The Hero: Love Story of a Spy

Major Arun Khanna is an army intelligence officer working for the Indian Secret Service agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) who has been sent to the Indo-Pakistan border in Kashmir. Under the identity of Major Ravi Batra, he sets up a spy network to obtain information about Pakistani terrorist activities across the border. In a nearby village, he meets Reshma, an orphan. Reshma joins the network to help Batra, and they fall in love. He reluctantly sends her into Pakistan to work as an undercover maid in Colonel Hidayatulla's house. Hidayatulla is associated with ISI head Isaq Khan and terrorist Maulana Azhar. Reshma begins passing information to Batra. Khan, Azhar, and a group of nuclear scientists meet Hidayatulla's house, where they reveal plans to make a nuclear bomb for a terrorist attack in Kashmir. Reshma is exposed; she escapes and is chased but is saved by Batra and returns to India. Batra proposes marriage. Their engagement ceremony is cut short when terrorists attack. Reshma goes missing after falling into the river, and Batra is presumed dead. Batra realizes Khan and Azhar are responsible for the attack. He fakes his own death and plans to infiltrate their terrorist network. In disguise, he follows Khan and Azhar to Canada and discovers they are planning to create a nuclear bomb. Reshma is found alive on the Ravi River shore in Lahore, Pakistan, where she is rescued by Salman. She loses the ability to walk after learning about the deaths of Batra and her parents. Salman takes her to Canada for treatment under the care of doctor Shaheen Zakaria, the daughter of Muslim fundamentalist Mr. Zakaria, an associate of Khan. In a shopping mall, Reshma finds a muffler she had knitted for Batra, and realizes he is alive and in Canada. Batra changes his identity to that of a nuclear scientist named Wahid. To infiltrate Zakaria's group, he wins Zakaria's trust and marries Shaheen. Reshma sees Batra as Wahid at his wedding with Shaheen and recognizes him. Batra tells Reshma they cannot be together because he is now married to Shaheen. Reshma is heartbroken and returns to India. Overhearing their conversation, Shaheen learns the truth and is heartbroken. Batra tells Shaheen the truth about her father, but she does not believe the news about her father's terrorist links. Batra tricks the group into revealing the location of the bomb's parts, which have been kept at a high-altitude facility owned by Zakaria. The group reveals the codes to him, and he transmits a signal to the Canadian and Indian governments. Shaheen learns about the group's plan, exposing them. Khan learns about "Wahid's" true identity and attempts to kill him, but Batra survives. Soldiers arrive, forcing the terrorists toward a train station. They hijack a train and take the passengers hostage. Shaheen, on board, tries to disarm Khan, but he kills her. Before dying, she forgives Batra. Batra kills the other terrorists and Khan. He returns to Kashmir and reunites with Reshma. == Cast ==

Credits adapted from Bollywood Hungama. • Sunny Deol as • Major Arun Khanna () • Ajay Chakravarty () • Major Ravi Batra () • Wahid Khan () • Preity Zinta as Reshma • Priyanka Chopra as Dr. Shaheen Zakaria Khan • Kabir Bedi as Mr. Zakaria • Amrish Puri as Isaq Khan • Shahbaz Khan as Capt. Idris Wajahat Malik (Brigade of the Guards) • Rajpal Yadav as Lt Sorab Dorjee (Ladakh Scouts) • Parvin Dabas as Dr. Salman • Deep Dhillon as Col Ashfaq Hidayatullah, Pakistani Army • Pradeep Rawat as RAW Chief Vinay Kapoor • Shri Vallabh Vyas as Reshma's adoptive father • Rajat Bedi as Wasim • Arif Zakaria as Karimuddin • Gene Snitsky as a Russian terrorist • Big Guido as Lab's security guard == Production ==

Director Anil Sharma had planned to make The Hero: Love Story of a Spy before the release of his blockbuster film Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001). Sharma said he wanted to make a spy film and had contemplated making something like a James Bond film for a long time but realised Indian films did not have the budget needed to make a film on such a scale. The Shah brothers of Time Magnetics—Dhirajlal Shah, Hasmukh Shah, and Pravin Shah—were engaged to produce the film. Aiming for high production values, Sharma mounted the film on a sizable budget and the scale he said was needed for a story of this proportion. He said the film was a risk, especially when the Indian film industry was going through a slump. Zinta thought that the film had "a terrific script" and she identified with her character thanks to Zinta's Himachal Pradesh roots. Kabir Bedi and Amrish Puri completed the cast. Sanjay Dhabade was the film's production designer. Several huge sets were constructed, including a massive glass house on water. According to Taran Adarsh, there were "gargantuan" expectations for the new film. The Hero: Love Story of a Spy was much talked about for its budget and scale. Industry experts and trade analysts declared The Hero: Love Story of a Spy the most expensive Indian film ever made at that point, with some estimating its budget as being between 500 and 600 million. According to Box Office India, the film had a budget of 350 million, including production and marketing costs. Sharma refused to confirm the exact budget but agreed it was an expensive film, telling Subhash K. Jha: "The producers have gone on record about the budget. I cannot tell you the exact cost. But yes, it is an expensive film." The director, however, was extremely unhappy with the hype around the film's budget because he did not want to raise audience expectations. Rajesh Thadani said the film should have been made on a lower budget because the economics of film-making had changed and that restraining a film's budget was "the need of the hour". A distributor told Rediff.com "making such a costly film in the 2000s was not a viable proposition and that audiences had become extremely unpredictable". He added: "Devdas, with all its hype, barely managed to recover its cost. For The Hero to succeed, it will have to do better than Devdas." When The Hero: Love Story of a Spy was in production, the Hindi film industry's revenues were declining, and many were hopeful the film would help to revive the industry. The film's trailers and promos created "enormous" to "positive" buzz in the public and the media, but some trade analysts were skeptical about its high budget and its potential box-office earnings. An editor of Box Office India said the recovery of the cost of a film like this, filmed on "an extra-large canvas", was impossible from the Indian market alone. He said big-budget films like this mostly rely on overseas markets, which was uncertain for this film because it offered nothing new to overseas audiences as a "James Bond type of movie" that had been done several times before. Trade analyst Amod Mehra was more optimistic about the film, saying he hoped it would help revive the Bollywood film industry, which had "virtually gone dead", and that "the public is anticipating something as thrilling and fast-paced as Gadar. If he has kept the pulse of the public in mind, I see no reason why [the film] won't run well." == Music and soundtrack ==

Uttam Singh composed the music for the songs of The Hero: Love Story of a Spy and the lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi and Javed Akhtar. The background score of the film was provided by Gurmeet Singh. The film contains eight original tracks with vocals provided by Vital Signs, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Jaspinder Narula, Sunidhi Chauhan, Sardool Sikander and Hariharan. == Release ==

As The Hero: Love Story of a Spy was nearing its release, the 2003 Bollywood Producers' strike prevented the release of new Hindi films in theaters after 1 April 2003. Deol was unhappy about the strike because he felt postponing a big film like this was not an affordable option, saying: "When a producer has spent so much money promoting and publicising a film like The Hero, how is he expected to scrap his campaign, postpone his film and start from scratch?" collecting 22.2 million on its opening day and 63.1 million in its opening weekend in India with worldwide opening-weekend revenue of over 111.5 million. During its box office run, the film grossed 414.5 million in India and over 36.8 million in the overseas market, making a worldwide gross of over 451.3 million. It was the third-highest-grossing Indian film of the year, A DVD version released by Venus Records contains some bonus features, including a "making-of" documentary and a collection of Deol's songs. A Video CD version was released at the same time. Tip Top Video released the film internationally on an all-regions, PAL-Widescreen format DVD. Moser Baer later released another version of the DVD across all regions on an NTSC-format single disc. == Reception ==

Priyanka Chopra made her Bollywood debut with the film, winning the Stardust Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance The Hero: Love Story of a Spy garnered mixed to positive reviews from critics. Deepa Gumaste of Rediff.com praised the film, calling it a "comicbook spy movie", comparing it to Die Another Day (2002) and Mission: Impossible (2000), and wrote, "At last an original desi spy who combines the guile and charm of James Bond and the raw appeal of Rambo!" She said the cinematography is a "treat for the eyes with exquisite footage of the picturesque landscapes" and wrote, "For once in a Hindi film, foreign locations have actually been put to good use." Lawrence Van Gelder of New York Times was appreciative of the film, noting its "multiple pleasures" and writing, "Stretching from the snow-capped peaks of Kashmir to the ski slopes of Canada, mingling gunplay, spectacular explosions and chases with songs, dances and romance, this colorful Indian spy adventure constitutes the cinematic equivalent of the delightful and inconsequential escapism of a 700-page summer beach novel." Sify gave The Hero: Love Story of a Spy film three out of five, writing, "The central theme gets more spice with a love story giving much role to play for Zinta and Chopra. The action sequences are well shot and Deol essays his role with his usual skill." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film "straightforward escapist fare" with the sensibility of an "old-fashioned comic-book", and said it "may be corny" and "unintentionally amusing at times" but it is also "a lot of fun" and has "all the classic elements of a Bollywood blockbuster taken to a spectacular level". The BBC's Manish Gajjar called the film "great escapist" cinema and praised the performances, writing that, "the role of Ravi Khanna was tailor-made for Deol. He got a chance to exhibit the various looks of a secret agent ... Zinta is radiantly refreshing throughout the film, whilst ex-Miss World Chopra appears natural considering that this is her debut film." Derek Elley of Variety said The Hero: Love Story of a Spy is "wildly over-the-top" but "undeniably entertaining". Praising the performances, Elley wrote, "Deol makes a solid, rather than exciting hero, better in military duds than his increasingly outre disguises, and Puri overacts wildly as the villain. The female leads are much more engaging, with Zinta typically sparky and likable, and mega-looker Chopra making a solid screen debut as a modern urban miss." Anupama Chopra of India Today said the narrative has flair, noting the love story, including the courtship and consequent separation that has "emotional vigour" works to some extent but the spying part is a problem. She wrote: "The leads try hard—Deol appears suavely sincere and Zinta, vulnerable—but Shaktimaan's script doesn't hold. The incendiary dialogue got whistles but the comic-book discussions on nuclear bombs were a sleeping pill." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama criticized the "superficial" writing but praised the technical aspects of the film, such as the "terrific" visuals and "awe-inspiring" action sequences, and said it "lacks the soul to make you cry and make your heart go out for the on-screen characters ... [the film] has gloss and hype as its trumpcards, but ... lacks in emotions, music and a taut screenplay". == Accolades ==