One of the things that most of us will fondly remember about the 90s – and early 2000s – is David Dhawan‘s ability to churn out movies that made zero sense, but were still excellent watches (Judwaa, in particular, was a favourite of mine). With Main Tera Hero, we get to see some classic David Dhawan: here, logic takes a backseat to gags, one-liners, goof-ups, elaborate ruses, etc. This can work very well if the film is placed in the right hands, and you know what? Main Tera Hero definitely is, making it a fun, breezy watch that’s perfect if you need some escapism this weekend.
Seenu (Varun Dhawan) may look like the “sweet, Swami type ka,” but he’s actually a very big harami, making life miserable for everyone, including teachers, parents, police officers, and even – he admits – an MLA or two. Life gets tricky for him, though, when he moves to Bangalore and falls in love with a girl (Ileana D’Cruz) who is being stalked by a hot-tempered, extremely possessive, beefy guy (Arunoday Singh). From there, the film throws a series of crazy turns at you, and I’m not going to go into detail about those because a) the fun is in seeing how ridiculous it gets, and b) the story was never the point anyway.
Varun carries Main Tera Hero on his shoulders, and it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that David Dhawan has probably found his Govinda of this generation. In fact, Varun is like a mash-up of Govinda and Salman Khan, and he plays this part so naturally. It’s perhaps all the exposure he’s had to this type of cinema growing up, but it almost feels like Varun has been doing these sort of roles for ages – he’s got that superstar quality about him, what with his crazy antics, his fantastic dancing, and – of course – his tendency to keep taking off his shirt.
The supporting cast, too, is just as good. In true David Dhawan fashion, the film is filled with a bunch of oddball characters, played by the likes of Rajpal Yadav, Anupam Kher, Saurabh Shukla, etc. They, along with Varun and the girls, keep the film consistently entertaining despite the story being fairly predictable. Everyone has their own set of quirks, resulting in several funny moments, even though you end up wanting to groan at some of the lines!
At the end of it all, Main Tera Hero is some good, mindless fun – watchable at its lowest moments, and really enjoyable at its best. It’s reminiscent of old-school David Dhawan, which, in our books, can only be a good thing.
Verdict:
Worth a watch if you’re in the mood for some good fun. Avoid if you’re not a fan of mindless entertainers.