay, he tells, “Both actors are very sincere, hard working and full of energy.” The South director claims not to have had any difficulty in casting either of the megastars. He tells, “Since Ghajini was a remake, I didn’t have to convince Aamir to do the film.”

Murugadoss insists that Holiday cannot be called a remake of his Tamil movie Thuppaki and explains why: “Akshay wanted to make Holiday in Hindi with me but I requested him to allow me to make the Tamil version first. Therefore, I made Thuppaki in Tamil earlier.”

In keeping with Akshay’s action image, Holiday is also a taut thriller. Murugadoss discloses, “Holiday is a terrorist film but of a different type. It is about a sleeper cell. Being sleeper cells have common men, they know where exactly to attack. The intriguing tale has been conceptualised with the help of newspaper cuttings and I also read books pertaining to sleeper cells. After the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, this story suits Mumbai the most.”

Though he is a superhit director in the South, Murugadoss would like to continue making films in in Bollywood. He reasons, “Bollywood producers are great to work with; they offer bigger budgets. Also, Hindi films have a wider reach than South films. If given a chance here I will surely make more films. I am comfortable directing in Hindi as well. And yes, I am here to stay.”

Ask him for his wish list of actors, and pat comes his response, “Salman, Shah Rukh, Aamir, Akshay and Ranbir Kapoor.”

Murugadoss watches Hindi movies regularly and singles out Vicky Donor, Barfi and Ram Leela as entertainers, each in its own space. But he doesn’t like to watch the remakes of his own films. He frankly discloses, “When I see my films remade by others directors. I experience trepidation. When I see the changes, I feel bad. So I don’t like to watch remakes of my films.”