Banner: Salman Khan Films
Producer: Salman Khan & Subhash Ghai
Director: Nikhil Advani
Cast: Sooraj Pancholi, Athiya Shetty, Aditya Pancholi, Chetan Hansraj, Vivaan Bhatena, Sharad Kelkar, Tigmanshu Dhulia et al
Music: Amaal Mallik, Meet Bros Anjjan & Sachin – Jigar
Director Subhash Ghai, the original showman of Bollywood, has given many memorable & unforgettable classic films as a filmmaker. And one of them was the 80’s film ‘Hero’ starring Jackie Shroff & Meenakshi Sheshadri. In fact it was a picture perfect film in all aspects & respects. But this week’s ‘Hero’, starring debutantes Sooraj Pancholi (son of Aditya Pancholi) & Athiya Shetty (daughter of Suniel Shetty), a remake of the original ‘Hero’ directed by Nikhil Advani & produced by Salman Khan is one big let down in all aspects & respects.
The plotted scenario of ‘Hero’ starts off with a normal day in Mumbai, which is followed by the ‘heroic’ entry of Sooraj (Sooraj Pancholi) who is an extremely ‘large hearted’ ‘gunda’ who cannot see pains & sufferings. So, when the villainous Changezi (Chetan Hansraj) and his henchmen torture the helpless, Sooraj stages a heroic entry and beats the henchmen black & blue. Sooraj’s friends aka his ‘partners in crime’, who are dead against his large heartedness, convince him to go clubbing to celebrate. That’s when Sooraj meets the free spirited Radha (Athiya Shetty). It is in the club where Sooraj picks up a dance only in order to prove Radha that they are in no way ‘Losers’. He also lands up fighting with Radha’s ‘pile – on’ boyfriend and saves her from being dragged along with him. All of this impresses Radha very much and she almost falls in love with him instantly! On the other hand, Radha’s father (Tigmanshu Dhulia), an Inspector General of Police, is on a war path & at loggerheads against Pasha (Aditya Pancholi), who has been imprisoned for being the mastermind in the killing of a journalist. Despite repeated attempts of requests & tortures, when Pasha refuses to budge, the IG declares that he has hardcore evidence against Pasha which will nail him forever. That’s when Pasha tells his ‘protege’ Sooraj to kidnap Radha, but keep her safely. Not the one to negate his ‘Baba’s’ (as Sooraj fondly calls Pasha) words, Sooraj immediately sets into action and disguises himself as a ‘police – escort’ and kidnaps Radha and takes her to a snow clad area. As time passes by, Sooraj & Athiya fall for each other. And when Athiya comes to know about Sooraj’s background, she convinces him to reform his life using the ‘Control + Alt + Delete’ formula and ‘Enter’ into a new life.
Its very sad but true that director Nikhil Advani the great has totally butchered the film with not even one redeeming factor to lure the audiences to the cinema halls and word of mouth of publicity will drive the final nail in the box office coffin. Not only this Nikhil Advani the great has even put a dampner on the future filmic career of debutantes namely Suraj Pancholi & Athiya Shetty. In short if Subhash Ghai’s ‘Hero’ kept you hooked & mesmerised through out the film then Nikhil Advani’s ‘Hero’ leaves you cold & frustrated right from the word go. Subhash Ghai’s evergreen movie ‘Hero’ is still alive in cine goers memory but Nikhil Advani’s ever forgetful ‘Hero’ has the potential to die its natural death once you step out of the darkened auditorium.
Performance wise too there’s nothing much to be happy about as Sooraj Pancholi has an attractive screen presence topped with a great physique which girls & girlish boys would love to die for. In short Sooraj has done a great job in the action sequences. But otherwise he sleep walks through the film with one stoic expression pasted on his countenance. Athiya Shetty is one more addition to the glam gals of the tinsel town. Besides both Sooraj Pancholi & Athiya Shetty will have miles to travel in the histrionics arena to prove their worth. While the other performers act can be described in just one word like Tigmanshu Dhulia is miscast, Sharad Kelkar is decent, Aditya Pancholi is okay and last but not the least Vivan Bhatena is spell binding.
Tail Piece: Strictly recommended for die hard Salman Khan fans and even those who are a part of his fan club.