Heroes (2008 film)

Two film academy students, Ali (Vatsal Sheth) and Sameer (Sohail Khan), must make a movie in order to graduate. They choose to create a documentary illustrating reasons not to join the Indian Armed Forces, and go on a motorcycle road trip bearing three letters they have been given to deliver — each from a slain soldier to his family.

On their first stop, in Atari, Amritsar, they meet the widow, Kuljeet Kaur (Preity Zinta), and the son, Jasswinder Singh [Jassi] (Dwij Yadav), of a Sikh soldier, Balkar Singh (Salman Khan), who was killed in action three years earlier. The students find that the entire village is very proud of the heroic officer and his sacrifice for the country. When they are flying kites, their kite is cut and it falls beyond a certain fence, in another field. Jassi tells them that the area beyond the fence is Pakistan, and the fence is the Border.

The students' second stop, Himachal, finds them meeting the Air Force pilot Vikram Shergill (Sunny Deol), who uses a wheelchair and whose Army officer brother, Dhananjay Shergill (Bobby Deol), had also been killed in action. Vikram is very proud of his brother's sacrifice. and he shows them how he has come to terms with his own grief.

The third letter is to be delivered to a Mr. and Mrs. Naqvi (played by Mithun Chakraborty and Prateeksha Lonkar), but their bike runs out of petrol, and they hitch a ride on a military convoy heading to a nearby base. They see soldiers' coffins in the truck, and the driver quotes an inspiring poem. At the base, they talk to the regiment commander and find another letter by Lt. Sahil Naqvi (Dino Morea) which they request to deliver themselves. They see that Mrs. Naqvi is busy in a tea party, hardly paying any attention. Sameer accuses her of not loving her son, and says that Sahil was a coward. Mrs. Naqvi plays them a tape which Sahil had recorded after he had saved another soldier's life. She tells him that she and her husband have been affected, and the parties serve as a distraction for them. They leave, but return the next day, and slowly bring the couple's life back to normal.

After completing their film, they reveal in a voice over that although they graduated, they did not go to America (as they had initially planned) because the trip has changed their outlook. They try to join the Army but fail, then start a school to share their experiences. Some years later, Sameer and Ali are walking around their School campus. A man in olive green uniform (Salman Khan) approaches them. This is revealed to be Jassi, the son of the first martyred army officer. Now a strapping young man, he has joined the army like his father, and will soon graduate from the IMA. The movie ends with the statement, "You don't have to be a soldier to love your country".

Originally titled Mera Bharat Mahaan (My India is Great), the film was rechristened Heroes, to avoid sounding jingoistic.[3]

Filming began on 15 June 2007. Salman and Preity are paired opposite each other, in their fifth film together.[4] Shooting took place in Ladakh,[5] Chandigarh, Punjab and Delhi.[6] Some scenes were shot in Pangong Tso featuring Salman Khan, Sohail Khan and Vatsal Sheth.[7]

• Mithun Chakraborty as Dr Maqbool Naqvi
• Sunny Deol as Sqn.Ldr. Vikram Shergill
• Salman Khan as Hav Balkar Singh [Jassi father and Kuljeet's husband] (8 Sikh Regiment)/ Lt. Jassvinder Singh [Jassi]
• Bobby Deol as Captain Dhananjay Shergill (18 Grenadiers)
• Preity Zinta as Kuljeet Kaur Balker's wife and Jassi's mother
• Sohail Khan as Sameer Suri (Saand)
• Dino Morea as Lieutenant Sahil Naqvi (12 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry)
• Vatsal Sheth as Ali (Nawab Sahab Shah)
• Amrita Arora as Piya (Saand's girlfriend)
• Riya Sen as Shivani (Ali's girlfriend)
• Hrishitaa Bhatt as Saloni (Vikram's girlfriend)
• Mohnish Behl as Akash Sarin
• Prateeksha Lonkar as Mrs Naqvi
• Dwij Yadav as young Jassvinder Singh [Jassi]
• Tinnu Anand as Film Institute's director
• Vivek Shauq as Professor
• Shahab Khan as Sahil's Coach
• Karan Arora as Chotu

• Director: Samir Karnik
• Script and dialog: Samir Karnik, Aseem Arora
• Story: Aseem Arora
• Producers: Bharat Shah, Vikas Kapoor, Samir Karnik
• Directors of photography: Binod Pradhan, Gopal Shah
• Stunts: Peter Hein
• Music: Monty Sharma (credited as Monty), Sajid-Wajid
• Lyrics: Jalees Sherwani, Rahul B. Seth
• Editor: Sanjay Sankla
• Production designer: Jitendra Kawa
• Costumes: Shamayel Khan
• Choreography: Piyush Panchal

• Official website
• Heroes at IMDb
• Heroes at AllMovie
• Heroes at Box Office Mojo