Heroes

This season again we witness a movie on a plot inspired from the western cinema. "Heroes" is based on a theme borrowed from "The Motorcycle Diaries", where two friends are on a fun tour and their experiences in the journey change their outlook towards life. The good part about the Indian adaptation is that we have a patriotic feel introduced in the plot which makes it more inspiring and entertaining. "Heroes" is a good attempt as it has some well shot sequences and good acting by the famous faces, but it has its weaknesses too. The director Samir Karnik has done a far better job if compared with his earlier offerings. First I would like to take the good things about the movie. The story revolves around three letters to be delivered by the lead duo to the families of military men who have sacrificed their lives in the war. Sohail Khan and Vatsal Sheth are the two men who are on the journey and they have to do this task as their film-making assignment to be submitted. So they are also shooting their experiences on the way. Out of these three stories interwoven in the script, the first one with the Punjabi flavor is the best, second about two brothers is OK and the third one is the weakest with only one well shot sequence.

The first story with the Punjab background has Priety Zinta and Salman Khan playing Sikh characters. Sikhism seems to be the current craze in Bollywood and after "Singh Is King" every second project has something to offer in this direction, trying to cash the same. The top most performance in the movie is by Priety Zinta as the quite but strong women ready to fight the world alone. Salman Khan plays the tough guy, does a good job, but I couldn't understand why he is made to speak a language which is neither Hindi nor Punjabi. The dialogues sound awful in the half baked lingo and could have been better. The child actor playing their son is good and confident. Salman Khan as a Sikh military man, looks smart and tough. This is the best part of the movie on a novel theme.

The second story is about two brothers Sunny Deol & Bobby Deol serving the country. Sunny is in Air force and Bobby guarding the ground in Armed forces. It's worth watching seeing the two reel & real life brothers fighting over which force serves the country best. Here Sunny Deol tries hard to portray a man who has lost his legs in war, but as usual he can still fight with more than 10 men in a pub. He tries to put extra effort in his act which shows. Bobby has very few scenes in which he does fine. So this part of the movie is just OK to watch.

The third story featuring Mithun Chakraborty & Dino is the weakest among the three as no one gets a well written role and the veteran Mithun Da is wasted. However, there is one sequence in this weak part, which is brilliantly thought, well written and beautifully executed, which also makes the movie watchable.

The sequence is about an audio tape recorded by Dino while he is fighting on the war front. Incidentally while the recording is on, he is shot and dies on the spot, which all gets recorded on the tape. The same tape is sent to his family as his last things. The sequence where his mother listens to the tape in front of Sohail and Vatsal Sheth is a treat to watch and should not be missed at all. Now let us come to the shortcomings of the movie. First of all, out of the two lead characters on the journey, Vatsal Sheth has nothing to offer in the film. If you think of the screenplay with only Sohail traveling around alone, then also the film would have been the same. So Vatsal has no personal contribution to make in the proceedings and is simply a miscast.

Secondly, I was not able to understand what was the purpose of first 15 minutes of the movie, with all those party and men stripping scenes. The start of the movie, featuring Riya Sen & Amrita Arora, in an eye blinking role is completely out of place and script. The film should have started straight from the film school scene and then on to the main plot. This would have resulted in a more crispier and tighter screenplay with all the emphasis on the main theme.

And lastly the third story did not have the right feeling which was required for the finale of the movie. Instead it ruined all the ambiance created by the first two and thus resulted in a weaker climax.

Cinematography of the movie is competent as it captures the beauty of the outdoors in the right spirit. The border fence scenes are very well shot. Musically the film has some unwanted songs along with a well sung and melodious song "Main Mangiyan Si Janntan" rendered by the one and only Sonu Nigam. But the lyrics of the song left me spellbound with the liberty writer takes to write his lines.

Sample this, "Tera Mera Viyah Sohni Chheti Je Karayiye, Agli Basantan Mainu Santa Banta Chahiye". These lines only represent the down sliding of lyrics in our Hindi film songs. I can only hope that the golden days of "Urdu Shayri" in film songs return back.

To summarize, "Heroes" is a movie which can be seen once and is surely capable of entertaining you with a pinch of patriotic feel. But it could have been an appreciable product with a different starting and better casting. Still a very good leap ahead towards quality by its director.

Samir Karnik's 'Heroes' is easily the best film of 2008. An outstanding, fantastic, excellent and astounding film. A Winnner All The Way! The film fared well at the box office, but sadly the film has not got any awards which it deserves. Its an outstanding film and Samir Karnik surely makes a film of a lifetime.

Performances: Mithun Chakraborty once again proves why he is regarded a Legend, he's outstanding. Salman Khan is marvelous. Sunny Deol shines with a great performance. Bobby Deol is superb in a cameo. Sohail Khan and Vatsal Seth do well. Dino is excellent in a brief appearance. Preity Zinta is matchless. Riya Sen and Amrita Arora make able appearances. Dwij Yadav is also fantastic. Monish Bhel is good.

Two Thumbs Way Up!

It breaks my heart to give a 5 star rating to this film. Again like many other Bollywood movies, this one had great potential. The story was new and the movie boasted of such a terrific star cast in Salman Khan, Preity Zinta, Sunny Deol and Mithun da. I would like to request bollywood directors to please never cast Salman again as a Sardar because he did not suited the Surd image at all. He did not looked like a sikh for one moment. And I really fail to understand that why has Sunny Deol to be portrayed as Hulkesque in every movie. Breaking ground with his punches, fighting 15-20 guys despite being a handicap come on.... give us a break. Alright he is strong, he terrorized the entire Pakistan in Gadar, but guys get over it. Let him be a normal man again. Otherwise, the story was good, and I felt that this movie could have had a Rang de Basanti kind of impact. I wish that it would have been made better with some more emotional quotient. This could have been the movie of the year, but bollywood being bollywood, made it what it is. Its alright, we are getting there slowly but still getting there (Hollywood level).

Comparisions to Motorcycle Diarries – lets not go there.

Sohail Khan:: His performance is good in parts. His attempt to be "cool" is annoying while the serious/ emotional side suits him. Should stop showing off his muscular side every time.

Vatsal Seth:: Good looks, but needs more time to mark a stamp about his performance.

Amrita Arora & Riya Sen:: Force fit for the intro song and the inane comedy. The role should have been simply purged.

Mohnish Behl:: Small role but does it well (and age is catching up!)

Chapter #1: The best, IMO. Salman is OK and his patriotic lines seems to be inspired from Sunny's movies. Preity excels (thanks to her stint with the parallel cinema and it shows!). The confession to the uniform is not warranted. The young Jassi leaves a mark.

Chapter #2: Bobby is OK but it is Sunny who messes up big time. He attempts to do a Hum Dono Dev Anand and ends up creating a caricature. And what was Hrishitaa Bhatt was doing there?

Chapter #3:: Dino Morea doesn't have a role at all. Prateeksha Lonkar delivers a good performance. And its is Mithun who gives a performance which belongs to "Bollywood 1980". Now we know why he was lost in oblivion.

The transformation a.k.a enlightenment should have been a natural progression rather than in spikes. And the end was definitely OTT (the grey hair, school, Jassi et all). Why can't it be a silent realisation?

Had more time/ effort spent on screenplay/ script we could have seen another Rang De! And yes the original title "Mera Bharat Mahaan" would have been apt.

When someone mentions the phrase " anti war film " it sums up many images . Perhaps it may involve good Germans doing their duty for the nation state which has been hijacked by genocidal maniacs and both CROSS OF IRON and DAS BOOT spring instantly to mind . It may involve teenage GIs fighting and dying in the jungles of South East Asia . We all have our favourite anti war films . Indeed my own favourite film of all time is APOCALYPSE NOW while my all time favourite documentary is Morgan Matthews 2008 gut wrenching , heartbreaking tribute to the British war dead from the war on terror THE FALLEN . HEROES is another anti war film featuring the aftermath of the Kargil war between India and Pakistan . The problem is that it's a Bollywood movie which means we're subjected to shoehorning song and dance numbers between the poignant moments

Actually I'm lying slightly because there are no poignant moments . There are clichéd moments , stilted moments and just plain boring moments . In fact it's impossible to understand what the point of the film is: war is hell ? Thanks we all knew that already but the story is impossible to take seriously . We see a Sihk being interviewed on TV where he makes a rambling speech about the good old days when emperors and kings would face each other man to man ( Hmmm wouldn't that be a court martial offence ? ) A airforce pilot in a wheelchair ( No don't ask how he was crippled for life because it's never revealed ) and worst of all the story revolves around a couple of conchie pacifist students who after delivering death letters to the families of the bereaved become patriots of the motherland with the greatest of respect for the nation's fighting man . None of this is ever convincing in any shape or form

There is one thing that makes HEROES watchable and that is the music and choreography . Fair enough , like a great many of other Bollywood movies the singing and dancing can be very hit and miss and this film is no different Some of the musical numbers don't work but when they do such as the show stopping Makhana number they work very well . Such a pity the song and dance jar with the very serious subtext of young men dying in battle and of the grief this leaves behind