Hero (II) (1983) User Reviews

Lambi Judai

[Ali_Asgar · 6/10 · 23 January 2006]

This is the movie that shot Jackie Shroff to stardom and for which he still obliges to Subhash Ghai. The movie, in spite of having a simple story line became instant hit owing to its very sensitive touch of direction and great music. 'Ding dong o baby sing song' clicked with the Indian audience after they had already developed a taste for Hindi songs sung in western style - popularly called as Indi pop- introduced by Nazia Hassan . The latter (from the movie 'qurbani') also started a trend of roping in Pakistani singers for Bollywood soundtrack. Hero had Reshma sing the song 'Lambi Judai'. The baritone 'quawwali-like' voice of reshma fascinated the Indian audience so much that two decades later when Ila Arun reproduced the style in 'choli ke peeche kya hai' (again in Ghai's movie Khalnayak) the Indian masses swung to it in a dejavu.

Coming back to the movie, it was also the introduction of the pretty girl Menakshi Sheshadri to the masses (though this was her third movie). The story goes like this, Jaikishan (alias Jackie dada) is henchman with a loyal gang who on the instructions of his master Amrish Puri, kidnaps the pretty daughter of a cop. The rest is the love story where the girl falls in love with her kidnapper and her haughty and dictatorial father, after an initial resistance had to give up to the indomitable love.

Songs are sung when the police raids the gang's jungle hideouts to recover the girl, who is now a cohort of the gang; motorcycle races are won by the protagonist against the other suitor of the girl; high octane emotions in the family to accept a vagabond for son in law; hero's internal conflict of breaching his loyalty(to his godfather) for love etc. etc. Overall a good potpourri and a complete family entertainer which stayed in our early eighties hearts for years. A PERFECT BOLLYWOOD MUSICAL.

Nothing out of the ordinary but a good film by Ghai

[silvan-desouza · 6/10 · 6 February 2014]

After the mixed response of KARZ and the blockbuster VIDHAATA(1982) Subhash Ghai who was slowly becoming a showman came back with HERO(1983), The film was a launch of Jackie who had played a henchmen in Swami Dada(1982) while Meenaxi too had a film before. The film doesn't have a pathbreaking story as most films of 80s but it's known for it's hit songs and also it's a good love story set in trouble times something which was a trend in 80s.

The film has clichés and formula stuff which we were born watching There are bike races, funny scenes, cops in disguise all thrown in

Direction is good Music by LP is fab, Ding Dong by Manhar Uddas is superb, Lata's song Nindiya Se is superb while Tu mera Hero, Pyaar Karne Wale are also fab

Jackie Shroff didn't have looks of a star and also his first appearance does look very raw, be it his struggling dialogue delivery or forced expressions but yet he does seem sincere and has improved a lot. Meenaxi Sheshadri is good in her part Shakti Kapoor is good, Amrish Puri is as usual, His brother Madan Puri is good too, Shammi Kapoor repeats his Betaab act(Donno which released first), Sanjeev Kumar provides funny moments and is superb in his role, Bindu is as usual, Jackie's gang all are good..

Hero

[IPyaarCinema · 7/10 · 9 September 2021]

Review By Kamal K

This movie out and out belonged to the hero of the film, a new face. A bit of background of HERO is warranted here. Subhash Ghai the self-proclaimed showman of the film industry (a title earlier enjoyed by Raj Kapoor), wanted a replacement for Sanjay Dutt with whom he had a difficult time during the shooting of 'Vidhataa' after a search he zeroed in on Jaikishen Kakubhai Shroff or Jackie Shroff as we know him today and who is also lovingly called Jaggu Dada.

Pasha (Amrish Puri) a gangster has an axe to grind with the Police Commissioner Shrikant Mathur (Shammi Kapoor) who has imprisoned him. He calls out to his protege Kishen (Jackie) to warn the commissioner, who he does and also kidnaps his daughter Radha (Meenakshi) in the guise of a police officer sent to protect her along with his gang of young biker friends. After a few incidents and some song and dance the two fall in love, but as Kishen knows his own truth, he does not find himself upto Radha's love. When Radha finds the truth instead of leaving him she embraces him with open arms and makes him surrender to the law.

Radha's brother Damodar (Sanjeev Kumar) aware of Radha's love for Kishen and to stall her marriage till Kishen's release, introduces Jimmy (Shakti Kapoor), his friend, as Radha's lover. Unknown to Damodar and others Jimmy is a drug smuggler and now himself in love with Radha. Kishen after his release from prison reforms and works as a mechanic but is despised by the commissioner. In the meantime Pasha is seething mad with the goings-on behind his back and wants to take revenge with Srikant and Kishen in collaboration with Jimmy. In a long drawn-out climax ultimately the Hero saves the day.

Jackie's screen presence was fantastic and won him accolades for this role, the movie introduced this new personality to Bollywood. He went on to star in many blockbuster hits not only in Hindi but even other Indian languages. In the first two weeks of its release it was almost written-off but climbed the charts from third week onwards. As any successful movie this too had many remakes in various languages and also later day clones in the Hindi films itself. Subhash Ghai always had an ear for music, thus some of the tracks were good,especially a rare number by the Pakistani singer Reshma 'Lambi Judaai' and the youthful 'Ding Dong'.

Simple and Sweet

[eureqa · 9/10 · 24 December 2006]

Subhash Ghai's Hero is a perfect example of a simple yet sweet film, something that is difficult to comprehend in this era of artificial films. A typical story of love winning against all the odds, the movie strikes a chord mainly because of good direction and a super musical score -- "Ding Dong" and "Tu mera janoo hai" are just two of the melodious numbers that still remain hummable even after all these years. There's a certain degree of simplicity in this movie that makes watching it a memorable experience. Performance wise it is Sanjeev Kumar -- in an interesting comic role -- and Meenakshi Seshadri -- her innocent face and somewhat gullible, somewhat strong character remains in the mind long after the movies is over -- who deserve all the praise. Jackie Shroff, in the title role is good but watching the movie one cannot help but think that Mr Ghai should have stuck to his first choice for the lead -- Sanjay Dutt. Sanju was the best man for this role and, moreover, after all these years he still is a successful "HERO" unlike Jackie. All in all a simple, sweet musical love story and one of Subhash Ghai's best works.