4/19/2010
Movie Review Veer-Zaara
In Yash Chopra’s 2004 film, Veer-Zaara, relations between India and Pakistan are explored through the context of a love story spanning several decades. The film was nominated for and won several awards, including Best Film in the 2005 Filmfare awards, and was one of the biggest films of 2004.
Veer Pratap Singh (Shah Rukh Khan) is an officer and rescue pilot in the Indian Air Force. Zaara Hayaat Khan (Preity Zinta) is the daughter of a Pakistani politician. Following the death of the woman who helped raise Zaara, who she calls Bebe, Zaara travels to India to complete Bebe’s final wishes, but on the way, her bus is involved in an accident. Veer, as a rescue pilot saves Zaara and then helps her scatter Bebe’s ashes. Veer convinces Zaara to spend one day with him in his village and the two begin to fall in love. However, before Veer can tell Zaara, he learns that she is engaged to a man in Pakistan. Before her wedding, a friend of Zaara’s calls Veer to tell him that Zaara is in love with him. Veer goes to Pakistan to win Zaara, but is arrested and sent to prison. After 22 years, Veer’s case is going to trial. His novice lawyer, Saamiya Siddiqui (Rani Mukerji) is up against a lawyer who has never lost a case. Saamiya wins the case by reuniting Veer with Zaara, who had gone to live in his village in India when she thought Veer had died 22 years earlier.
Veer-Zaara paints an ostensibly balanced picture between India and Pakistan. Throughout the movie, its songs, dialogues and character relationships, director Yash Chopra makes frequent comparisons to the two nations. Through Veer’s military career and Zaara’s political standing, the two appear to represent quintessential citizens of their respecting countries. As Veer escorts Zaara through India, he sings about his love for his country. Zaara responds by noting that the two are strikingly similar in many ways. Later, as Veer is in his prison cell in Pakistan he tells Saamiya that although he has been in Pakistan for years, it reminds him of his home in India and that there is not much difference between the two.
However, while Veer-Zaara is seemingly balanced, it can also be interpreted as being decidedly pro-Indian. When Veer first takes Zaara to meet his lovable family, his parents are overjoyed, not only to see Veer, but also to welcome his friend from Pakistan. Zaara is quickly accepted as part of the family. When Veer first meets Zaara’s family, although circumstances are far more dramatic, her family is angered and never really allows Veer to explain his love for Zaara. Zaara’s Pakistani fiancé forces Veer to spend his life in prison by threatening her future happiness. During the time Veer spends in prison, Zaara lives in his village in India. She left her family, her fiancé and her country to move to Veer’s village with his family. When Veer is finally released from prison, it is assumed that he and Zaara will live in India. While it is a Pakistani woman who eventually saves Veer from prison and reunites him with Zaara, the only negative characters in the movie are from Pakistan. The scenes set in Pakistan are mostly filled with sorrow, the death of Bebe, Veer’s imprisonment and the separation of the protagonists. The couple falls in love in India, which is shown to be more vibrant, colorful and welcoming.
Veer-Zaara also tackles women’s rights in both India and Pakistan. When Zaara visits Veer’s village, his father, Chaudhary Sumer Singh (Amitabh Bachchan), explains how he built the entire village, including the boys’ school. Zaara questions why there is no school for girls in the village, why the boys living in the village can become successful, like Veer, but the girls remain in their homes. Due to her, Chaudhary breaks ground on a new school for girls that evening. Saamiya, Veer’s Pakistani lawyer, is one of the first women in her field. She must not only win her case to ensure Veer’s freedom, but also to prove that women can have a role in what are traditionally defined as male occupations.
Veer-Zaara, as a box office success, navigated social and political issues deftly. The film proved successful not only as pure entertainment, but also as a social critique.
Works Cited
Veer-Zaara. Dir. Yash Chopra. Perf. Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukerji. 2004.
"Veer-Zaara (2004)." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. Apr. 2010.
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