Heroes is about two students who decide to make a movie on why ‘you should not join Indian armed forces’. During this process they meet a war reporter who gives them a task to deliver the last letters of three Kargil martyrs. These two friends Sameer Suri aka Saand (Sohail Khan) and Ali Shah aka Nawab Sahab (Vatsal Sheth) embark on a fun tour on motorbike and their experiences in the journey change their outlook towards life.
As part of their project they are filming their experiences on the way. There are three stories interwoven in the script. The first story is about a soft spoken yet tough – Balkar Singh (Salman Khan) of Atari in Amritsar. Like every man Balkar has beautiful dreams for his family but he knows he might not be able to fulfill them and he does not regret it as he has pledged his life for his country. Kuljeet Kaur (Preity Zinta) takes pride in being an army man’s wife. She is a loving wife and a caring mother. Sacrifice comes naturally to Kuljeet and so does hard work.
They meet Kuljeet Kaur – the widow of Balkar Singh, who was killed in action three years earlier. Kuljeet is happy that her son Jassi (Dwij Yadav) wants to walk the same path as his father. The students are amazed to find that the entire village is greatly proud of the heroic officer and his sacrifice for country.
The second story is about two Heroes brothers Vikram Shergill (Sunny Deol) who is in Air force & Dhananjay Shergill aka DJ (Bobby Deol) guarding the ground in Armed forces. Vikram has lost his legs in war, but as usual he can still fight with more than 10 men in a pub. He believes in putting his sorrows behind and moving on. While his younger brother DJ’s battle of proving himself better than his elder brother is evidence of the child that still lives within him. Yet when need be, that child takes a backseat to let the soldier take charge.
The third story features Dr. Naqvi (Mithun Chakravorty) and his son Sahil Naqvi (Dino Morea). Smart, good-looking and intelligent, Sahil could have easily chosen a lucrative career. Yet he chooses to be a soldier. Every father dreams that one day when the child becomes a man, he would take care of the old man. Dr. Naqvi is one such man who loves his son to death yet has masked his feelings even after the vacuum his son’s absence has created.
A touching sequence on Heroes is about an audio tape being recorded by Sahil while he is fighting on the war front and incidentally he is shot and dies on the spot, which all gets recorded on the tape. The same tape is sent to his family as his last things. The sequence where his mother listens to the tape in front of Sohail and Vatsal Sheth is a emotionally moving moment.
In contrast, Sameer and Ali Shah are purposeless in life. Sameer, restless and whacked out guy has a girlfriend Pia (Amrita Arora). Nothing bothers him and he likes to stay away from anything that sounds serious. Ali Shah aka Nawab Sahab as he is called by Sammy because of his royal background, is used to the comforts of life and stays away from stress. Ali is oblivious to pain and suffering. His parents have made sure that his life is a bed of roses. Consequently, Ali cares for little in life and even little for the love in his life – Shivani (Riya Sen). Ali is the symbol for a section of today’s youth.
On completing their task Sameer and Ali discover that to do something for the country is better than leading a loser’s life. More touching is the end when Salmaan Khan grown up son comes to meet them as they made friends with him during their visit to Punjab – and he has followed his late father’s steps – serving for our motherland.
The most powerful performance comes from Priety Zinta who is the quite but a strong woman ready to fight the world alone. Salman Khan suits the role of tough Sikh military guy and looks smart and really tough.
Cinematography of the actual Indian countryside is truly amazing beautiful. A fine film.
Cast of Heroes:
Salman Khan – Balkar Singh
Preity Zinta – Kuljeet Kaur
Sunny Deol – Vikram Shergill
Bobby Deol – Dhananjay Shergill
Sohail Khan – Sameer Suri aka Saand
Dino Morea – Sahil Naqvi
Mithun Chakravorty – Dr. Naqvi
Vatsal Seth – Nawab Sahab
Amrita Arora – Pia
Riya Sen – Shivani
Dwij Yadav – Jassi
Shott Brown – Abraham
Mohnish Behl.- Akash Sarin
Tinnu Anand – Headmaster
Hrishitta Bhatt – Saloni
CREDITS of Heroes:
Director – Samir Karnik
Story: Aseem Arora
Script & Dialogues – Samir Karnik, Aseem Arora
Producers: Bharat Shah, Vikas Kapoor, Samir Karnik
Directors of photography- Binod Pradhan, Gopal Shah
Music- Monty Sharma, Sajid-Wajid
Lyrics – Jalees Sherwani, Rahul B. Seth
Editor – Sanjay Sankla
Production designer -Jitendra Kawa
Costumes – Shamayel Khan
Choreography – Piyush Panchal
Heroes, movie review