who also starred in Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, in the role of an Indian spy. The director felt that the film differed greatly from their previous collaboration because Deol played a "subtle spy" who did not "scream and shout" (Deol's trademark in his films). Deol streaked his hair blond and wore several disguises in the film, which made him uncomfortable. Preity Zinta was cast in the female lead as a naive Kashmiri village girl, while Miss World 2000 Priyanka Chopra was cast in the supporting role of a Pakistani-born Canadian doctor. Chopra's other 2003 film Andaaz was supposed to be her debut Bollywood film, but The Hero: Love Story of a Spy ended up releasing a month before and thus became the actress' debut Bollywood film. Zinta thought that the film had "a terrific script" and she identified with her character thanks to Zinta's Himachal Pradesh roots. Chopra thought the film had "a very emotional subject" and being a part of a big film like this seemed like a good option for her. Kabir Bedi and Amrish Puri completed the cast. Simple Kapadia, Abu Jani, Sandeep Khosla, Neeta Lulla and Sheetal India designed the cast's costumes. Sanjay Dhabade was the film's production designer. Several huge sets were constructed, including a massive glass house on water. Kabir Lal handled the cinematography. Principal photography took place in Kullu and Manali in India with filming in Lonavala and Film City where half the film was shot. The rest half was filmed at locations in Canada and Switzerland. Filming in freezing weather in Canada and Switzerland proved to be difficult for the cast who had to be transported to rooms with heaters every five minutes. Sometimes, the temperatures fell to . Allan Amin designed the action set pieces, and international action experts coordinated the stunts. In one of the "heavy duty" action scenes, eight helicopters were used in the filming. The film's producers cast professional wrestler Big Guido as Bedi's bodyguard for an action sequence. For one scene, Deol had to jump off an tall peak, which he felt was difficult. The climax of the film was shot at Jungfrau in temperatures of . To shoot the scene, Lal propped himself on top of an open helicopter to capture the Jaungfrau Heights from in . The shot took two hours to film. After landing, he collapsed and was rushed to a hospital immediately. Ganesh