Main Tera Hero

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Main Tera Hero" is a typical madcap David Dhawan comedy, with all the silly fun, rambunctious pacing, over-the-top characters, and zany music that we've come to lover over the years. While it's by no means among his best work, it certainly tells a routine story in an extremely humorous and exuberating manner. Let's just call it for what it is - old formulaic David Dhawan wine smartly packaged by the veteran Director in a new bottle via a contemporary look and the re-invention of his staple comedy hero in an entertainingly modern avatar.

We get all the typical jokes and gags Dhawan is so well known for; some old and revamped, some new and refreshing, some surprisingly brilliant brilliant, some beyond ludicrous, but all highly entertaining and rib- ticklingly funny. Most of all, we get the quintessential Dhawan hero, neatly packaged and reconditioned in a zesty persona that once again resonates fondly with audiences like the days of yore.

Varun Dhawan displays his histrionics to the hilt and proves to us that he was born to be a true-blue Bollywood hero. He has all the makings of a being a decent actor with strong star-power at the box-office. As to how well his acting skills improve, that's left to be seen, but suffice to say the initial signs are good. Ileana D'Cruz and Nargis Fakhri are present for eye-candy, and Dhawan portrays the oomph quotient to maximum effect, especially in the case of Ms. Fakhri. Arunoday Singh's plays the bullying buffoon act passes muster. The rest of the cast is made up of veterans such as Anupam Kher, Saurabh Shukla, and Rajpal Yadav, and they're all in fine form.

The plot like in most Dhawan films has a simple humorous premise, constructed together by a series of gags, witty one-liners, slapstick events, and hilariously silly dialogues. What's really invigorating for all Dhawan fans is that the Director seems to have regained his mojo, which had temporarily evaded him after a few cringingly bad comedies and unnecessary remakes since "Partner" - his last good effort. As mentioned earlier, this film will certainly not be counted among his best in coming years, but he's at least back in form. Also, for a film of this ilk, it boasts of surprisingly good technical values, particularly in the editing and cinematography departments.

"Main Tera Hero" doesn't shamelessly ask you to leave your brain at home in the name of entertainment; that's just plain inane and signals a movie's complete absence of merit from the onset itself. Instead, it gives you an opportunity to relax your brain and enjoy two hours of unadulterated, madcap, fan in David Dhawan's archetypal style.

In the 90's David Dhawan and Govind teamed up together to entertain us with the best of bollywood madcap comedies. These movies had the same logic as the Tom and Jerry cartoon shows, u wanna watch u better give your brain a rest-the movies were entertaining and provided a good laugh as long as you ignored the fact that what was happening on the screen was just non stop nonsense, but what the hell, you were being entertained and you were not being bored and you are stress free.

Years later today, David Dhawan brings his son Varun Dhawan with a similar mad cap comedy which catapulted Govinda to stardom. You have the same jarring colors, the same brainless heroines and a villain who is never to be taken too seriously and above all MEIN TERA HERO has good music, the tapori kind which Govinda excelled at dancing to.

Seenu (Varun Dhawan) is an older version of Dennis the menace and when he is rejected in marriage by an obese girl because he is not a graduate, he embarks on journey from Ooty to Banglore to get a Degree.

On the way he bashes some goons who try to eve tease some girls and establishes himself as a hero material and not just a comedian.

He joins a college and woos Sunaina (Ileana De Cruz-with bad makeup) who is in fact being stalked by a police officer Angad (Arunodhay Singh), who bashes any guy who even talks to his girl.

Seenu outwits Angad and takes off with Sunaina, only to witness her being kidnapped. Angad informs him that the kidnapper is Vikrant (Anupam Kher) an international Don located in Bangkok. Vikrant's Daughter Ayesha (Nargis Fukhrey-with bad acting skills) is in love with Seenu and so her father had Sunaina kidnapped to blackmail Seenu to marry Ayesha.

The movie then heads for a roller coaster ride with laughs galore including a rather funny shiv bajan tuned to the music of badtameez dil.

Varun Dhawan is confident and carries himself well and you can see sparks of Govinda in him in most of the scenes.

Arunodhay Singh is funny with a poker face and gives a good performance, especially the anger management scene is one of his best in the movie.

Ileana De Cruz would take the award for the worst makeup of the year. The girl was good in Barfi, but gives a kind of kindergarten school kid stage show performance.

Nargis Fukhrey with the weird accent tries hard to perform, but drops her act midway and joins Ileana as why the hell do I have to act, when I can expose attitude.

Anupam Kher is the highlight of the movie, the don who says the word in his every sentence thrice because he was from a "Pahadi Ilaaka".

Music by Sajid-Wajid replicates the Anu Malik style of music, the songs are fresh, foot tapping and energetic. The PALAT song says it all.

Kudos to David Dhawan for bringing the colorful comedies of yore back.

If you love tom and jerry, you would love this movie too-please do not forget to leave your brain behind when you set off to watch this.

While I am awestruck with Varun Dhawan's performance and dialog delivery, I am not happy with the plot because it is too illogical and defies reality.

David Dhawana has always managed to make us laugh and with Partner, he had reached zenith. With Main Tera Hero, he collaborates with his son and long-time associate Saurabh Shukla to give out a funny take on crime & romance. While I could relate it to 2005's Welcome, I should agree I was never bored in the first half. It talks about the story of a mischievous boy who travels to Bangalore to get a degree but instead falls in love with a girl. The plot maneuvers to a villain and then to a twist.

Come second half, the fun quotient declines as the plot gets more melodramatic & repetitive. The story also takes damage because the story is seemingly absurd. This drama sequences do not happen in real life nor do they happen in dreams. Only writers can make this up and that is what such genres of films are known for, I agree. hence, a humble 6/10 and it is not the film I am rating, but the genre.

Narghis Fakhri can't act while she's definitely got the hots; Ileana D'Souza is fine, too. Arunoday Singh is good enough. Anupam Kher does a good part and overall, good cast. But the limelight is stolen by Junior Dhawan and I laud his second stint since SOTY. Good job!

BOTTOM LINE: Enjoyable and is one of the few watchable movies released this year.

Main Tera Hero is not at all up to the mark. The movie is another typical Bollywood Rom-com which fails to entertain. It is blessed with only a little number of sequences which possess good humor. Besides this, it just disappoints you. The story tells us about a flamboyant youngster who travels to Bangalore to achieve a degree but instead finds the love of his life before a heap of illogical chaos unleash. Performances are mediocre and some episodes exhibited are awfully bizarre.

The actors in performance are neither highly impressive nor depressing. Varun Dhawan, in his second film was seemingly fair to middling. Opposite him was the lovely Ileana D'Cruz who doubtlessly managed to make a hit. Nargis Fakhri, who was another integral part of the story line was absolutely unsatisfying. Supporting roles enacted by Arunoday Singh, Rajpal Yadav and Saurabh Shukla were garden-variety. Anupam Kher in a minor role was strictly ordinary.

David Dhawan has been successfully managing to provide us with films containing genuine comicality, but over the years, his flicks are getting worse. It was Chashme Baddoor last year, and this year, it is Main Tera Hero. Screenplay was simply absurd. Editing and Cinematography departments have probably managed to hit the spot. Music by Sandeep Shirodkar was slightly above average.

In short, the movie is silly and nonsensical. It might have worked out for me if the makers would have chosen to enhance the plot equipping it with some sort of basis. Watch it only if you are in love with typical Bollywood entertainers. Elseways, avoid it.

After Manmohan Desai and Subhash Ghai in the 80s, the one director whose films our group of movie-freak friends enjoyed a lot in the next decade was David Dhawan and we all really waited for every new David-Govinda film quite desperately. Remembering those years I sometimes do feel, as if these lavish multiplexes promoting a more sophisticated and educated way of movie watching, have probably ruined that unforgettable & enigmatic experience of witnessing a typical David-Govinda film among all the crazy fans. And MAIN TERA HERO really transported me to those times quite honestly, as David was proudly back with his own style of entertaining cinema, presenting a new age Govinda found in his son Varun Dhawan acting in just his second film.

Having said that as the film begins, it just turns out to be another loud product aiming to please the audience, incorporating everything possible missing the desired mark. All the actors simply behave over the top including Varun and the viewer doesn't get involved with any of the characters individually in these first 10 minutes. But once Arunoday Singh and Rajpal Yadav enter the scene alone with Ileana, the whole scenario changes and suddenly Varun gets into a current generation avatar of good old Govinda surprising one and all. Without wasting any more time he starts impressing in almost every sequence and one begins enjoying the film much more than the expectations, before it says interval.

Post intermission new characters are called in to keep you entertained including Nargis Fakhri, Saurabh Shukla and Anupam Kher with his amusing echo system straight from the mountains, working instantly. The catchy tracks continue giving a boost to its overall momentum and one just feels like watching a typical David Dhawan film of the 90s featuring Varun instead of Govinda. Interestingly Shakti Kapoor also joins in towards the end to recreate the same magic but his track sadly turns out to be a more forced one in absence of the inimitable Kadar Khan.

To give the due credit, though the film is a remake of 2011 Telugu hit KANDIREEGA, it actually works because of David Dhawan's absorbingly entertaining adaptation, fast editing and many funny dialogues well written by Milap Zaveri. The father makes his talented son do many things particularly for the single screen viewers in the small centers just like he used to play with Govinda. And Varun doesn't disappoint him either grabbing the big opportunity given showcasing his comic timing perfectly.

The soundtrack by Sajid-Wajid suits a David Dhawan like a 'T' and I really missed'Chichi' a lot in songs like "Shanivaar Raati" and "Tera Dhyaan Kidhar Hai" in particular. The compositions force you to start swinging sitting on your seat itself, which was always a key feature of David's films in those particular years. The background score maintains the racy tempo throughout and the action sequences intelligently incorporate the humor factor too as required.

Performance wise, as expected Varun leads the show in style and I hope this film doesn't turn his confidence into over-confidence next. The boy unexpectedly lives every Govinda moment in the film wonderfully and David has surely found a new Govinda in his own home after so many years. Ileana looks pretty and does well in her limited scope but Nargis Fakhri is really awful with her English accent and silly expressions. As a matter of fact, now I can assume how difficult would have been for Imtiaz to get her perform in that decent way in ROCKSTAR. But then since the girls offer a good amount of skin show and kisses too, so the viewers are not going to mind the lack of acting skills as it seems. In the supporting cast, Anupam Kher is simply superb with her echoing dialogues & Rajpal Yadav successfully generates some good laughs along with Saurabh Shukla. Arunoday Singh leaves a strong impact as the tough villain trying the comic act for the first time. Plus Manoj Pahwa, Supriya Shukla, Evelyn Sharmaand Raju Kher provide a good support.

Finding the flaws, it is no doubt based on a very mindless plot and can also be cornered by calling it a product designed to promote Varun Dhawan alone. The film slows down a bit in the second half too going into some over stretched sequences heading towards a hurried climax. But the mad, crazy treatment of the director fast picks it up well in time and drags you back into the entertaining world of fun, full of many witty one liners. In short, forget about the logic, keep away the intellectual cap for a while and enjoy MAIN TERA HERO just like a 90s David-Govinda film going back in time.

In poetic verse, for some there might be less and for some there might be more, but there is entertainment in the film for sure…………for everyone. So do give it a try and have a good time along with the new age Govinda and the veteran David Dhawan once again hitting the mark in the new millennium.