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
