What can you say about a film like ’’The Hero?’’ Not too much that’s positive. Sunny Deol stars as the Indian James Bond, or something like that. ’’The Hero’’ is a film that tries very hard to be a cool action-spy film and it shows. Hailed as the most expensive Indian film ever, but this expense seems to have been spent entirely on explosions and bullets. At least ’’Devdas’’ spent it’s money wisely - on sets, costumes, and cinematography. To the makers of ’’The Hero’’ - it’s not the money that makes the film.
So onto the film itself. Pakistan hating anyone? If anything, ’’The Hero’’ will create more hatred towards India’s neighbor. Kids watch this stuff people. Another problem was the film’s use of non-Indians. The American & Canadian actors in the film are bar none some of the worst actors I have ever seen. The film lost every ounce of credibility due to these people. I laughed many times in the film at points where I obviously was not supposed to. Please directors - if you use phirangs in your films, use them right. Your audience notices these details. Other problems: non-cohesive cinematography and uneven shots, bad cgi, a weak script, utter disrespect of the film’s audience, cliche, too many explosions, unbelievable. The good: Some shots were very good (and that would be only a few), the songs & music, and lofty (but unattainable) goals.
There was no new ground broken by this film. It was a mishmash of so many films - Bond, XXX, Titanic, every Michael Bay film - and it failed on every attempt to match or out do those films. Here’s a film which is supposed to be taken seriously yet causes it’s audience to break up into wild laughter during serious scenes. Overall, the film is not very good and I would recommend it only for a video viewing - and then only if you want to laugh. It’s not the worst film I’ve ever seen but is definitely a subpar effort with many very apparent problems.
Now for the stars. Amrish Puri as always, was superb as a villain. His timing & emoting were excellent. Priety Zinta, although very good in the role was unsuitable as a virginal Kashmiri girl. In the first place, ’’virginal’’ Kashmiri girls don’t just run errands for Indian spies and soldiers. I did love Priety’s Kashmiri wardrobe, though. Complete with her backpack filled with an infant goat. I guess this will be a fashion trend soon. Now for the eye candy...Miss World 2000, Priyanka Chopra was surprisingly good considering it was her debut. Her giggle was obnoxious, though but she sure had a knockout body in that sequined gown. And then there’s Sunny Deol...OMG, dude you are WAY too old to be doing movies like this! In the first place his acting was not as good as it was in Gadar. Second, his disguises were crappy to say the least. Overall, the movie was an expensive piece of horse manure. If you want to watch a lot of Pakistan bashing, Muslim hating, pseudo-action/spy film with very little substance...then this movie has your name on it. If not, then by all means...SKIP THIS ONE.