Heroes

About the film

Heroes is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Samir Karnik, starring Mithun Chakraborty, Sunny Deol, Salman Khan, Bobby Deol, Preity Zinta, Sohail Khan, Vatsal Sheth, Dino Morea and Hrishitaa Bhatt.

The film was written by Aseem Arora. Although initially set to be released on 6 June 2008, it was pushed to 24 October 2008, the opening weekend of the holiday Diwali. On 22 November 2008 the script of Heroes was asked to be part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Plot

Two film academy students, Sameer and Ali, must make a movie in order to graduate. They choose to create a documentary illustrating reasons not to join the Indian Armed Forces and go on a motorcycle road trip bearing three letters they have been given to deliver — each from a slain soldier to his family.

On their first stop, in Atari, a village near Amritsar in the Punjab, they meet the widow, Kuljeet Kaur, and the son, Jasvinder Singh (Jassi), of an Indian Army soldier, Havildar Balkar Singh of 8 Sikh Regiment, who was killed in action three years earlier in Kargil. Instead of finding a family distraught and questioning the sacrifice, the students find that the entire village is immensely proud of Balkar Singh's heroism and his ultimate sacrifice for the country. His family, particularly his wife, displays great courage and an undefeated spirit. It is the first time Sameer and Ali truly begin to understand the honour and pride associated with serving in the armed forces, deeply contrasting with their initial cynical documentary premise.

The students' second stop, Himachal Pradesh, finds them meeting now wheelchair-using ex-Indian Air Force officer, Sqn Leader Vikram Shergill, whose Army officer brother, Captain Dhananjay Shergill, of 18 Grenadiers, had been martyred in the Kargil war. Vikram is very proud of his brother's bravery and sacrifice. He shows them how he has come to terms with his own grief. He confronts and defeats a group of unruly young men in a fight despite his debilitating injury when one of them inappropriately touches his girlfriend, Saloni. This makes Sameer and Ali realize Vikram’s underlying pride, strength, and perhaps his way of externally processing or demonstrating his resilience despite his physical injury and emotional loss.

Production

Originally titled Mera Bharat Mahaan (My India is Great), the film was rechristened Heroes, to avoid sounding jingoistic.

Filming began on 15 June 2007. Salman and Preity are paired opposite each other, in their fifth film together. Shooting took place in Ladakh, Chandigarh, Punjab and Delhi. Some scenes were shot in Pangong Tso featuring Salman Khan, Sohail Khan and Vatsal Sheth.

Music and soundtrack

The film’s music was composed by Monty and Sajid–Wajid, with the lyrics penned by Jalees Sherwani and Rahul B. Seth. The background score of the movie was done by Sanjoy Chowdhury.

Release

Heroes received generally positive reviews from critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5.

According to The Indian Express, the film does manage to say what it set out to; that pride keeps the families of the deceased soldiers going, civilians sleep peacefully only because soldiers give up their lives, and that a country survives only because it has brave soldiers guarding its borders. But it argues the director is too simplistic and that wringing emotion out of so many situations causes even the supreme sacrifice that the soldiers make turn trite. Indiatimes rated the movie 3 out of 5 stars.

The film grossed $326,425 in its opening week.

Key details