Hero Hiralal (1988)

Hyderabadi Hiralal, who is also referred to as 'Hero' due to his obsession with Bollywood movies, drives an auto-rickshaw and often gets into fisticuffs. Things change when he meets with ... See full summary »

Directors:

Ketan Mehta, V.N. Menon

Writers:

Gul Anand (screenplay), Hriday Lani (dialogue),

Stars:

Naseeruddin Shah, Sanjana Kapoor, Deepa Sahi

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Naseeruddin Shah	...	Hero Hiralal
Sanjana Kapoor	...	Roopa (as Sanjna Kapoor)
Deepa Sahi	...	Sitara Devi
Kiran Kumar	...	Prem Kumar
Rohini Hattangadi	...	Roopa's mom (as Rohini Hattangady)
Saeed Jaffrey	...	Aziz
Satish Shah	...	Bhagwan - Hawa Hawai Productions
Mohan Gokhale	...	Rangila (as Mohan Gokhle)
Johnny Lever	...	Havaldar (as Johny Lever)
Dilip Dhawan	...	Robin - Autorickshaw driver
Deepak Qazir	...	Dukhilal - Watchman
Ahmad Khan
Rahul Chowdhary	...	(as Rahul Choudhary)
Hosi Vasunia
Benjamin Gilani	...	Compere

Storyline

Hyderabadi Hiralal, who is also referred to as 'Hero' due to his obsession with Bollywood movies, drives an auto-rickshaw and often gets into fisticuffs. Things change when he meets with actress, Roopa, shows her around, and falls head-over-heels in love with her - so much so - when the unit leaves, he drives all the way to Bombay to be close to her. It is here that he will come to know that she has no similar feelings for him - and he will be thrown into contact with beautiful and manipulative actress, Sitara Devi, who has new and different role for him - one that will change his life forever.

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Plot Keywords:

based on play | character name in title

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

21 October 1988 (India)

Filming Locations:

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

P.L.A. Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Main Sadkon Ka Shehzada"
Performed by Amit Kumar
Lyrics by Hriday Lani
Composed by Babla

User Reviews

Charming & more Charming!

Little flavor of 80s (long skirts and no obnoxious dresses), Good music, Naseeruddin Shah at his best as usual, and add a new face on top of that. That's Hero Hiralal for you. People said that it was an inconsequential movie. May be so. What could we expect at the time when Govinda, Anil Kapoor, and other actors were churning out non-sense in the late 80s. Hero Hiralal was a breath of freshness, which was obviously not meant for the masses, however, it may have seemed so. All shots that focused Naseer and Sanjana together were superb in terms of photography, facial focus and dialogues. True that Sanjana couldn't speak Hindi without an accent. What do you expect from an Anglo-Indian girl? But ironically, I still find hers better than the accent of some of today's actresses who speak Hindi like they were born and raised somewhere in Midwest USA.

I found Sanjana quite charming (much more beautiful than her nieces Karishma and Kareena). Sapno Ki Duniya (slow version) was a terrific song, obviously lost due to movie's commercial failure. Saeed Jafri, Satish Shah and Mr. Yogi fame actor were good in supporting roles. Deepa Mehta was OK and others merely filled in. This is a movie with no frills, no beach dances, no non-sense. A simple and pure means of entertainment meant for the whole family.

It's unfortunate that Sanjana's career didn't click in Bollywood. May be it was her accent or may be it was her timing. Or may be she was just meant for Prithvi Theater. A great movie. Watch it at least once and then decide. By the way, finally the DVD is out for this movie. At least someone recognized the movie!