(((Some of the Yankee reviews of Bollywood flicks on this site are so culturally blinkered as to be moronic, but this one's pretty much hitting the mark. I liked this film so much I owned the poster.
Not because it's a good movie, mind you... but THE HERO was some dead-on Bollywood product for the brief reign of the BJP, a premiere artifact of its time.)))
Link: The Hero: A Love Story of a Spy.
"The film begins like a clunky old car that had me initially groaning inwardly - but as soon as Preity Zinta pops up among a herd of lambs in native Kashmirian dress with dimples as deep as the
Indian Ocean and eyes so soft they belong in a petting zoo the film begins to zip along at non-stop high speed action. Sunny Deol is an Indian super spy with an array of disguises and tricks up his sleeves to constantly foil the evil plans of Amrish and his fanatical cohorts. After stopping one plot in New York City, Sunny is transferred to Kashmir where he takes on the identity of a major in the army and begins constructing a network of spies. When Preity shows up with a baby lamb strapped to her back it is clear that he will both fall in love with her and also recruit her as a spy (the fate of the lamb is left unclear). After a quick romance of sweets and a promise to marry her if her honor is breached, he sends her across the border to infiltrate the enemy - and at this point Preity happily takes over the first half of the film. In the second half the film moves to Canada where Deol attempts to track down the source for a potential nuclear bomb and has to romance the daughter of one of the bad guys. As the film’s story shifts more towards Deol and less towards Preity, it loses a bit of its charm, but remains enjoyable to the last dead Pakistani."
