Hero: Not so Heroic about this HERO

In India when Star Kids are launched, their launch movies are like a talent showcase wherein the actors are presented like super heroes who can dance, do action, look the best in Hip clothes and flex muscles in case of a actor. Acting it seems is the last priority, and in this whole mayhem of showcasing their talent the story somewhere takes a back seat. I guess the last launch movie for a star kid which created a stir was “Kaho Na Pyar Hai” way back in 2000, after which none of the so called launch vehicles created any major impact….

So is the case with “Hero” which is the debut vehicle of Sooraj Pancholi (Aditya Pancholi’s son) and Athiya Shetty (Sunil Shetty’s daughter). Salman Khan decided to launch the star kids in the remake of 1983 Subhash Ghai blockbuster “Hero”, which has been contemporized by director Nikhil Advani.

The original story is by Subhash Ghai and the adapted screenplay has been written by Nikhil Advani and Umesh Bist. The movie is largely true to the original in the first half but it falls flat in the second half when the movie is given a contemporary twist. Rather “Hero” looks like two separate movies, one is the first half which is fast paced and full of action and adventure and second is the second half when the love story becomes a drag which is extremely slow, and you can make out that the writers are going nowhere and the climax being the biggest disappointment when they run out of ideas and try to close the movie somehow. Another major flaw of the screenplay is, that it does not touch you anywhere and the whole movie looks bland without the emotional connect. Even the love story between the newcomers lacks the chemistry which is a must for a love story. Sooraj’s character lacked the depth and Radha’s character had a huge hangover of Poo from Nikhil’s mentor Karan Johar’s  K3G. Another thing which is lacking in this movie is the entertain quotient which is surprisingly missing throughout the movie. Overall the writing especially the second half is extremely weak which proves to be the biggest flaw and the real reason for the movie falling flat….

Umesh Bist’s dialogues is inconsistent, sometimes it sounds too 80’s and sometimes it sounds too modern. The dialogues are not written keeping in mind with the character, like Sooraj’s character is a local Mumbai goon, but he speaks eloquent hindi. Such things are quite vital in today’s movie which may not have been true when the original movie was made way back in the 80’s.

The debutant Sooraj Pancholi as Sooraj the local goon with a heart of gold shows a spark but has a huge hangover of his mentor Salman Khan, his honesty and sincerity shows on screen and he tries hard to be convincing but unfortunately the writing pulls him down. Another debutant Athiya Shetty  as Radha is a natural and it shows on screen as well, but whether she has the tenacity to do different roles is something which we need to see. Tigmanshu Dhulia as IG Shrikant Mathur and Radha’s father gives a restrained performance and yet again proves that he is a brilliant performer. Sharad Kelkar as Radha’s brother Dheeraj Mathur is good but he just could not match Sanjeev Kumar’s histrionics from the original. Aditya Pancholi as the bad man Pasha who is Sooraj’s foster father is impressive, rather in the combo scenes between his son Sooraj and him; he overshadows him with his personality and charm which is still intact. Vivian Bathena as Ranvijay Shekhawat hams incessantly in his bad man act. Rather Sooraj’s friends played by Trishaan, Ashish Verma and Randeep Jha do a good job. Rest of the cast also do a good job….

Nikhil Advani completely looses the plot in making a launch vehicle for the two star kids Sooraj and Athiya. He should have spent more time on the script rather than the presentation and the glamour quotient which is enhanced due to the excellent camera work by Tushar Kanti Ray. Tushar captures Mumbai, Himachal & Paris with equal élan.

Another plus for the movie is the music by motley of composers Sachin-Jigar, Amaal Mallik, Meet Bros Anjaan & Jassi. The one song which creates the biggest impact is the title song “Main Tera Hero” composed by Amaal Mallik and sung by Armaan Mallik and Salman Khan, both are equally impressive. Another song which creates an impact is “Yadaan Teri” composed by Jassi and sung by Rahat Fateh Ali. The foot tapping “Dance Ke Legend” is also impressive, composed by Meet Bros Anjaan. The other love duets by Sachin-Jigar are good but not that impressive to create an impact. The original had some timeless songs by Laxmikant Pyarelal, but the same cannot be said about this “Hero”.

Salman Khan took an original from the 80’s which was a masala entertainer, which he wanted to make it modern with a contemporary twist but unfortunately it failed and Nikhil Advani who is known for frothy modern romantic movies I think was a wrong choice as a director. I felt that Rohit Shetty could have done a better job with the remake as it belonged to his genre.

Nikhil Advani could neither make a masala entertainer nor a modern love story, I will go with Two & a Half stars (One Extra star for the debutants)….

Movie Rating: (2.5 / 5)