Heer Express

Hardly anything stands out in Heer Express. The comedy is unfunny, the emotional bits are dubious (why would a man take on a murder charge for a stranger?) and the music forgettable. In many lazily-written films, characters overhear long-held secrets blurted out in detail with doors open but how could anyone think up a scene in which an intimate expository letter is read out from the commentators' box at a public sporting event? Prit Kamani channels Shah Rukh Khan, mimics Dev Anand in a scene and ceases to have any life of his own after meeting Heer. Divita Juneja is passable in her first film. Umesh Shukla has directed much better films, and really successful plays. Emotional dramas are his forte, how did he direct this dud?

The issue then lies here: the first half drags, the second half never grips, and the film can't figure out what to do with its seasoned cast. Meghna Malik barely registers, Gulshan Grover is not given much screen time, and Sanjay Mishra’s presence feels like an afterthought. Heer Express runs on clichés and endless smiles but never on substance. By the end, you are left craving the spice the title promised but the film refused to serve. Divita Juneja, in her debut, has screen presence but struggles to emote beyond cheerfulness. In the emotional sequences, especially during a key revelation, she falls short, blunting whatever impact the moment could have had. The only person worth watching in this setup is Ashutosh Rana, who works visibly hard to lift the material. In the end, Heer Express is less of a journey and more of a tiresome detour.