Saturday, February 12, 2011

Veer Zaara (released in 2004) - A cross-border romance starring Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji

Veer Zaara is a movie from the Yash Chopra production house, produced by Aditya Chopra, and directed by Yash Chopra. The movie was released in 2004, and was set in a cross border situation between India and Pakistan, where the inherent hostility between the 2 nations provides a great situation to set a story of hostility and romance. The movie showcases the full power of love, where people are willing to take a 22 year delay for their loved ones. The movie was promoted with all the power that Yash Raj Films could use, and turned out to be a huge hit, in India, in Pakistan, and in the overseas market.
The movie also had the distinction where the music was by using tunes from the deceased famous Music Director, Madan Mohan, where unreleased tunes of the famous music director were used, with his son Sanjeev Kohli, leading this effort. The female lead of the songs was Lata Mangeshkar, adding to the poignancy of the overall effort, since she has sung for many movies in the past where Madan Mohan was the Music director. The movie received a large number of awards in the Filmfare awards, IIFA awards, Stardust Awards, Star Screen awards, Zee Cine Awards, and many others. It was almost like a clean sweep of the awards, with these covering Best Film, Actor, Actress, Best Director, etc.




The movie is about the romance between Veer Pratap Singh (Shahrukh Khan) and Zaara Haayat Khan (Preity Zinta), where Veer is a Squadron Leader with the Indian air force, and Zaara is a young Pakistani girl from a prominent family. She is already engaged to Raza (Manoj Bajpai). Zaara comes to Punjab in India for fulfilling the last wishes of her governess, who wanted her ashes to be scattered in the river Sutlej near the holy city of Kiratpur. However, when Zaara comes over, she is left in a precarious position due to a bus accident, and Veer saves her with his helicopter. He takes her one day to his village where she meets his parents, Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini, in a small appearance. They are impressed with Zaara, but the couple separate when it is clear that they need to go on their own ways.
Zaara is now confused, since she has come to love Veer, but must marry Raza for the sake of pride and honour; Veer comes when told to by Zaara's maid, but when he comes to their home, her mother implores him to go away for the sake of their family. However, when he is going, Raza takes revenge by getting him arrested as a spy. And that is where things go totally wrong, since Veer is sent to jail, and Zaara believes that Veer had died in a bus accident.
22 years later, a young firebrand lawyer called Saamiya Siddiqui (Rani Mukerji) is fighting for the rights of women in Pakistan, and also gets allotted the case of prisoner number 786, Veer, who has been convicted of being an Indian spy called Rajesh Rathod. Veer has not spoken to anyone, which makes the case all the more difficult.
What happens next ? How does she find out the truth, and do the lovers meet again after 22 years ?

Veer Zaara (released in 2004) - A cross-border romance starring Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji
List of songs from the movie: 1. Tere Liye 2. Main Yahan Hoon 3. Aisa Des Hain Mera 4. Yeh Hum Aa gaye hain kahan 5. Do Pal 6. Kyun Hawa 7. Hum To Bhai Jaise 8. Aaye Tere Dar Pe 9. Lodi 10. Tum Paas Aa Rahein Ho 11. Jaane Kyon

No comments: