Veer-Zaara

Veer-Zaara

Sonja Chacon

Veer-Zaara is a love story directed by Yash Chopra and stars, of course, Shahrukh Khan as Veer, Preity Zinta as Zaara, Rani Mukerji as Saamiya; Amitabh Bachchan makes a cameo as well. This film was well received among Indian and global audiences it also won several film awards in India. This is a story about love and devotion not just for ones significant other but for ones “homeland” as well.

Set in modern times the story is told by Veer, who is an Indian prisoner in Pakistan. It is from his jail cell that he tells his lawyer, Saamiya Siddiqui, what it was that landed him in prison. The two lead characters Veer and Zaara meet by chance when Veer, a Squadron Leader in the Indian Air Force, has to rescue Zaara when her bus crashes on the side of the road. What lead to this crash? Well Zaara is a Pakistani Muslim girl who comes from a well known political family. Zaara finds herself crossing the border into India to carry out her “bebe's” dying wish. Her bebe had wanted her ashes to be scattered in India in the holy Sikh city of Kiritpur. Zaara on her way to Kiritpur winds up stranded when her bus crashes. After sharing an embarrassing moment with Veer, they find themselves at the same camp overnight. It is then decided that Veer will escort Zaara to Kiritpur. One can immediately see the sparks between the two. After they scatter the ashes Veer convinces Zaara to stay an extra day so that he can show her the town he grew up in and well, his India. They reach the village in time for the holiday Lodi. It is at this moment when Amitabh comes in as Veers adopted father. Zaara is shown this utopian village that Veers “parents” have created. Zaara is so comfortable in this environment that she even makes suggestions to improve the village. There is a wonderful song sequence and it is clear that Zaara fits right in with the rest of the village and that there is love for this “couple” to be from everyone. The next day as promised Veer escorts Zaara to the train station so that she can return to Pakistan, it is at this moment that we are introduced to Zaara's fiancé. He has come to India to take bring her back home. Unable to deny his feelings Veer confesses his love for Zaara, and watches her board the train with her groom to be. At this moment one is certain that Zaara feels the same about Veer, but what can she do?

Veer determined to win his bride quits the Air Force, so that he can cross the border, and makes haste to go to Zaara and bring her home to India. The site of him causes all of this drama with Zaara's family and her fiancés family. Her father pretends to be terminally ill unless she marries the man he chose, otherwise his political career will be over and the family will be deeply disgraced. Her mother begs Veer to forget about her daughter to save her family and her father. Veer, being the exemplar Indian son, agrees and promises to return to India. On his way out of the country he is arrested and accused of being a spy! Zaara's fiancé worked it out so that Veers identity was lost and gave him a new name to fit the accusation. The interesting thing here is that Veer had a choice; he chose his fate in prison rather than risk the chance that Zaaras name would be soiled and her happiness ruined. As fate would have the bus that Veer should have been on, on his way back to India, crashed and everyone died. Everyone he knew assumed he was on that us and so no one questioned why he never returned home.

So here we are 22 years later, Veer in a prison cell known only by his number 786 (which is an auspicious number in Islam). The time comes to go to trial and when nothing works, and poor Saamiya is not given much to argue since Veer refuses to talk about Zaara and her family, she decides to go India to find someone who could speak to Veers true identity. Something miraculous happens once Saamiya gets to the Veer's village, who does she find???? Zaara! Zaara never married Raza and she returned to Veers home and became a daughter of the village, remaining devoted to Veer. Saamiya brings Zaara to Pakistan and the two are reunited for the first time in 22 years. There is some fancy technology to show the aging of the two and a poignant poem/song recited by Veer which speaks to the political side of the film. He talks about how even though Zaara is Muslim and was born in Pakistan she is like him, he is like her; essentially there is no difference between Pakistanis and Indians. Veer is released and he and Zaara return to India to live happily ever after. This film speaks to those in the audience who are die hard romantics, and it also takes a stand in terms of Indian politics. Being a hopeless romantic I found this movie to be very enjoyable. This is the classic Shahrukh Khan role, and I have to admit the more one watches him in these roles the more attractive he gets. That being said I did have a problem with the fact that it was just assumed that Zaara's home was India and Pakistan didn’t seem to mean anything to her. The underlining in that being that Pakistan is India; or rather she is a daughter of India despite the border. All in all an enjoyable film, and worth checking out!