Hero Movie Review: Rishab Shetty’s Hero lets down audience

Sandalwood’s Rishab Shetty films hold promise of good content. So, when the filmmaker announced his new venture, the expectations were obviously high. Rishab's previous crime thriller 'Bell Bottom' that was set in the 80s was a runaway hit. But 'Hero', a revenge drama that has good script, falters due to weak presentation. The Bharath Raj directorial was one of the most hyped films of the year in Sandalwood, but his effort to entertain the audience with action-comedy adventure has fallen flat mainly because of slow-moving scenes and lengthy fights.

The film opens with a flashback on failed love between the hero (Rishab Shetty) and heroine (Ganavi Laxman). The jilted lover becomes addicted to alcohol and works in a salon. He decides to take revenge by killing his ex-girlfriend who marries a gangster (Pramod Shetty) who lives on a 400-acre estate guarded by armed guards. While preparing for a revenge, the hero gets an opportunity to give a haircut to the gangster at his forest bungalow.

The hero sneaks into the bungalow to accomplish his task but encounters bizarre incident. The heroine (ex-girlfriend) kills her gangster husband a few minutes before the hero makes his entry into the bungalow. Here the film takes a new twist as the heroin narrates how she is trapped by the gangster and forced into the wedlock. What happens to both? Will they manage to keep the killing secret and series of his misadventures in an attempt to escape from the deadly forest putting the gangster's team behind will be the rest of the story in the second half.

As the film revolves around the story of a hairstylist who gets into a situation where he takes upon himself the task of saving his ex-girlfriend, director Bharath Raj struggles to portray the 'Hero' in larger-than-life size. Curiously, all the three main characters have no screen names as are are depicted as Hero, Heroine and Villain throughout. There is a heavy dose of violence as blood spills in over a dozen scenes. The director uses a crocodile as a pet of the villain to symbalise his evil character. The croc props up on his estate to raise fear factor.

In spite of all the bloodshed and the frightening appearance of the croc, Hero fails to be an edge-of-action film. The narrative is bogged down in excruciatingly slow and lengthy scenes. Thanks to cinematography by Aravind Kashya, each frame has richness.

Though the length of the film makes audience doze off, action scenes with background music keeps one awake. Ajaneesh Loknath has provided excellent music.

The less said about Pramod Shetty as a gangster is better. Pramod got a formulaic role and has limited space. As ever, Rishab Shetty does his best in what is expected of him, while Ganavi Laxman makes a good debut.

Overall, Hero is just a one-time watch.

Written by Nischith N