Monday, May 28, 2012

Hero - Discussions

Diphan's 'Hero' is visually quite elaborate, and dramatically it's as flat as could be. With no central conflict in sight, the film ends up a wobbling piece, with chunks dropping off it every now and then, predicting an imminent and inevitable topple down.

Dharmarajan (Thalaivasal Vijay), a former fight master requests director Adithyan (Anoop Menon) to let him work in his film, though it has been some time, since the action guru has been away from films. He brings in an efficient stuntman Tarzan Antony (Prithviraj), who with his daredevil stunts gets on the hero Premanand's (Srikanth) nerves, in no time. However, as every cloud that has a silver lining, there is Gauri Menon (Yami Gautham) around, the leading actress in the film, who has taken to fluttering her pretty eyelashes a bit too much whenever Tarzan is around.

There was another film titled 'Josettante Hero' that I had seen about a month back that talked of an arrogant superstar and a still photographer who was cast as his replacement. It's pretty much the same in 'Hero' except that you have a stunt man instead of the photographer taking up the actor role!

What is most interesting is that Anoop Menon had played the photographer-turned-actor in the former film, and in 'Hero' he does the role of the director. And Nandu, who had done the role of the director in the former film, does the role of an associate director in 'Hero'!

Adityan is heard making fun of Premanand, that he should be careful while walking before the camera for the slow motion scenes, lest he tripped and fell. And 'Hero' probably is a film that suffers from a surplus of slow motion scenes, which is probably one of the reasons why it runs so long. I guess it could probably be a good twenty minutes shorter if people were walking faster in it!

Probably to bring in a further contrast between the underling stunt man and the haughty hero, Adityan also tells us that Premanand cannot act or fight for life. He is too scared of action scenes and requires a dupe for every scene that demands even a bit of an adventure. The question is why does it take Tarzan Antony around ten minutes of the climactic sequence to bring such a weak-willed man to book? Why is it that Premanand known for his cold feet, transforms into a ninja all on a sudden?

Adithyan heaves a sigh of relief, when 'Hero' Tarzan Antony's debut film emerges a hit. The reason, he sighs, is that Gauri could peacefully tie the knot with him, now that he is a Hero, and not a stunt man. The romantics among you could shudder thinking of what would have happened had this film offer not come Tarzan's way.

Prithvi is the hero of the film, no doubt, and he looks stunning. He does manage to carry the silly script and plenty of associated twaddle on his strapping shoulders and if it weren't for him, 'Hero' would have ended up a zero in no time. For once, those punches that make them land a mile away look believable. Well, at least in parts. Yami Gautham is remarkably good too, in the tiny role that she does.

Aww... and those fireworks at the beginning when a big bad guy who had run in to bash up Tarzan lands on a parachute outside as if hit by a thunderbolt... well, that's passe! Really! Heroes, believe me, are a different kind these days.


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