Hero
Kannada
Director: M Bharath Raj
Cast: Rishab Shetty, Ganavi Laxman, Pramod Shetty
Rating: 3/5
Technical brilliance is a minimum guarantee in Rishab Shetty's films. 'Hero', shot entirely during the Covid-forced lockdown last year, deserves extra praise in this aspect. Every department of the film is solidly handled to hold the wafer-thin story together.
Director M Bharath Raj debuts with a violent action-adventure laced with terrific dark humour. 'Hero' is yet another film inspired from Ramayana. Rishab, who has also bankrolled the film, plays a barber out to kill his girlfriend (Ganavi Laxman) for ditching him for a gangster (Pramod Shetty).
The excessive bloodshed shown is new to Kannada cinema but Bharath has shot the gory violence with swagger, making the film a treat for fans of the genre. Arvind Kashyap's ambitious camera work and a plethora of quirky characters delivering crackling one-liners make the first-half an entertaining ride.
All hell breaks loose when the gangster's henchmen try to hunt down the leads. While the initial portions of the second half are gripping, the overdose of action towards the end makes the film a tad one dimensional. The leads' backstory isn't etched out well, perhaps due to the shooting restrictions caused by the pandemic. After setting the story well, Bharath's screenplay sags with no great twists.
Rishab continues to grow in strength as an actor. 'Bell Bottom' showed that comedy comes naturally to him. He is on-song here in the funny portions but his alcoholic acts are jarring. Ganavi has a great face for emotionally-charged roles, the film doesn't explore it fully.
Ajaneesh Lokanath is the film's backbone with his gripping background score and melodious songs. Like in 'Dia', his music makes you leave the screen with an emotional aftertaste. 'Hero' falls short of being a great film but it's a laudable experiment.