‘Heroes’, a film with impressive star cast and emotions galore, is definitely worth a watch. The strength of the film lies in the simple fact that despite of it being based on martyrs of war, the film - without a single war-scene - is influential enough to incite the feeling of patriotism.

Directed by Samir Karnik, the film rides high on expectations from top-notch actors like Salman Khan, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Preity Zinta in leading roles.

The film is a story of the drastic changes that two movie review friends, Sammy (Sohail Khan) and Ali (Vatsal Sheth) undergo, after an official journey takes them around – from Delhi to Chandigarh, Manali and Ladakh. Their meeting with real life characters during the course of this journey, changes their lives.

‘Heroes’ is, in fact, shot in the hearts of these very characters that Sammy and Ali happen to meet - people who, without going to the battlefront, are wounded by war. It is about war bereavement, and how to cope with it, without getting cynical about a subject like patriotism.

The emotional scenes between Salman and Preity are the highpoint of the film. The portions between Sunny and Bobby are well executed too, but Mithun and Dino’s characters are not strong enough. Child actor Dwij Yadav and Sohail Khan leave a strong impression. Vatsal’s rawness goes well with his spoilt-rich-coming-of-age character.

In the beginning, it might just appear that the film is all about propagating the ‘join-the-army’ message. However, the director succeeds in taking the theme of patriotism and soldierly duties far beyond the clichés.

The movie delivers a very simple but strong message – “You don’t have to be a soldier to love your country.”