Veer Zaara- -A Review By -Birjis Adeni Rashed Birjis Adeni Rashed originally from Hyderabad, India, now lives in Austin, TX, USA. She has a MBA, majoring in Marketing and has been a student of English Literature, Politics and History. She says, "Creativity, writing and 'I' have always stayed connected, as Copywriter, Technical Writer, Content Writer, Web designer and Freelance Writer." A great mom, wonderful wife, good friend and a charming human being, Birjis is passionate about writing, reading, interior designing, cooking and traveling! Her motto- "Tomorrow is another day!"

Director: Yash Chopra Producer: Yash Raj Films Release date: 12 Nov 2004 Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee Supporting Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai, Hema Malini Music: Late Madan Mohan Lyrics: Javed Akthar

Disclaimer – I have tried to give as less about the movie as possible but for a proper review, I may need to divulge some movie scenes. If you have not watched it and would like to go with an open mind, stop reading this right now.

“Veer Zaara” – a beautiful romance across borders. Veer-Zaara is similar to most other Hindi movies but it is not at the same time. How is it different? For starters, it handles the Indo-Pak relationship very differently from the post-Gadar era. It carries the story sensitively and graciously. The directors wanted to please both Indians and Pakistanis. And they did. This movie was released around the time of the festival of Diwali and Ramadan Eid, and crowds went in large numbers to see this movie. I saw people enjoying at ease the romance, the melodrama, the emotions, the sentimental scenes and the beautiful backgrounds and getting in to the soul of the movie. (The sub-continental diaspora who make a large audience outside of India loved it more because it didn’t have the jingoism one has seen lately in the post - Gadar movies which had caused many uncomfortable viewing.)

The other thing that strikes about this movie is, that this may be among few new Hindi movies, which do not depend on titillations or skin to sell. It is clean entertainment suitable for the whole family to watch together.

On the regular side, this movie is similar to several other India movie stories especially Shahrukh Khan movies such as “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” where boy meets girl, falls in love and girl has to get married to the parents choice and boy comes back to secure her. Then there is trouble. VEER-ZAARA is the story of an Indian man, Veer Pratap Singh (Shah Rukh Khan) and a Pakistani woman, Zaara Hayaat Khan (Preity Zinta) who meet and fall in love, but parental interference and jealous fiancés conspiracy stalls their love story for 22 years till Sammiya Khan (Rani Mukerjee) unearths it.

This Yash chopra movie brings back some classic memories too. There is a distinct reminder of Amitabh and Rakhee in Kabhi-Kabhi during Veer Pratap’s last meeting with Zaara. In fact, some of the dialogues may be exactly the same!

The acting by every one in the movie is excellent. Sharukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerjee steal the show. SRK enacts both the younger and older roles very well. Preity looks and acts beautifully as a Pakistani girl. The role for Rani Mukerjee of Saamiya Khan is quite unique. In most Hindi movies, there is some family connection of a person helping out another person. In this case, it is shown purely as humanitarian effort, a local lawyer representing the Human Rights Commission undertakes the challenge of fighting for Veer Pratap Singh so he can return to India. I believe this role is based on Asma Jehangir, the human rights lawyer from Pakistan.

But all other actors are equally impressive. Anupam Kher does a splendid performance. It is so refreshing to watch him as something other than the cool-encouraging father he is made out to be in every movie. Amitabh is his usual great (Its quite surprising how the industry has evolved with good roles for great senior actors like him. Earlier he was stuck playing romantic roles dancing with younger heroines or compromise and get into the supporting actors rut. But Bollywood too has evolved to a higher understanding, and he plays comparable roles like Sean Connery’s, Bollywood style.). Hema seems little wasted for this role, but she does a great job. I guess we are beyond Dharmendra-Hema phase, now we are in Amit-Hema phase. Manoj Bajpai has a great screen presence for the short role, but looks more from Hyderabad, India with his Sherwani, if not from Lahore, Pakistan.

Chopra is a great storyteller but some twists and turns could be handled better. The director could have done a better job at having SRK contemplate his choice more before accepting the conditions of his interrogators. If you remember the Hollywood pop classic 'Splash', this is nearly the same choice that Tom Hank's character has to make; to give up his identity and leave his work to go with the mermaid. But here Tom does it for being with his love, in SRK’s case, it is even a tougher decision of giving up his love for a life in jail and it was handled very quickly. SRK shows no anxiety at all, very self less. (or probably they edited it to make the already three and half hour movie shorter!). The movie could have transcended more culturally if they had used real Pakistani actors to portray some of the Pakistani roles, of course not Zinta’s and the two Khers.

But in spite of the great script and strong cast and soulful dialogues, I had a few unanswered questions in my mind in the movie:

* How does Saamiya Khan know Veer Pratap Singh’s name when she addresses SRK. All the while he is known as Qaidi 786 or Rakesh Rathore –the conspiracy which was nailed to him! (By the way the obsession with 786 in India movies will I guess always remain, remember Deewar (old)) * Why are the love stories in Hindi movies about the boy from India and girl from Pakistan. Why not the other way around? * Does Pakistan have such stories as Henna, Gadar, Deewar (new)? * Why are there so many bus accidents on the way from Pakistan to India? Maybe it is because of that Afghani hashish that these drivers are known to consume.

The bus accidents surprisingly have a critical role in bringing Veer-Zaara together; the first time they meet is after she has a bus accident. While the second accident even though not Raza Shirazi’s conspiracy (which if it had been would have unnecessary anguish) was the cause of Zinta’s decision for her life ahead…

Veer Zaara -a beautiful movie with heart and soul. A love, which lasts the test of time. And worth the three and half hours of our lives too!

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