Heroes (2008 film)
Encyclopedia
Heroes is a 2008 Hindi
film directed by Samir Karnik
and starring Salman Khan
, Mithun Chakraborty
, Sunny Deol
, Preity Zinta
, Bobby Deol
, Sohail Khan
, Dino Morea
and Vatsal Sheth. 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 Heroes script was asked to be part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
), 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, Amritsar
, they meet the widow, Kuljeet Kaur (Preity Zinta
), and the son, Jassi, of a Sikh
soldier, Balkar Singh (Salman Khan
), who was killed in action three years earlier. The students find that the entire village is greatly proud of the heroic officer and his sacrifice for country. The students' second stop, Himachal, finds them meeting the wheelchair-using former Air Force pilot Vikram Shergill (Sunny Deol
), whose Army officer brother, DJ (Bobby Deol
), had also been KIA
. There they see that Vikram Shergill is very proud of his brother's sacrifice for his country. Finally, back in Leh, the duo meet the parents, Dr. and Mrs. Naqvi, whose son Sahil (Dino Morea
) had also died for his country. After bringing Dr. Naqvi's (Mithun Chakraborty
) life back to normal, they finally end their filming.
After meeting all three families they realized that being a soldier is all about proud love for one's motherland.
Years later, Jassi (also played by Salman Khan
), now a man and a soldier himself, visits Ali and Sameer at the military academy the two former film students had founded after failing multiple times in army entrance test.
Filming began on 15 June 2007. Salman and Preity are paired opposite each other, in their fifth film together. Shooting has taken place in Ladakh
and Chandigarh
, Punjab
. Some shooting also took place in Delhi
. Some scenes were shot in Pangong Tso
featuring Salman Khan, Sohail Khan and Vatsal Sheth.
of Bollywood Hungama
gave the movie 3.5 stars out of 5.
The Indian Express
argues that the film does manage to say what it set out to: that pride keeps the families of the deceased soldiers going, that we civilians sleep peacefully only because someone has given up his life for us, and that we have a country only because we have a brave ‘soldiers’ guarding our borders. But the director falls for the easiest trick in the book i.e. he wrings tears out of so many situations that everything even the supreme sacrifice that the soldiers make turns trite. Indiatimes
movies gave the movie 4 out 5.
The film's writer Aseem Arora was nominated for a Filmfare Award for Best Story.
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
film directed by Samir Karnik
Samir Karnik
Samir Karnik , is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter of Hindi movies.-Career:Karnik made his directorial debut with the film Kyun! Ho Gaya Na... in 2004 starring Aishwarya Rai and Vivek Oberoi. He produced and directed the film Heroes in 2008...
and starring Salman Khan
Salman Khan
Salman Khan is an Indian film actor. He has starred in more than 80 Hindi films.Khan, who made his acting debut with a minor role in the drama Biwi Ho To Aisi with Rekha in a lead role, had his first commercial success with the blockbuster Maine Pyar Kiya , for which he won a Filmfare Award for...
, Mithun Chakraborty
Mithun Chakraborty
Mithun Chakraborty is an Indian film actor, social activist, and entrepreneur, who has won three National Film Awards. He made his acting debut with the arthouse drama Mrigaya , for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Actor....
, Sunny Deol
Sunny Deol
Sunny Deol often credited as "Action King of Bollywood" is an Indian film actor, producer and director. Deol was born to Bollywood actor Dharmendra. He has won two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards. He went to England to study acting...
, Preity Zinta
Preity Zinta
Preity Zinta is an Indian film actress. She has appeared in Hindi films of Bollywood, as well as Telugu, Punjabi and English language films. After graduating with a degree in criminal psychology, Zinta made her acting debut in Dil Se in 1998 followed by a role in Soldier the same year...
, Bobby Deol
Bobby Deol
Bobby Deol is a Bollywood actor. Deol is the son of the acclaimed Bollywood actor Dharmendra and the brother of Sunny Deol, also a successful actor in the Mumbai based Indian film industry....
, Sohail Khan
Sohail Khan
Sohail Khan is an Indian director, writer, producer and actor working in the Hindi cinema. He is the younger brother of actors Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan...
, Dino Morea
Dino Morea
Dino Morea is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films and a former model.-Early life:Dino Morea was born in Bangalore to an Italian father and an Anglo Indian mother. He is the second of three brothers. Nicolo Morea is his older brother, and Santino Morea is his younger brother. His family...
and Vatsal Sheth. 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
Diwali
Diwali or DeepavaliThe name of the festival in various regional languages include:, , , , , , , , , , , , , popularly known as the "festival of lights," is a festival celebrated between mid-October and mid-December for different reasons...
. On 22 November 2008 Heroes script was asked to be part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Plot
Two film academy students, Ali (Vatsal Sheth) and Sameer (Sohail KhanSohail Khan
Sohail Khan is an Indian director, writer, producer and actor working in the Hindi cinema. He is the younger brother of actors Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan...
), must make a movie in order to graduate. They choose to create a documentary illustrating reasons not to join the Indian Armed Forces
Indian Armed Forces
The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. They consist of the Army, Navy and Air Force, supported by three paramilitary forces and various inter-service institutions such as the Strategic Forces Command.The President of India is...
, and go on a motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
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, Amritsar
Amritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
, they meet the widow, Kuljeet Kaur (Preity Zinta
Preity Zinta
Preity Zinta is an Indian film actress. She has appeared in Hindi films of Bollywood, as well as Telugu, Punjabi and English language films. After graduating with a degree in criminal psychology, Zinta made her acting debut in Dil Se in 1998 followed by a role in Soldier the same year...
), and the son, Jassi, of a Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
soldier, Balkar Singh (Salman Khan
Salman Khan
Salman Khan is an Indian film actor. He has starred in more than 80 Hindi films.Khan, who made his acting debut with a minor role in the drama Biwi Ho To Aisi with Rekha in a lead role, had his first commercial success with the blockbuster Maine Pyar Kiya , for which he won a Filmfare Award for...
), who was killed in action three years earlier. The students find that the entire village is greatly proud of the heroic officer and his sacrifice for country. The students' second stop, Himachal, finds them meeting the wheelchair-using former Air Force pilot Vikram Shergill (Sunny Deol
Sunny Deol
Sunny Deol often credited as "Action King of Bollywood" is an Indian film actor, producer and director. Deol was born to Bollywood actor Dharmendra. He has won two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards. He went to England to study acting...
), whose Army officer brother, DJ (Bobby Deol
Bobby Deol
Bobby Deol is a Bollywood actor. Deol is the son of the acclaimed Bollywood actor Dharmendra and the brother of Sunny Deol, also a successful actor in the Mumbai based Indian film industry....
), had also been KIA
Killed in action
Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to...
. There they see that Vikram Shergill is very proud of his brother's sacrifice for his country. Finally, back in Leh, the duo meet the parents, Dr. and Mrs. Naqvi, whose son Sahil (Dino Morea
Dino Morea
Dino Morea is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films and a former model.-Early life:Dino Morea was born in Bangalore to an Italian father and an Anglo Indian mother. He is the second of three brothers. Nicolo Morea is his older brother, and Santino Morea is his younger brother. His family...
) had also died for his country. After bringing Dr. Naqvi's (Mithun Chakraborty
Mithun Chakraborty
Mithun Chakraborty is an Indian film actor, social activist, and entrepreneur, who has won three National Film Awards. He made his acting debut with the arthouse drama Mrigaya , for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Actor....
) life back to normal, they finally end their filming.
After meeting all three families they realized that being a soldier is all about proud love for one's motherland.
Years later, Jassi (also played by Salman Khan
Salman Khan
Salman Khan is an Indian film actor. He has starred in more than 80 Hindi films.Khan, who made his acting debut with a minor role in the drama Biwi Ho To Aisi with Rekha in a lead role, had his first commercial success with the blockbuster Maine Pyar Kiya , for which he won a Filmfare Award for...
), now a man and a soldier himself, visits Ali and Sameer at the military academy the two former film students had founded after failing multiple times in army entrance test.
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 has taken place in Ladakh
Ladakh
Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...
and Chandigarh
Chandigarh
Chandigarh is a union territory of India that serves as the capital of two states, Haryana and Punjab. The name Chandigarh translates as "The Fort of Chandi". The name is from an ancient temple called Chandi Mandir, devoted to the Hindu goddess Chandi, in the city...
, Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
. Some shooting also took place in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
. Some scenes were shot in Pangong Tso
Pangong Tso
Pangong Tso is an endorheic lake in the Himalayas situated at a height of about . It is long and extends from India to Tibet. 60% of the length of the lake lies in China. The lake is wide at its broadest point...
featuring Salman Khan, Sohail Khan and Vatsal Sheth.
Cast
| Actor/Actress | Role |
|---|---|
| Salman Khan Salman Khan Salman Khan is an Indian film actor. He has starred in more than 80 Hindi films.Khan, who made his acting debut with a minor role in the drama Biwi Ho To Aisi with Rekha in a lead role, had his first commercial success with the blockbuster Maine Pyar Kiya , for which he won a Filmfare Award for... |
Balkar Singh/ Jassvinder Singh |
| Preity Zinta Preity Zinta Preity Zinta is an Indian film actress. She has appeared in Hindi films of Bollywood, as well as Telugu, Punjabi and English language films. After graduating with a degree in criminal psychology, Zinta made her acting debut in Dil Se in 1998 followed by a role in Soldier the same year... |
Kuljeet Kaur |
| Sunny Deol Sunny Deol Sunny Deol often credited as "Action King of Bollywood" is an Indian film actor, producer and director. Deol was born to Bollywood actor Dharmendra. He has won two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards. He went to England to study acting... |
Vikram Shergill |
| Bobby Deol Bobby Deol Bobby Deol is a Bollywood actor. Deol is the son of the acclaimed Bollywood actor Dharmendra and the brother of Sunny Deol, also a successful actor in the Mumbai based Indian film industry.... |
DJ Shergill |
| Mithun Chakraborty Mithun Chakraborty Mithun Chakraborty is an Indian film actor, social activist, and entrepreneur, who has won three National Film Awards. He made his acting debut with the arthouse drama Mrigaya , for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Actor.... |
Dr. Naqvi |
| Dino Morea Dino Morea Dino Morea is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films and a former model.-Early life:Dino Morea was born in Bangalore to an Italian father and an Anglo Indian mother. He is the second of three brothers. Nicolo Morea is his older brother, and Santino Morea is his younger brother. His family... |
Sahil Naqvi |
| Sohail Khan Sohail Khan Sohail Khan is an Indian director, writer, producer and actor working in the Hindi cinema. He is the younger brother of actors Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan... |
Sameer (Saandh) |
| Vatsal Sheth | Ali (Nawab Sahib) |
| Amrita Arora Amrita Arora -Personal life and education:Arora was born in Chembur Mumbai to a Malayali mother, Joyce Polycarp, and a Punjabi father, Anil Arora. Her sister is Malaika Arora Khan.... |
Piya (Saandh's girlfriend) |
| Riya Sen Riya Sen Riya Sen is an Indian film actress and model. Riya, who hails from a family of actors including her grandmother Suchitra Sen, mother Moon Moon Sen and sister Raima Sen, began her acting career in 1991 as a child artiste in the film Vishkanya. Her first commercial success in her film career was... |
Shivani (Ali's girlfriend) |
| Mohnish Behl Mohnish Behl Mohnish Bahl Mohnish Bahl Mohnish Bahl (Hindi: मोह्निश बहल,(born 14 February 1963) is an Indian actor working in the Bollywood film industry. He is currently playing the role of Dr. Ashutosh in the show Kuch Toh Log Kahenge-Personal life:... |
Akash Sarin |
Crew
- Director: Samir KarnikSamir KarnikSamir Karnik , is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter of Hindi movies.-Career:Karnik made his directorial debut with the film Kyun! Ho Gaya Na... in 2004 starring Aishwarya Rai and Vivek Oberoi. He produced and directed the film Heroes in 2008...
- Script and dialog: Samir Karnik, Aseem Arora
- Story: Aseem Arora
- Producers: Bharat ShahBharat ShahBharat Shah is a diamond merchant and notable Hindi film financer. He is most noted for producing the superhit film Devdas starring Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai. In 2001, he was convicted for his links with mafia don Chhota Shakeel and was sentenced to one year in prison but was...
, Vikas Kapoor, Samir Karnik - Directors of photography: Binod PradhanBinod PradhanBinod Pradhan is an acclaimed Indian cinematographer whose creative visuals and cutting-edge imagery have left their mark on Indian cinema. Some his award-winning works include 1942 A Love Story, Devdas, Rang De Basanti, Mission Kashmir, Munna Bhai M.B.B.S...
, Gopal Shah - Stunts: Peter HeinPeter HeinPeter Hein is a Stunt director, action director, action co-ordinator who did his job for many South Indian Motion Pictures. He was born in Chennai to Vietnamese immigrants and settled down in Chennai. He started his career as Extra Stunt boy, Assistant fight master for many number of Telugu and...
- Music: Monty SharmaMonty SharmaMonty Sharma is a music composer from India scoring music for Bollywood.-Early life:Monty Sharma was born on 17 April 1970 in Mumbai. Monty started learning music at the age of five. He had the opportunity to learn under the guidance of his grand father Pandit Ram Prasad Sharma. Monty is nephew of...
(credited as Monty), Sajid-Wajid - Lyrics: Jalees Sherwani, Rahul B. Seth
- Editor: Sanjay Sankla
- Production designer: Jitendra Kawa
- Costumes: Shamayel Khan
- Choreography: Piyush Panchal
Critical Reception
Heroes received generally positive reviews from critics. Taran AdarshTaran Adarsh
Taran Adarsh is an Indian film critic, journalist, editor and film trade analyst. He is also a former producer and screenwriter. He is the son of film director and producer, B.K. Adarsh....
of Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama is a leading Bollywood entertainment website, owned by hungama.com....
gave the movie 3.5 stars out of 5.
The Indian Express
The Indian Express
The Indian Express is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. It is published in Mumbai by Indian Express Group. After Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split in 1999 among his family members into two with the southern editions taking the name The New Indian Express, while the old...
argues that the film does manage to say what it set out to: that pride keeps the families of the deceased soldiers going, that we civilians sleep peacefully only because someone has given up his life for us, and that we have a country only because we have a brave ‘soldiers’ guarding our borders. But the director falls for the easiest trick in the book i.e. he wrings tears out of so many situations that everything even the supreme sacrifice that the soldiers make turns trite. Indiatimes
Indiatimes
Indiatimes is the Internet subsidiary of The Times of India Group, under which, some of the largest websites in India - The Times of India, The Economic Times, Navbharat Times and Maharashtra Times operate....
movies gave the movie 4 out 5.
The film's writer Aseem Arora was nominated for a Filmfare Award for Best Story.