A masala film through and through, Main Tera Hero has been helmed by a master of the genre, David Dhawan. In the golden years, it was Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Govinda giving us that heady mix of action, romance, and dramedy. Shah Rukh Khan joined this pack late, and lately some newcomers are following suit.

The latest to join the bandwagon is Varun Dhawan, who dips his feet into the masala madness for the second time in Main Tera Hero. His first film was Student of the Year where he won the hearts of many with his acting and drop dead gorgeous looks. Now, he teams up with his father, David Dhawan, to do it a second time around.

David Dhawan’s latest Main Tera Hero is a remake of the successful Telugu film Kandireega (2011). A story about Seenu (Varun Dhawan) who isn’t the brightest chap in school, the film follows the poor chap as resolves to enrol in a university, like all his other (significantly smarter) friends.  Seenu has solemn plans of making his Mom and Dad proud, but these plans take a U-turn when he falls in love-at-first-sight with Sunaina (Ileana D’Cruz). Priorities shift, as Angad (Arunoday Singh) also vies for her love and intends to marry her, much against her wishes.

Seenu, the cool dude that he is, accepts a challenge from Angad to win Sunaina’s heart in three days. But there’s no masala without a twist, and in comes a don from Bangkok (Anupam Kher), whose daughter Ayesha (Nargis Fakhri) manages to grab Seenu’s attention. Seenu juggles his two love interests and the film is a rollercoaster ride through all the chaos.

During all these twists and turns, one finds themselves completely engrossed in the film and quite possibly have the time of one’s life. From laughter to romance, there was an overdose of all the essential ingredients from the get go. With a ready supply of jokes of the Houseful and No Entry variety, David hasn’t exactly crafted the freshest film, but the trick is to keep the viewer completely absorbed in the story and David has expertise in this art since decades.

Writer Tushar Hiranandani adapts the Telugu film in such a way that he made sure that there’s no room for boredom.  The witty and comical dialogues were one of the highlights of the movie, along with the spot-on song and dances for the key scenes. The soundtrack by Sajid-Wajid fits the genre of the film. ‘Palat’, ‘Besharmi Ki Height’, ‘Ghalat Baat Hai’ and ‘Shanivaar Raati’ are all foot-tapping compositions.

Varun is presented as the ‘young’ mass-friendly hero with muscles that has the girls drooling. He steals the show with an act that will surely multiply his fan following. Varun shows a whole lot of variety in his acting, from romance to action, and the show definitely belongs to him. He’s tremendous!

Ileana pairs off very well with Varun and does a good job of playing the sweet and elegant girl. She’s grown as an actress, it definitely seems.  Nargis Fakhri, however, looks great, but needs to polish her acting skills. Anupam Kher is awesome as always, and after barely getting to see him in Total Siyapaa, we’re glad he’s back to entertaining us with his acting and perfect dialogue delivery. Arunoday has the whole chocolate hero thing going for him; he manages to pull it off well. He seems comfortable in the given space. Rajpal Yadav manages to raise a few good laughs while Shakti Kapoor is wasted.

On the whole, Main Tera Hero is full-on entertainment with an over-the-top plot, great sense of humor and performances that are a treat to watch. The film should work well with admirers of typical Bollywood masala movies and also because Varun Dhawan pulls off the act. Go watch the movie, laugh out loud and have fun!

*CINEMATIC SUICIDE
**FORGETTABLE
***WATCHABLE
****COLLECTIBLE
*****AWARD-WORTHY