Samir Karnik after two back-to-back duds (Kyon Ho Gaya Na and Nanhe Jaisalmer) makes a grand comeback with Heroes, a good film that tugs your heart strings and makes you feel.

Multi starrer Heroes with a galaxy of star cast of Salman Khan, Preity Zinta, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Mithun Chakraborty, Dino Morea, Sohail Khan, Vatsal Sheth, Amrita Arora, Riya Sen. Heroes  is the only exact bollywood film over weekend with big star cast, item songs and since this is a holiday weekend should do well.

Saand (Sohail Khan) and Ali (Vatsal Seth) are bosom cronies who study in a movie institute. They are rebellious guys who do not attend the classes. Their principle puts a precondition that they should make a documentary movie in order to graduate. They decided to make a movie on why one should not join army. They meet a scribe to get some inputs. He gives them three letters to deliver. These letters are written by three martyrs who lost their lives while fighting for India in Kargil (1999). The rest of the tale is all about how these guys deliver the letters to the family members of martyrs and in turn how they learn what patriotism is all about.

Salman Khan is pretty well in the role of a sikh soldier. Preity Zinta gives one of her top performances. Sohail Khan impresses in the role of Saand. Vatsal Sheth is good as Ali. Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol are good. Mithun Chakraborty did the role of an emotional father. Mohnish Behl is cool in a little yet very important role.

The story is all about two wayward guys realizing about what it takes to become a soldier and a martyr through a bike journey they take while delivering the last letters to the beleaguered families of martyrs. The tale is different in the sense that it does not show Pakistan as villain in order to stimulate patriotism. It tells that Pakistani soldiers too fight for their country just like Indian soldiers do. It also tells that you need not join Indian army to be a patriot. The concept of two guys traveling on a bike to discover something has been inspired by the ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ (2004).

The director has made this movie with good intentions and with lot of honesty. Among the three subplots, Preity Zinta’s stands out as an excellent episode. The Sunny Deol’s introduction is excellent, but director blemished it a bit by unnecessarily putting a fight. The Mithun Chakraborty’s episode is OK, but it appears extended at the end. There are quite a few heart-touching moments in the film as the kite falling in the lands of Pakistan,  Sunny Deol repenting that he could have been there in the flight,  the audio tape of the last moments of Sahil Naqui, the truck episode where the driver tells that he is carrying jawans etc.

Music of the film is pretty normal. Cinematography is excellent. Dialogues are fine. Locations are well explored. Editing is tidy.

First half of the film is excellent. But the second half is slow and the latter part of the movie is dragged a lot. Heroes is a film made with good intent and lot of honesty. Movies like there should be encouraged because it touches the concept of patriotism from a different angle. On the whole, HEROES is a genuinely well-made film with strong emotions as its trump card.