Review of The Hero

The film has a beautiful script most aptly delineating a life of a matinee idol. Brilliantly performed by Uttam Kumar, originally the matinee idol of contemporary Bengal, this was probably the best role that he acted in. His glamorous screen presence in the entire movie is most impressive and is definitely the mainstay of the movie. The story was supposedly written, keeping his struggle to stardom and the tolls of stardom in mind. Perhaps one of the most important reasons that Uttam performed so well was that he could probably identify himself in the role. Once again, coming to the scripts, written by the maestro Satyajit Ray, himself was simply superb. Within a span of a train journey from Calcutta to Delhi, the entire life of a film star, with all its shades was most adeptly portrayed. With such a script and direction by Ray it is a pleasure to watch the movie. The performances by other actors are also commendable.