It was Baisakhi yesterday. Because I have been late, Happy Belated Baisakhi to all of you. Baisakhi for me and my family means celebration time. But this time, we added some extra spice to this festival by watching ‘Apna Punjab da puttar’ Sunny Deol’s new flick ‘The Hero’. So, what did the film do—did it add more spice, or took away the flavour of the day? Read on...
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THE PLOT
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The Hero is a story of an Indian spy (Sunny Deol as Ajay Chakravarty) who can go to any extent to show his patriotism. Emotions, relationships, promises—everything take a back-seat when he’s on his mission. One such mission that he is on now, is to foil the attempts of some Pakistani fundamentalists in making a nuclear bomb. To get successful in his mission, he uses the two leading ladies of the film—Preity Zinta and Priyanka Chopra. While the former goes to an extent of getting trained and crossing the border to help Sunny (in the first half), the latter is completely unaware that Sunny is just marrying her to gain the trust of his enemies (post-interval). How Sunny switches disguises, identities, and countries to become successful is what forms the crux of the film. That was an extremely short plot, infact the outer shell—I hate revealing plots of good films, so apologies!!
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THE MOMENTS
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The Hero is directed by Gadar-fame Anil Sharma. Though comparisons with his last blockbuster are inevitable, I think its completely unfair to compare the two films as both belong to completely different genres. I would give full marks to Anil for treating the whole subject with difference. There is this restrained level to which every performer emotes, which makes for a headache-free viewing. The film impresses at certain points, mostly in its first half, thanks to some memorable performances by the lead players. Some of these uplifting sequences are:
•Preity’s crossing the border, getting into the household of a fundamentalist, her ways of communication with Sunny and her subsequent insult when she gets caught red-handed plus when she is followed is thrilling to say the least.
•The blasting of the marriage hall where Sunny and Preity get engaged is extremely well executed and is seen to be believed.
•Sunny getting disguised as Wahid Khan (a nuclear scientist) and his interactions with Amrish Puri and Kabir Bedi at Priyanka’s party is highly enjoyable thanks to some awesome shero-shaayari and a brilliant song playing in the background.
•Preity’s physical outburst in her dance on seeing Sunny at Priyanka’s wedding ceremony is drenched in melodrama.
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THE SCRIPT AND THE TECHNICALITIES
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As with any other Bollywood film, Hero’s script is its Achilles Heel. While the film does have some new sequences in the first half, full of poignant and touching moments; novelty takes a nosedive in the second half. The most glaring mistake that the script-writer has done is display one-hero-enough-for-100 histrionics, which is as-old-as-hills, but I guess the name of the film says it all. Yet, what Hero loses in its script completely makes up in its treatment.
Cohesive direction and editing means that the film never drops in its pace, never wavers into unnecessary subplots or songs—it moves on one path till the very end. Dialogues are another plus-point of the film. Hard-hitting, when targeted at Pakistanis and touching when the protagonists interact, they add up to the entertainment value of the film.
Cinematography was good—a special mention to the beautiful capture of Kashmir valleys. Sound-recording was just okay, with some of the whispers louder than the actual voices and at times, Priyanka’s lips took one path, and the dialogues we heard, another. Action sequences, though punchy, 8 out of 10 times seemed fabricated. I don’t know why Bollywood thinks that Matrix-style flying stunts look good anywhere (watch the climax for proof).
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THE MUSIC
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For a film so big on canvas (The Hero has the budget to rival even Devdas), the presence of a good music score was expected. Sadly, the film fails to deliver here with the music clearly hanging in the mediocre category, which is surprising as it comes from Uttam Singh. That said, there was one beautiful number—'Hai Pyaar Tumhe', which flows beautifully in the background in the first half. ‘Dil Mein Hai Pyaar Tera, Hothon Pe Gitwa’ has atrocious lyrics, but makes an impact as it is picturised on two very pivotal situations in the film. ‘Koyal Ne Maari Aisi Kook’ and ‘In Mast Nigahon Nein’ also look good on screen. Choreography is natural, and in sync with the mood of the film. A special mention is due to Preity’s dance in the second half. Overall, the music flows with the film, and there’s not one song, where the characters go in lush locales to lip-sync sweet nothings.
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THE PERFORMANCES
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Sunny Deol, playing the title role, has done what he has been doing for years now. While he shows conviction in his action sequences, the character doesn’t offer him much scope on the emotional front. His characterisation could have been much more stronger for the audience to feel for him. Overall, a decent performance, but certainly not his best.
Preity Zinta is the real star of this enterprise. From exhibiting sheer innocence, madness in love in the first half to getting doe-eyed in the second, she exudes raw charm. Her near-perfect interpretation of Reshma’s character, means fabulous body language and dialogue delivery which is a treat to watch. Though the role resembles to the one she played in Mission Kashmir, with better scope, better characterisation and more screentime, she shows she’s one of the best in this business!
Debutante beauty queen Priyanka Chopra surprises with a confident voice and a charming personality. Though not given much scope, she plays her character of Shaheen beautifully.
Amrish Puri still invokes the same wrath that he did some 20 years ago, which is a compliment for a villain. Kabir Bedi, surprisingly, has no role to talk of and the rest of the cast (army officers with Sunny, Preity’s parents, the Pakistani boy who saves Preity) lend commendable support to the lead players.
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KARAN’S VERDICT
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There are two kinds of films—one that follow no rule, surprise you and trigger your thinking process, while there are others which follow the same old pattern of film-making—and fall into the same trap of getting type-cast. The Hero, sadly falls more in the latter category. But yes, it entertains. Isn’t that enough big a compliment in itself. Tell me one film this year before 'The Hero' that provided wholesome family entertainment. This one does. It makes for a great, no-headache weekend family getaway. Yes, sometimes sensibility and novelty do get thrown out for the sake of entertainment..but who cares? It’s a lot better than anything showing on theatres today...
Go watch it....You won’t regret it....
COMMENTS, QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE AWAITED...
