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In the
picture
Heroes **
*ing Sohail Khan, Vatsal Seth, Salman Khan, Preity Zinta,
Bobby Deol, Sunny Deol, Dino Morea and Mithun Chakraboty
Written and directed by Samir Karnik
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"Is
this film anti Pakistan or anti Muslim?" I asked my DVD dealer
before buying Heroes. And as an answer he held up the movie cover
- displaying a picture of Sunny Deol - and replied, "What do
you think?" So I was quite expecting the worst when I took it
home for a viewing. Heroes is a title that reminds one of the mutant
types in TV serials or in this case, the posters of three men in uniform
(one being the usual suspect Sunny Deol) indicate some serious Pakistan
bashing. Sunny did, after all take up against the whole of Pakistan
single handedly in LOC: Kargil and before that in Gadar: Ek Prem Katha,
amongst many others. But Heroes is neither anti Pakistan nor anti
Muslim.
The only reason holding it back from being either is that it doesn't
suit Bollywood's interest to be anti Pakistan anymore. Gone are the
days when anti Pakistan rhetoric could be exploited in films, as directors
are now also looking at Pakistani audiences, which have the potential
of raking in revenue. The numbers are huge. And that is precisely
why, when Sunny or Squadron Leader Vikram Shergill - who has lost
both legs and a brother to war with Pakistan - is asked whether he
hates the enemy, and he replies: "Nahin. Humara kaam dushamn
sey nafrat karna nahin balke desh ki hifazat karna hai." Touching,
but that's really not what Indian films were saying when they were
spewing out one anti Pakistan film after the other with LOC: Kargil,
Lakshya, Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo, Dhoop and Agni Path. Kargil
is an obviously favourite topic for films in Bollywood as this is
perhaps the seventh film in the course.
However Heroes, is a bit confusing in picking its central theme. Despite
heralding the brave discourse of three soldiers who served and lost
their lives at Kargil, the film is not a war film. It does absolutely
nothing to show the hardships they may have suffered at the ruthless
peaks of Kargil amidst a war. But as it runs its patriotic course,
twining through the emotional existence of the families of the three
deceased soldiers, while putting out what appears to be advertisement
of 'why to join the Indian army', it is anything but anti-war either.
In fact it encourages it. And to be fair, Heroes is promoted as a
tale of three families, but their stories are weak and not at all
convincing either
Heroes is a film that begins with the last letters of three different
soldiers serving at Kargil. Havaldar Balkar Singh's is a love letter
to his wife (Preity Zinta), Captain Dhananji Shergill writes to his
brother Sonny Deol who also served in the airforce before losing his
legs in combat and lastly Lt Saahil Naqvi (Dino Morea) who was the
only son of Dr Naqvi (Mithun Chakraboty) who has never forgiven his
dead son for risking his life by serving in the army. Though nothing
is said about their caste or creed, it is obvious by the names that
the writer has picked up a Hindu, a Sikh and a Muslim to portray the
secular vastness of Incredible India. He obviously couldn't have predicted
that 26/11 would happen around its date of release! |
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The
letters are handed to two students - Sameer and Ali Shah - who are
on the verge of failing film school as their last chance to earn a
degree. They are assigned a film and the topic they come up with is
"Why not to join the army". One understands that the only
conclusion to this film can be that they will want to join the army
and serve the nation at the end of it. And it sure doesn't disappoint
in predictability.
Beyond its predictability, Heroes is pretty ho-hum. Sameer aka Saand
(Sohail Khan) and Ali Shah aka Nawab Sahab (Vatsal Seth) have an interesting
journey to undertake and they do so on a motorcycle, but one feels
the director bites off more than he can chew. In what could easily
have been an enigmatic tale of how the journey from Delhi to Chandigarh
and then Monali to Ladakh changes their outlook on life (as in Rang
De Basanti), the film goes down as their journey goes up north.
And what it does, as many other Bollywood films picking up on war
themes have previously done, is deaden the nuances of war by painting
over it with romance, song and dance. The great Bollywood makeover,
glamorizing an essentially unglamorous theme, doesn't work and is
in fact a great disservice to anyone who might be looking for some
reality check regarding wars and their implication. More so, even
the glamour isn't refined enough to pull one's thoughts away.
The only stake that Heroes aims to plunge in the heart of every Indian
is to unearth a selfless patriotism for the country. It's that motivation
that binds Preity to her dead husband's family to replace the son
that they lost. Her son Jassi, who never even saw his dad, takes out
his uniform each night and salutes it, promising to choose the same
fate as he did. Sunny, despite losing everything, has an unnaturally
strong and aggressive existence. It's like Survivor meets the Hulk,
especially in the fight sequence in which he drags himself on the
club floor, stamping his fists and breaking ground (literally) as
he pulverizes the village hooligans. And the third story, of Dino
and his dad Mithun, is simply weak and uninspiring.
The director Samir Karnik may have been hoping to be lucky in his
third film (his first two - Kyun Ho Gaya Na and Nanhe Jaisalmar flopped
miserably) but despite Heroes being more watchable than the first
two, it doesn't strike a jackpot in any way. It is a film to watch
only for amusement value though for Indians, recoiling after the Mumbai
attacks, it may be a welcome call for patriotism.
– Aamna Haider Isani
*YUCK
**WHATEVER
***GOOD
****SUPER
*****AWESOME |
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