Veer-Zaara - Movie Review

Published: October 23, 2009

By JENNIFER HOPFINGER

Starring Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Kirron Kher, Divya Dutta, Boman Irani, Anupam Kher, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Zohra Sehgal, Manoj Bajpai

The film was billed as a “love legend” and it certainly does have grand, epic sweep. But the story moves at a snail’s pace, and the very long, dull musical numbers weigh it down even more. However, the premise alone is pretty compelling—a forbidden, cross-border affair between an Indian boy and a Pakistani girl.

Actress Rani Mukerji plays Saamiya, a human-rights lawyer in Pakistan who is working to free an Indian who has been wrongfully imprisoned there for 22 years. The story of this man, whose spirit has been shattered behind bars, is told in flashback.

Zaara (played by Preity Zinta) is a young Pakistani girl who lives in Lahore. Her beloved, elderly nanny, Bebe (Zohra Sehgal), who came to Pakistan during Partition, is on her deathbed, and she asks Zaara to scatter her ashes in her homeland in India. Zaara carries out her wishes, but on the way there, she’s in a terrible bus accident. She’s dramatically rescued via helicopter by an Indian military pilot, Veer (Shahrukh Khan). Veer escorts Zaara to Bebe’s final resting place and then invites her to his home in a Punjabi village.

Zaara promptly falls in love with his warm family (his parents are played by Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini), their quaint community—and Veer. But she’s engaged and must return home, so Veer takes her to the train station, where her fiancé, Raza (Manoj Bajpai), is waiting. Before she leaves, Veer confesses his love for her. When Zaara gets home, she realizes she can’t marry Raza because of her feelings for Veer, much to the dismay of her mother (Kirron Kher) and father (Bomani Irani), a prominent politician in fragile health, who will be ruined if she defies him.

Veer follows Zaara to Pakistan for a showdown over her hand, which leads to his imprisonment. The way it all shakes out in the end is wonderfully ironic, but it doesn’t entirely make up for the overwrought climax.

Veer-Zaara is rated Worth Watching.

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