Dhawan appears to have a clear idea as to the scope of his film: Main Tera Hero is filler entertainment – the kind that appears, then disappears in between more serious works of cinema, with a good chance of popping up on TV more often than one would hope.

One partial saving grace: while the screenplay by Milap Zaveri barely counts as a story, Dhawan still seems slightly more in control of his material this time around; he remains fixated on shooting densely lit sets with wide-open lenses and a deep focus.

(Lack of) comedy

With Varun Dhawan’s nasal tone, the humor is archetypal Govinda-turf. When Dhawan isn’t channeling Govinda, or pulling off goofy-looks, one can sense a bit of recent Shahid Kapoor in him.

The leading ladies – Nargis Fakhri and Ileana D’Cruz – have pint-sized personas, reflecting neither intelligence nor particularly good acting skills.

The rest of the supporting cast – including Anupam Kher, Evelyn Sharma, Saurabh Shukla, Rajpal Yadav, Manoj Pahwa and Shakti Kapoor – are underwritten caricatures of past performances, whose comedy either struggles with badly timed edits or poor cinematography.

The final word

Main Tera Hero is wishy-washy entertainment that only manages to work on occasion because of Dhawan’s experienced hand as a director. The soundtrack, with Music by Sajid-Wajid, helps twice – once in “Palat”, sung by Arijit Singh and then in “Besharmi Ki Height” sung by Benny Dayal and Shalmali Kholgade.

The music's energy, however, is like the movie: think a can of soda, minus the carbonated goodness.

Released by Balaji Motion Pictures, ‘Main Tera Hero’ is rated U/A, featuring (mostly) Varun Dhawan shirtless, brief sensuality and some fake blood.Directed by David Dhawan; Produced by Shobha Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor, Alpana Mishra; Written by Milap Zaveri and Tushar Hiranandani; Cinematography by Sanjay F. Gupta; Editing by Nitin Madhukar Rokade; Music by Sajid-Wajid.Starring, Varun Dhawan, Ileana D'Cruz, Nargis Fakhri, Anupam Kher, Manoj Pahwa, Evelyn Sharma, Saurabh Shukla, Rajpal Yadav and Shakti Kapoor.