Thanks to Yash Raj and SRK charisma, as nothing less could have inspired a lazy guy like me to wake up from my hibernation. (Diwali + Yash Raj + SRK + Musical blockbuster) is the perfect ingredient for any hit…but it also means a lot of hype and raises the expectations multifold. It is quite evident with the mad race on MS to release the reviews even much before movie got released. Does, just the number of clicks matter so much???
STAR CAST
shehenSHAH Ruk-ruk K-k-khaan : Veer Pratap Singh (Mr Romeo, Majnoo)
preTTy Gin-Tah : Zaara Hyatt Khan (Ms Juliet)
Ranee Muk-Her-Jee : Samiya Siddiki (Vakeel Sahiba)
Big B : Sumer Singh (Veer’s Pa…kind off)
Hey-Maa Malli-nee : Mati , Maiti, Matri, Maitri..not sure (Veer’s Ma...kind off)
Bow-Man Era-neee : Hyatt Khan ( use logic…who else)
Kiron Kher : Mrs Khan
Divvya duTTa : Shabbo
Others include : Zohra Sehgal, Akhilendra Misra, Tom Alter and some surprise packages (revealed in POST-MORTEM section)
STORY
O ji , main dassa twanu…vaddi soni movie haigi. Tussi apni voti naal jroor vekhnaa…oh sorry! The best and the worst part of movie is most of the movie is Punjabi. For a guy like me who understand the language well, it was a pleasant experience and I loved it. But, some other friends of mine really found it difficult…and movie lost its charm for them.
There is nothing much in the story… it’s a plain and simple one. But believe me, it has been presented well, accolades to Magic Masala of Yash Chopra. He can make anything beautiful. In a nutshell…without any spoilers, story goes :
Story starts with a flash back, where SRK tells Rani about her past. SRK (Indian, Hinduu, Pilot) falls in LUV with Preity (Pakistanee, Muslimm, passenger) who is on a personal visit to India. To make sure...that their Paplooo really gets fit, he takes her to meet his parents. Both love each other. But can’t get united so easily…coz Samaaj- Jaani Dushhman and Log kya kahenge due to profile mismatch.
But what the heck SRK doin in Jail? That too for 22 years? What happens to Preity? Well some questions better remain unanswered at this moment. For spoilers read POST-MORTEM or M2M me.
PERFORMANCE
SRK : Of course, no one can doubt credentials of SRK…he is a very good actor. But, all his roles are similar with more or less same acting. It’s the same character acting in different movies. The same Ideal lover, Ideal son, Ideal son-in-law Sobbing…giving philosophical fandey…his left facing smile keeping right side stiff. You take DDLJ, Mohabbatein, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Kal ho na ho, Main hoon naa. I am not sure, how long viewers will appreciate repetition. One more advise to SRK… he shud quit smoking, he is getting skinny and that charm on face is no longer there. Soon, he wont need a make up to look that old.
Preity : She shud thank her stars for being so lucky. Preity is on her career high nowadays after KOI MIL GAYA, KAL HO NA HO, LAKSHYA and now VEER ZAARA. She is the replacement of Kajol to pair with SRK in Chopras n Johar’s film, so bound to do well. Acting-wise, she has improved a lot and with such golden opportunities, she is bound to grab numero uno slot.
Rani : She is one of the finest actress present in current bollywood. Her skills have been admired in Saathiya, Chalte-Chalte and Yuva. One must appreciate the variety in her roles, she is moving away from usual glamorous roles. But, its bit risky as well… Coz one gets typecast too early in bollywood. Urmila is the classic example…she can only get roles of psycho.
Big B : Nowadays, Big B is present in each and every ad and movie. Shud I say, his golden days are back where no movie can be made without him. Jokes apart…but the role of Sumer Singh couldn’t have been done by any one else so well. His role is just opposite of what he played in Mohabattein, Kabh Khushi Kabhi Gham of an Old generation Father against love and romance. In Veer-Zaara, he is more romantic than SRK.
With Baaghbaan, Hema has made a wonderful comeback. But, she isn’t looking as beautiful as in Baaghbaan. Her on screen chemistry has worked well with BigB. Boman Irani had hardly any role to play. Complete waste of a brilliant actor. Kiron Kher has done a nice job. Divvya Dutta looks very cute in that sweet Punjabi accent. As she is Punjabi herself, it was a cake walk for her. Others have also performed well.
MYOO-SIC
With the music of Late Madan Mohan and lyrics of Javed Akhtar, songs are bound to be brilliant.
Tere Liye is the most beautiful song. Tears rolled down the cheeks when this song came. It has been placed well in the end for some good reason (read in POST-MORTEM).
Aaya Tere Dar pe is a wonderful qawwali and picturised very beautifully. My fav one is Lohadi song…Gurdaas maan has prob sung first time for a commercial bollywood flick. His voice suits BigB very much…Tere Kurbaan Jaanwaan. Lataji’s voice suited Hema Malini also. But, it was a kind of mismatch for Preity in hum to bhai jaise hain…also song wasn’t that good. Aisa Des hai mera reminds of Ghar aaja Pardesi of DDLJ. Rest all songs are average.
WARNING : Some climax scenes revealed ahead. Continue reading at your own risk..
POST-MORTEM
As I said earlier, there is nothing new in this movie. If one sees carefully, it is PYAAR TO HONA HI THA + DDLJ + MILAN.
Taking actress to her village is akin to what Ajay Devgan did in PYAAR TO HONA HI THA. Lodi song also resembles Aaj hai Sagai song of PTHHT. Need less to say, rest of first half is DDLJ. Gals marriage has been fixed, in the mean while she falls in love, gals mom giving her gyaan, Guy coming to groom’s place(Manoj Bajpayee in this case) to take her back , his tearful talk with gals mom! In DDLJ, it was U.K to India, where it is India to Pakistan in this case. So add little complexities of animosity factor. Dunno, how many of you have seen Milan. In this Jackie Shroff is old…goes to flash-back bout his story with Manisha Koirala. Finally they meet when both are 60 plus.
I am not accusing director to copy the plot from here and there. I just want to stress the point that, although there was nothing new…but the VEER-ZAARA dish tastes amazing with perfect garnishing of Yash Chopra!!! Also, the plot has been handled well…it doesn’t have any loop holes , that I can think of at least.
The last part of movie was totally unexpected. No body would have thought the same about Zaara. Entire court room drama has been shot well. Anupam Kher does well in guest appearance. It was a sincere attempt made by Director to project it as a classical love story. To add one more pair in the list of Romeo-Juliet, Laila-Majnoo and Heer-Ranjha, where both of them sacrifices 22 years(almost dbl of life imprisonment) of their life for each other. Veer makes sure his decision doesn’t tarnish Zaara’s character. And Zaara decides to keep the promise , Veer did with his parents. Thats really touching..
My Fav Scenes in comments section...read carefully, climax revealed
Waiting for your ratings and comments… WISHING ALL OF YOU A HAPPY AND BRIGHT DIWALI