Director: P.S.Mithran
Cast: Sivakarthikeyan, Arjun, Abhay Deol, Kalyani Priyadarshan
Hero is Kollywood’s latest ‘superhero’ venture..or to be more specific, it is a superhero ‘origins’ story. This is one genre that has been barely tested by our industry and previous attempts haven’t been too memorable. With this context, this film helmed by PS Mithran (of Irumbu Thirai fame) raised eyebrows and expectations, not least for its star-studded cast.
The story is wrapped around a social core that is very relevant and comment-worthy. It makes a microscopic examination of the prevailing education system and its various ills, from grassroots to graduation. It talks about brain-drain, the lack of innovation and patents in our country and of course, the sad ‘capitation fee’ admission culture and the circus around it. The film’s running thread is a commentary on how academia has been reduced to a mere ‘churn-out’ factory, producing batches and batches of timid, rigidly programmed corporate clones. And before you ask, no, Samuthrakani doesn’t have a role in this film!
The protagonist at the center of this tale is Sakthi (Sivakarthikeyan). This Shaktimaan fanatic once dreamt of becoming a super hero just like his idol and was an extremely bright student too, but circumstances had other plans for him. Along with his friend ‘Ink’ Inba (Robo Shankar), Sakthi now prints fake certificates, acts as an admission broker and is basically your classic academic tout. Things take a turn for the worse however when his malpractices boomerang back at him, inadvertently playing a part in the death of a loved one. He now has blood on his hands and hates himself for it. But he also realizes that taking on a galaxy of evil, with his existing ‘human’ persona would not even be possible. This is the story of how Sakthi becomes..Shaktimaan!
Helping Sakthi in his Superhero transformation process is the eccentric genius Moorthy (Arjun). Moorthy runs a school for ‘failed’ students, who he believes are prodigies in their own right, needing only to be freed from traditional academic shackles and given creative space. His young students have come out with various pathbreaking inventions-sample engines that run on salt water and genetically modified mosquito species! What’s more interesting is that these creations were inspired by an urge to solve real problems faced by their loved ones- the engine was the result of a desperate need to save fuel costs, that were badly hurting their family flirting with poverty and the mosquitoes were an answer to combat deaths on account of dengue and malaria in the neighbourhood, a situation that was spiraling out of control. As the saying goes, necessity is indeed the mother of all invention!
It is at this point however that the film takes an extremely generic turn. In step the usual corporate bad-ass character, who goes by the name of Mahadev (Abhay Deol) here. He is the ‘innovation-killer’, the guardian of everything mundane and money-spinning. He sees Moorthy and his young proteges as a major threat to his own academic and business empire and wants them out of his way. In his own words, Moorthy’s unique way of teaching is just an idea but his dreary methods are already a lifestyle. Unfortunately, very ordinary writing in these sequences ensures that his character never really scales up to be that super-villain a superhero movie needs. And by the way, what’s with his fetish with lobotomy in every scene, for lack of a better word!
The film has its intentions in the right place but the writing is a little too wayward to result in a truly gripping package. I really liked the way the story was set up, with the terrific Mathi character (played brilliantly by Ivana) driving the narrative forward. But then, take for instance Sakthi’s back story. This is filled with so many loopholes that you really wonder if this had also been conceived by the same writers (the screenplay is actually credited to four different writers).
There is also not much depth and purpose written into Kalyani Priyadarshan’s character Meera, who is Sakthi’s love interest. In fact at one point, I felt the film was almost trying too hard to be an ode to director Shankar’s films. Apart from the various Gentleman references and Moorthy’s character sketch (inspired by Vijay’s in Nanban), there’s even an Anniyan-esque sequence where Sakthi or Mask, as his Superhero alter-ego is called, addresses the general public live by interrupting prime time television!
At the end of the film, we are given an indication of a possible sequel to Hero (well, duh)! I’m personally all for superhero franchises that entertain and take the visual cinematic experience to another level. But if that project does take off, I hope the writers take a leaf out of the concept they propagate in their own story and make the screenplay a little more more creative and inventive.
Overall rating: 2.5/5
