Just for one day.

Heroes (2008) is a movie with a message, and it delivers that message with all the subtlety of a WWII propaganda film about our brave boys taking the fight to Jerry, and the girls they left behind. It’s remarkably good-natured for a propaganda film, though, and never pretends to be anything else.
The film follows Sameer (Sohail Khan) and Ali (Vatsal Seth), two goofy film students who spend their days engaging in wacky hijinks lifted directly from American sitcoms, and who never quite manage to make it to class. At the end of the school year, their professors very kindly offer to let them graduate if they complete a film project.

After a spirited discussion at a pool party, Sameer decides trhat they should make a movie about why people shouldn’t join the Indian Defense Forces, as a sort of anti-recruitment drive. The boys meet with war journalist Akash (Mohnish Behl), who gives them three letters written by fallen Indian soldiers, and suddenly they have their film; they’ll go on a cross country motorcycle trip to deliver the letters, and then film the grieving families talking about how terrible a soldier’s life is. Genius! (Just between you and me, the boys learn a few valuable life lessons along the way.)

The first letter was written by Balkar Singh (Salman Khan), a traditional Sikh who left behind a wife, Kuljeet (Preity Zinta), a young son named Jassi (Dwij Yadav), and two elderly parents. The Singhs welcome Ali and Sameer warmly, and share many stories about how wonderful and saintly Balkar was, but it’s very clear that the family is struggling. When Kuljeet is forced to use the pension money she was saving for Jassi’s education in order to make payments on the tractor, the boys are more convinced than ever that joining the army is a bad idea.

After leaving the Singhs, Sameer and Ali visit retired (and wheelchair bound) Air Force officer Vikram Shergill (Sunny Deol) to deliver a letter from his younger brother Dhanajay (Bobby Deol.) Vikram and Dhanajay were loving rivals, constantly competing to see who was stronger and whether the Army or Air Force was better. Now, though, Vikram has his answer; he’s stronger, because he has to deal with being left behind. (Of course, Vikram does have a hot girlfriend (Hrishitaa Bhatt), and is perfectly capable of beating up ten men singlehandedly, even after being knocked out of his wheelchair, so he’s not doing too badly.)

By the time the pair deliver their final letter, a request for leave from Lieutenant Sahil Naqvi (Dino Morea), their anti-military convictions have wavered to the point that they set out to help Sahil’s embittered father (Mithun Chakraborty) come to terms with his son’s military life and death.

The surviving families do most of the dramatic heavy lifting here; the fallen soldiers are all saintly and wonderful and noble and brave, while Sameer and Ali start out as shallow as possible, to give them extra room to grow. Preity and Sunny and Mithun all turn in fine performances. I was particularly impressed by Mithun, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do anything quite so dramatic before.

Heroes never pretends to be an even-handed examination of the issues. On the other hand, it’s positive propaganda, about how India is great rather than how everybody else is terrible; more than one character points out that the fallen soldiers were just doing their jobs, and the enemy soldiers were also just doing their jobs. I’m not sure if this is a good movie or not, but it succeeds completely on its own terms.