2004 - Movie of the Year. Review on Veer-Zara

For its home audience in India, this romance (with the splashy musical numbers) is a Romeo and Juliet story about partition and tolerance; the heroine is Pakistani and the hero Indian. It is also a teaming of three of India's biggest movie stars, Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee guided by the 72-year-old Pakistani-born Indian director Yash Chopra.

The setting of the film is different as Yash Chopra takes advantage of the thaw in the relations of the two neighboring countries and places his leading actors on opposite sides of the border. Veer Pratap Singh (Shah Rukh Khan) is a Hindustani and Zaara Hayat Khan (Preity Zinta) a Pakistani. Chopra is at pains to show you that nationality is immaterial, that we are the same people, despite caste creed and religion. And this is what gives the film merit.

On a trip to India, Zaara bumps into Veer who is taken by her beauty and her reason to see her “Bebe's” asthiyan finish its final rituals. A journey of a day turns into another day when Veer takes her home to his village to show her something of his country. Of course, Chopra manages to convey, with every character, with every song, that “jaisa tera des, waisa mera des”. On Zaara's return to Pakistan, Veer pours out his love to Zaara upon finding that she is promised to marry Manoj Bajpai. It is at this point that Zaara realizes his love for her shown through classics song like “Do Pal” and “Mai Yahan Hoo”, unbelievable as it may be, both to her and to the audience given the two days of fun and frolic and nothing much else that they have spent together. Events develop whereby Veer arrives in Pakistan to win back his love only to find that he is forced to give her up and maintain a silence in a Pakistani jail, all for the sake of her honor. Zaara is to be married off to Bajpai and Veer's silence will ensure for her, a life of happiness.

And this is how the film opens, with Veer in a Pakistani jail serving, silently passing the years away until his case is taken up by a lawyer Samiya Siddiqui (Rani Mukherjee), fighting her first case. To appreciate the Bollywood tear-jerker, you have to accept the possibility that a prisoner who has not said a word in 22 years would, upon meeting a beautiful young lawyer who calls him by his name rather than his number, not just break his silence but also immediately pour forth more than three hours worth of his story.

The story unravels in flashback and we move slowly to the final outcome, waiting to understand the fate of Zaara and whether Veer will ever return to his homeland.

In a way, VEER-ZAARA does follow the same path as DULWALE DULHANIYA LE JAYENGE. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, the girl is already engaged and the boy reaches the girl’s country to bring her back, the parental opposition that ensues… But there’s more in VEER-ZAARA. The backdrop of Pakistan gives the film a new look, a new color altogether.

A mature love story, VEER-ZAARA narrates a story that’s quite novel. Just when you think that the story would turn predictable comes a twist and everything changes.

The goings-on continue to gather momentum, till the pre-climax. And with Zaara’s re-appearance in the film, the story again takes a new turn. However, the climax – a happy ending – could’ve been better thought of. There was scope for so much drama in the finale, but a somewhat predictable end does dilute the impact. Besides, incorporating a song in the courtroom itself “Tere Liye” another classic looks weird.

Madan Mohan’s music relies on melody and the tunes fit the story like gloves. The lyrical value of all songs Javed Akhtar is rich. On the whole, VEER-ZAARA is a winner all the way – in terms of direction, scripting, music, performances… No doubt on it being a blockbuster!