Hero
1983 · India · 173 min
- Director
- Subhash Ghai
- Producer
- Subhash Ghai
- Music
- Laxmikant-Pyarelal
Cast
What it is about
Pasha (Amrish Puri) is sent to prison and, looking for a way out, writes to his friend Jackie (Jackie Shroff). Jackie visits Police Commissioner Shrikanth Mathur (Shammi Kapoor) to warn him about the situation, and soon afterwards kidnaps the commissioner's daughter Radha (Meenakshi Seshadri). Jackie tells her he is a police officer, but she quickly sees through the deception. Despite the circumstances, the two begin to fall for each other, and that developing romance becomes the emotional core of the film.
How it was made
Subhash Ghai, who also produced the film, initially wanted Kamal Haasan for the lead role when the project was still titled Sangeet. Haasan was unavailable, so the producers cast Jackie Shroff, a debutant, in the leading part. The score is by the duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal, with lyrics by Anand Bakshi, and mixes modern-beat dance numbers with a qawwali, a folk song and a piece based on Hindustani classical music. The film also heavily promoted the Yamaha Rajdoot 350 motorcycle.
Reception and legacy
Hero was declared a blockbuster at the Indian box office and ran for 750 days in many cities. Shroff and Meenakshi Seshadri became stars after its release, and both went on to long working relationships with Ghai. Critics praised the director for using fresh faces at a time when Amitabh Bachchan dominated Bollywood. At the 31st Filmfare Awards, it received nominations for Best Music Director and Best Female Playback Singer. It was remade in Telugu and Kannada in the 1980s and in Hindi in 2015, directed by Nikhil Advani.
Trivia
A different first choice
The project, then titled Sangeet, was initially conceived for Kamal Haasan. His unavailability led the producers to choose Jackie Shroff.
An acknowledged influence
Shroff has said he was a great admirer of Dev Anand and often delivered his lines in Anand's style during filming, although Ghai asked him to deliver them more like Shatrughan Sinha.
More films by Subhash Ghai
Pardes
Khalnayak
Karma
Ram Lakhan
Kisna: The Warrior PoetOriginal Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.