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Bollywood
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The jingoistic crowd will love this well intentioned but poorly made film, for the rest of the sane people my advice is simple, avoid.Grade: D Heroes Indian Release Date: 24/10/08 CBFC Classification: U/A Running Length: 2 Hours 30 Minutes Cast: Salman Khan, Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta, Sohail Khan, Vatsal Seth, Mithun Chakraborty, Bobby Deol, Dino Morea Director: Samir Karnik Screenplay: Samir Karnik & Aseem Arora Cinematography: Binod Pradhan & Gopal Shah Original Music: Sajid - Wajid While ‘Heroes’ is no different. An interesting concept coupled with inept direction leads to one of the most frustrating movies all year long. It is a story of two typically (young Bollywood types) arrogant filmmaking students, Samir (Sohail Khan) and Ali (Vatsal Seth), who are forced to work on a documentary film for their college project due to their bad grades. With little respect for the Indian Armed Forces, they set forth on a bike journey with an idea of essaying the reasons for not enrolling into the Indian Army. Along their journey they have to deliver last-letters (letters written by soldiers before their death but undelivered) to three distraught families each with a husband, a brother or a son lost to the defense of the country (Talk about male chauvinism!). Their interaction with the family members of these martyrs changes their perception towards patriotism and, what is repeated time and time again, 'Garv' (pride). The first story is of a widower, played really well by Preity Zinta, who is trying to make ends meet, raise her son and take care of her aging in-laws. This story could have probably been more adept than the others, but some redundant drama in parts with a not so subtle background score and a very unnecessary sequence involving the entire village & a creepy looking Salman Khan as Zinta’s martyr husband, make it just about bearable. This is followed by the story of a disabled war veteran, played by none other than the indisputable king of jingoistic pseudo-patriotic movies - Sunny Deol, who has lost his brother, Dhananjay Shergill (Bobby Deol) during the war. His near crazy antics and bizarre stunts (He beats to pulp a group of about 8 goons from his wheel chair!) made me roll my eyes more than once. The entire story is filled with so much corny dialogue & terribly unrealistic and hollow events & songs, that the bond between the brothers doesn’t ring true one bit & Sunny Deol’s yelling throughout doesn’t make matters any better. It’s sad an actor of his caliber who once upon a time made movies like Arjun (1985), Dacait (1987) & Ghayal (1990) has in the last decade or so been reduced to this kind of buffoonery. I mean, despite the fact that he is handicapped knee down; Sunny Deol can easily take on eight people and drive a car. (He must be on some powerful steroids!! I definitely need to have what he’s having!!!). The third and final story (Thank God!), is that of an angry father and an emotionally displaced mother, who've lost their only son, Sahil (Dino Morea - non existent role!). Father & son shared a close bond (can’t be seen on screen) but didn’t exactly see eye to eye when it came to the son joining the army. When Sahil promises to return after the war but dies instead, it devastates his father so much that he blames his son for not having fulfilled his promise. This probably is the most unique story of the lot, more so because of the intriguing character of the father Mr.Naqvi, played well, by Mithun Chakraborty to the extent the script allows him to stretch his character. Mr.Naqvi isn’t really angry at his son; he just doesn’t know whom to direct his grief towards & finds being a recluse, an easy escape from reality. Although little unrealistic and underdeveloped it still is a lot more thought evoking than the rest simply because it represents a different take on the martyr angle than the other cliché ridden stories. It too however presents it’s conclusion in a manner befitting a Bollywood story. The film has its heart in the right place but that alone doesn’t make a movie, you also need a coherent & logical narrative. Funnily the very message it tries to put across, ‘that you don’t need to be a soldier to do something to show your patriotism for your country’ is shown through the stories of members of the armed forces & their families, now that’s irony. An honest attempt sans vision, but with average acting, some very pretty landscapes, corny dialogues, some needless crass comedy & mind-numbing action scenes, terrible & unnecessary songs along with a very loud & way over the top Sunny Deol, results in this movie being one of the most clichéd & un-entertaining though sporadically interesting works of Indian cinema this year.
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