Veer

One of the curious things about watching a Hindi film here, is how you get to see the censor certificate before the show begins, with signatories of approval as well as something which I like to spot – the physical length of the film measured in feet, over X number of projected reels. For Veer, this marks the first time I see the censors being quite upfront about the amount of snips down to the movie, which amounted to some 10 ft worth of film. At least you'd come to expect that the film was cut, and here it's for the gratuitous violence which unfortunately had the more gory bits left on the cutting room floor.

Salman Khan follows up on the disappointment of last year's London Dreams with this effort directed by Anil Sharma, responsible for what's arguably India's largest film Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. Unfortunately for what Veer had promised to be one heck of an epic set in a time of tumultuous India with factions battling it out for land, and the invasion of the British by virtue of alliances with Indian kings craving that upper hand in military logistics, not knowing that they're being nothing but slowly colonized by their British masters.

As the story goes, Salman Khan plays Veer, a Pindari general's child whose clansman were massacred through a betrayal by Madhavgarh King Gyanendra (Jackie Shroff). Fearsome in battle and men of their word, the warrior clan Pindaris are not taking this lying down, and have scattered with a vow to one day exact their vengeance against King Gyanendra. The first child born during their exile, Veer gets taught the ways of the warrior kind, before being sent to London with his brother Punya (Sohail Khan) in order to learn the ways of the Britishers (yeah) and especially their cunning minds, one small step toward their goal of overthrowing the Madhavgarh king through the exploiting of his backer's weaknesses and to circumvent their strategy of divide and conquer over India.

Alas Veer has to fall in love in typical Bollywood fashion, and what more in true Romeo and Juliet style. In fact, most of the film adopts this epic love story, which becomes centerstage for Veer's romance, and plot against his father's and people's common enemy. Like the fabled line from Shakespeare's tragedy "too early seen unknown, and known too late", he and Princess Yashod (Zarine Khan, a fleshier dead ringer for Katrina Kaif) realize the enormous obstacles lying in front of them, and have to choose whether to fulfill personal desires, that of their father's (in crushing the other side), while shouldering the weight of their people's welfare as well whether to fight another bloody war, or to kowtow to the British who are pompously throwing their weight around.

While I didn't appreciate much of the token battle and action sequence in the first half, and even Veer's attack of a train for treasure and the love at first sight encounter with Yashod, the narrative was kept tight in the setting of the premise until you realize it's a love story after all, with Veer being a rather smart Romeo in trying to kill multiple birds with a single stone. The scenes in London where both Veer and Punya enrol in a college, and reconnect with Yashod again, was something out of a high school romance with plenty of song and dance to go around so much that it actually gets boring no thanks to the repetitive romantic theme played until ad nausem , until two tragic turn of events set the stage for a cliffhanger just before the interval. It is in this section that Sohail Khan shines as Punya, used mostly for comic relief and then fading away as an underdeveloped character despite some glimpses of a fearsome warrior in the making.

The second half after the interval somehow imploded through its lost sense of direction, and the muddled development of plotting for revenge, fulfillment of promises, and the battling for the hand of Yashod all seemed too scattered. For all the sweeping motion of battle horses and foot soldiers clashing in battle, there was a distinct lack of big battle sequences which are obligatory for a sword and sandals film, and in its place you got a hokey joust with a muscular Caucasian, as well as an emotionally empty father versus son tirade. You cannot deny that Salman Khan tried hard, but it came across as trying too hard yet again, made worst by his display of only two emotions in the entire film – lovelorn and rage, which for some inexplicable reason the latter facial display comes with complete with some cheesy lion-roar effect to accentuate his angry mood.

India has its fair share of contemporary epics set in its period days, and two excellent films which I have watched come to mind in Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar (incidentally both directed by Ashutosh Gowariker). Unfortunately Veer doesn't even come close to matching the standards set by those two in terms of story, action and songs even. You can see glimpses of what Veer had tried to do, but it lacked focus and was poor in delivery, and the final, cheesy and needless scene just drove the final nail into the film's coffin. I'm also sad to say that of the 3 Khans of Bollywood, Salman has yet to impress me with this choice of projects to star in.

Five things about Veer are actually good, even very good: Jackie Shroff, Mithun Chakraborthy, the music, the visuals, and the basic idea. And that's about where it ends. I won't even start listing those things that are bad...

Apparently, Veer was meant to become The Salman Khan Movie To End All Salman Khan Movies. Salman himself is responsible for the story, which supposedly took him no less than twenty years. The result proves that whatever one may think about Sallu, story-writing is definitely Not His Thing. It should be said, the first 30 minutes of the movie are promising and evoke high expectations, but all the rest is just one big and rather tasteless ego-trip. To such a degree that you can't even say this movie is about Veer at all... no, it is about Salman: Salman dressed up as a Pindari, Salman dressed up as an English gentleman, Salman dressed up as a gladiator, Salman dressed up as Highlander, Salman dressed up as an Indian prince, and of course, Salman in his trademark outfit, his naked muscled chest. The story appears to be completely subordinated to Salman, his poses and his costumes.

The role of princess Yashodhara was obviously meant to be played by Salman's fiancée, but because Katrina had other obligations, he had to find replacement. And so he picked a débutante as his heroine, whose only asset appears to be a certain physical similarity to La Kaif. Mistake number 2, because "Zatrina" quite clearly lacks the talent, the acting skills and the charisma to pull off this one. Her screen presence irritates from the first to the last scene, even though the role wasn't a particularly challenging one anyway. In fact, the film would have been a lot better off without the whole obligatory love story, annoying even for Bollywood standards.

Watching this movie, I got the impression that Salman hoped to create his own "Jodhaa Akbar" or "The Rising". But all he managed was creating his own "Dharam Veer" - without Dharam to that! Manmohan Desai's "Dharam Veer" is at least funny and absurd, however, Salman's Veer is not funny at all. If he would at least have added some humor the Veer character, things might have turned out differently, because Salman happens to a good comedian from time to time. But instead, he left the comedy bits to his brother Sohail who, although not a bad actor himself, is notoriously bad at comedy. And thus, the movie that was supposed to showcase all Salman's abilities as an actor, turns out more successful at showcasing his limitations. The feeling that remains is that this movie deserved to become something much better than it actually became: a major disappointment.

Anil Sharma's Magnum Opus, 'Veer' is finally out. Is it good, it worth the hype? The answer is a big YES! 'Veer' is a great entertainer, it's escapist cinema at its best!

'Veer' takes inspiration from the cult classic 'Taras Bulba' & writer Salman Khan excepts the fact. But taking inspiration is no sin, it's no law-breaker. 'Veer' starts off the bang & ends the very same. Sure it slips in the middle {post-interval in the love story becomes boring} but a terrific finale takes away all the blemishes.

'Veer' is a film targeted at the front-bencher's, with Clap-worthy dialogs, Massy stars like Mithun & Salman, terrific locales. 'Veer' is meant for those who enjoy Cinema some times, because of it's escapism.

Pluses: Sharma's direction is good, wish he could've edited those boring portions in the second hr. Cinematography by Gopal Shah is so good, that he deserves a National-Award for his work in here. Music by Sajid-Wajid is beautiful. All the songs have a haunting tune. Background score is gripping. Performances are up-the-mark: Salman as Veer is very good; the Good-Looking Superstar delivers one of his careers best performances. Mithun is terrific. The Legendary actor plays the role of a lead Pindari with rare ease & understanding. Jackie is killer as the conniving villain. New-find Zarine Khan is not only a pretty face, but also a good performer. Puru Raaj Kumar is excellent, while Aryan Vaid doesn't get much scope. Neena Gupta is good.

Minuses: As mentioned, The second hr loses pace. In fact the Love Story seems boring. Sohail Khan's comedy track is absolutely bland.

On the whole 'Veer' is entertainment at its best. Go in with Popcorn, Nachos, Samosas & a large Pepsi. Thumbs Up!

There were mixed reactions about "Veer" before its release, since it was a period drama dealing with the same old Rajput Kings, Britishers and their revolts. The subject had its own limitations, holding a restricted appeal for the viewers. But there was Salman Khan, on Veer's side, with a gigantic fan following, who were all eager to see their favourite star in a new avatar of a revolutionary fighter.

So, the stage was all set for Salman to once again win over the box office with his majestic project which also had few melodious songs to its credit. But after watching more than 160 minutes of this fictional period epic, sadly Salman Khan himself, Mithun Da and the few well composed songs, remain the only worth mentioning features of this costly affair called "Veer".

I really liked the Salman Khan film "Veer", and actually was convinced the plot was quite original, until I learned as usual, it's yet another Bollywood version of an older English movie.

The 1962 "Taras Bulba", starring Yul Brynner and Tony Curtis, tells the same story (with less typical Hindi family drama of course) between the Cossacks and the Poles, taking place in the 16th century: "The Cossacks of Eastern Europe join the Poles to rid the Turks from the Steps of Europe. In return for their aid, the Poles agree to give control of the Steps to the Cossacks. After the battle, however, the Poles back out of their agreement and force the Cossacks into the hills. Taras Bulba, a Cossack Colonel, raises his son, Andrei Bulba to learn the ways of the Poles so he can one day defeat them in battle. In his learning process, however, Andrei falls in love with the daughter of a Polish Nobleman. This twist causes Andrei Bulba to choose between the love of the Cossacks, and the love of a woman, and causes Taras Bulba to choose between the love of his son, and the love of the Cossacks."