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The Hero
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'The Hero'

By ApunKaChoice Bureau
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

After a superhit Gadar, director Anil Sharma and actor Sunny Deol come together one more time for another patriotic flick – ‘The Hero’. The film, based on the Indo-Pak tensions and terrorism, is not a period drama like the duo’s last film but a modern day spy thriller.

The film has Sunny Deol playing an army intelligence officer Arun Khanna, who is deputed by the Indian Secret Service Agency RAW at the Kashmir border under an assumed name of Major Ravi Khanna.

Major

Khanna’s aim is to get information regarding terrorist activities across the border. To this end Major comes to a village called Kupwada in Kashmir and sets up his spy network.

Here, Major Khanna meets a beautiful girl Reshma (Preity Zinta) who is actually a Hindu whose parents were killed in a terrorist attack on the village. Her Muslim neighbors Yusuf Khan and his wife have brought her up like their own daughter.

Reshma becomes a part of Major Khanna’s network and takes training in spying. But during the process she falls in love with Major.

Major too is drawn towards Reshma because of her qualities and her innocence but because of his duty towards his country. However, he is forced to send her across the border to Pakistan as a maidservant in Colonel Hidayatulla's (Deep Dhillon) house.

Once on Pakistan, Reshma comes to know the ISI’s nefarious plans to acquire a nuclear bomb. And by the time her true identity is exposed she manages to come back to her village with the important information.

Impressed by Reshma’s bravado and patriotism Major Khanna expresses his love to her and proposes to marry her. While Major Khanna and Reshma are getting engaged on the ship, a speedboat loaded with RDX, sent by Colonel Hidayatulla and company, blows up the ship.

In the accident, Reshma falls into the river and is swept along by the current to Lahore, where a Muslim boy rescues her.

Presuming Reshma to be dead Major Khanna avenges by killing Colonel Hidayatulla. He then begins to search for the ISI head Isaq Khan (Amrish Puri). Major’s search leads him to Canada.

In the meantime, Reshma too is in Canada, and her legs are being treated by Shayna (Priyanka Chopra), who is the daughter of a fundamentalist by the name of Zakaria (Kabir Bedi).

So far Ravi Khanna and Reshma had thought of each other as dead but Reshma comes to know that Ravi Khanna is alive and is in Canada itself.

To get his hands on Zakaria, Ravi traps Shayna and pretends to be in love with her. But he comes to know about Reshma on the day of his marriage.

Now the question is will Major be able to expose Isaq and Zakaria’s plans before the world. And will Major and Reshma ever reunite?

Although the film has a strong dose of chauvinistic sentiment, ‘The Hero’ does manage to get the adrenalin rushing thanks to some gritty action sequences and chilling pyrotechnics.

The performances by Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta are commendable considering the limitations of the script. Former miss world Priyanka Chopra too manages to get attention in a small but significant role.

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