Main Tera Hero
Year: 2014
Director: David Dhawan
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Ileana D’Cruz, Nargis Fakhri, Anupam Kher

A David Dhawan film has thrived on a well-rehearsed formula. More or less, the formula goes like this. A smart-aleck hero, with an unlimited stock of cheesy one-liners; who merrily keeps cavorting with a bimbo heroine (or two!) while outwitting nitwit villains in garishly colorful settings, often involving Switzerland or Thailand!

Over the years, heroes like Govinda, Salman, Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt have fitted into this DD (David Dhawan!) scheme to a T. But now the famous director’s tried and tested technique has started failing him at the box-office- not because he has changed anything, but rather because he hasn’t! Still he keeps dishing up the similar muddled plots, hoping that a charismatic hero would carry the film on his shoulders!

Now he teams up with his own son Varun, who had a decent first outing in Student Of The Year and was immediately hailed by some over-eager journos as the next big thing! So how does this father-son offering work on silver screen?

What’s the plot?

A street-smart boy (Varun Dhawan), who is a perpetual academic failure, leaves his town and goes to a city college to get a degree. Instead he falls in love with a beautiful girl (Ileana D’Cruz), who is being stalked by a psychopath cop (Arunoday Singh). Just when the boy is through, taking care of that problem, he gets into a tangle with a crazy crime-lord (Anupam Kher) and his even crazier daughter (Nargis Fakhri)! Now how will he make everything alright?

What’s hot?

·        Varun Dhawan plays the comic hero with gusto, paying obvious homages to his pop’s previous leading men- especially Govinda and Salman.

·        The supporting cast (Ileana D’Cruz, Nargis fakhri, Arunoday Singh and Anupam Kher) goes through their crazed antics with unabashed enthusiasm. They do what they are expected to do and that is to act dumb!

·        The song-dance sequences are catchy.

What’s not?

·        Come on. Aren’t there any better comedy writers out there? The same tired old routine of a crazy crime-lord and his dumb cronies getting duped by a super-smart hero ( a la Welcome, Ready, Son Of Sardar, Chennai Express and so many other films!) should now be officially banned!

·        The comic situations and dialogues are not funny most of the times.

Verdict

Main Tera Hero is one more of David Dhawan’s typically mindless comic capers. Varun Dhawan may not be in Govinda or Salman class, but he still manages to pull his weight and turn this film into a bearable fare. Watch it if you don't mind to hang your brain out to dry and then go munch popcorn through two hours of forced laughs!

Rating

2 out of 5 stars.