Enough of so-called south-style action, Akshay Kumar goes realistic for Holiday

In a bid to raise the bar for action films made in Bollywood, producer Vipul Shah roped in a Hollywood action director Greg Powell for his upcoming film, Holiday – A Soldier Is Never Off Duty starring Akshay Kumar.

In a bid to raise the bar for action films made in Bollywood, producer Vipul Shah roped in a Hollywood action director Greg Powell for his upcoming film, Holiday – A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, which releases on June 6.

HT Image

The film, directed by AR Murugadoss, stars

Akshay Kumar

in the lead.

Akshay Kumar and Greg Powell

"People were getting bored of the so-called south style action of flying cars and people. Since my film deals with an army officer’s life, we needed action sequences that were realistic and did justice to

’s image of an action star," says Shah explaining why he chose to bring in Powell, who has been the stunt director of Skyfall (2012), the Harry Potter series and many others.

"Greg flew down to India with his team, which included the stunt boys. He choreographed the action sequences and rehearsed them with Akshay,” adds Shah.

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Ask him why he chose a Hollywood stunt director as opposed to an Indian one and Shah says, "I don’t think any of our action directors are less talented, but working in Hollywood gives a person exposure. They know how to take action to the next level."

Talking about Akshay’s enthusiasm, Shah says, "He dedicatedly rehearsed for the sequences, although we all felt he was a master at it. Some of the stunts were difficult, yet he did them with great ease."