Veer Zaara

Most movies in Bollywood have one specific focus, but also indirectly include other concepts in the storyline. Yash Chopra’s Veer Zaara (2004) is a good example of this; it brings up conflicts between India and Pakistan in a much more direct way than most movies before it had, while at the same time addressing women's rights in South Asia.

It may be difficult to avoid bias in a movie as controversial as Veer Zaara; however, many scenes in the movie make it quite clear that it has been made by Indians. India is shown in a positive light in every scene shot there, whereas Pakistan plays a more negative and depressing role throughout the movie. For example, Veer's parents are happy and supportive every time they appear in the movie; Zaara, on the other hand, has a money-minded father who cares more about his own reputation than his own daughter. Her mother is shown to be very submissive to her husband and seems to accept the fact that she will always love him more than he loves her. This is not the case with Veer's mother, who is an independent woman that has control over her husband; this and Veer's father's opening of a girl's school in their village both suggest that India is much further in the battle against the oppression of women. The only strong, happy, and independent Pakistani women shown in the entire movie are Zaara and Samia; Zaara moves to India for the second half of her life, and Samia is not shown to have much nationalist pride, mostly due to the women's rights issues in her country. In the end, Veer and Zaara are both content with leaving Pakistan, and there is no effort put into making Pakistan look like it is as good of a country to live in as India is.

The main character may not be the typical Bollywood hero, but the only difference is that he is Sikh instead of Hindu. This does not, however, compensate for the fact that Muslims are still shown as the inferior community. Veer and Zaara both come from well-off, powerful families in their respective communities. They are both the only children of their parents, and they are raised to be respectful and hard-working, yet also fun-loving. Everything about them seems to be the same, except for the fact that the Sikh parents are sweet and caring, whereas the Muslim parents are harder to connect with. This ties in with the India vs. Pakistan issue; it is essentially the same problem. This could have been avoided, however; religion did not have to be included in the movie. Both Veer and Zaara could have followed the same faith, since Pakistan and India cannot be divided into two separate religious communities, all Muslims and all non-Muslims.

Apart from the biased viewpoint on important social issues, Veer Zaara also has a very disappointing love story. In my opinion, there should be a limit on how dramatic a movie should be, even for Bollywood. Two complete strangers giving up 22 years of their lives for the two days they knew each other seems a little over-the-top cheesy to me. What makes the story even more ridiculous is the fact that Zaara falls in love with one line from Veer, stating that he would die for her, and she accepts this without question.

The one aspect of this movie that I enjoyed was the soundtrack; the songs are all well-written and beautifully composed. "Aisa Des Hai Mera" was a good song to promote the idea that India and Pakistan are very much alike, and that it is pointless for these countries to fight so much. Unfortunately, this point was not supported by a strong storyline. Still, this and the other ten songs take up a good part of the movie, making it a little more bearable.

Overall, I did not like Veer Zaara; it was disappointing in more than one way. It may have won four Filmfare awards and been nominated for many more, but I believe it had a lot of room for improvement. It could have been less biased, less focused on religion, and more believable for me to have enjoyed it. I feel it was an embarrassment for Bollywood, and it should not have received as much attention as it did.