Veer

Where to start? I was going to watch a Salman Khan starrer, so naturally all my expectations were low. VERY low.

I've learned not to expect anything great from him. And, not to forget, I was going to watch a photocopy of my favourite actress, Katrina Kaif (favourite, mind you, for all reasons other than her acting!), which is really frustrating. This is the second time Salman is doing something like getting a carbon copy.

So, anyways, in one word, this movie is average. Very average. For more than one reason. It's a good entertainer, but all the super-bollywoody factors make me hate it, like flying (means a LOOOOOOONG jump), like breaking a sword with a bloody fist, etc, etc. Thank god for what happens in the end, though.

The direction is OK, doesn't feel stretched, but isn't that smooth either. The editing is flawed, but I'd give the cinematography a solid 8/10. Scenes are beautifully captured, no doubt. The 300-type CGI makes one want to puke, at times. The soundtrack... except the one song that I know people will like, it sucks.

And for the performances... Salman Khan's acting was... let's say... what it was supposed to be. Satisfying, nothing great. For others, it was fine. The newcomer Katrina Kaif-ish girl, though didn't have too many dialogues, was pretty OK.

And for the movie... I just LIKED one thing, which is the small twist in the end. As for the rest, it was OK. It is, after all, a love story, and nothing more. And when it comes to love, India has invented so many stories and I've seen so many that honestly, I'm bored. I mean, come on, what are they gonna do next, make films on capturing a terrorist, or a common cold? 6/10. Don't really go on my rating, I'm too critical. But go for it - it's a one-time-watch, and a sure-to-be-hit.

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".

In few words, the movie which successfully manages to impress the viewers with its powerful content in the first half, fails miserably post intermission and becomes a great let down after its initial one hour. Revolving around a revolutionary tribe named "Pandari's" which existed in the period of 19th century, it talks about the same old father-son vengeance story, which also involves the angle of The Ruling Britishers and their relationships with the Rajput Kings.

Truly speaking, "Veer" starts off quite well, with an explosive & impactful opening sequence which right away forces every person in the theater to take it seriously. Justifying all the historical events happening on the screen with a voice over, the movie makes a successful start and the powerful scenes of Mithun Da & Salman Khan together raise the bar further. "Taali" the first song of the movie, also makes an impression. The song even reminded me of one similar dance sequence in the famous cult movie "Fiddler on the Roof".

In fact, the first half of "Veer" has some excellent scenes, both acted and directed brilliantly. Like the one against animal sacrifice in the name of Religion, the shot with the graphical representation of London in the 19th century, the University scene where Salman answers back to his racist professor and the punishment scene right after. But the real problem starts just before the intermission where Salman performs a lethal bloodshed killing several British soldiers along with the two Rajput brothers of the leading lady.

Actually all the liberties taken by the script writers, which have no logical explanations, start right after the intermission when suddenly you see both Salman & Sohail returning to India (just like that), after mercilessly killing so many people right in the University Grounds in front of all the students. From here on the film takes a negative 'U-turn' and with every new scene progressing on the screen, you start forgetting the excellent scenes witnessed in the first half. After the interval, the narration slows down majorly, as the love story takes the front seat. Moreover, the final moments of the movie are also not capable of awakening the patriotic emotions in the viewers as usually seen in the movies made around the subject of India and its Freedom.

Visually, "Veer" is grand, royal and well worked upon. Cinematography, Visual Effects and Art Direction have a stunning impact and play as another character in the story on the screen. Musically it's undoubtedly among the top 3 musical scores of the duo Sajid-Wajid and they have delivered some real soulful numbers such as "Sureeli Akhiyon Waley" & "Salaam Aaya". Gulzar once again comes up with some logically unexplainable but great deep meaningful words. Only the person who had written "Humne Dekhi Hai Un Ankhon Ki Mehakati Khushboo", could have written "Sureeli Akhiyon Waley". As expected, "Veer" completely belongs to Salman Khan and his dominant screen presence. He realistically lives the character of Veer and delivers a fine performance, but the period feel of the movie may disappoint lot of his young fans who love to see him dressed in cool denims and open shirts. After Salman its Mithun Da to watch out for, with his piercing eyes and strong dialogue delivery. Zarine Khan, no doubts resembles Katrina, but she still looks pretty, though a little overweight. She may be taken in for a specific purpose but manages to give an OK performance in the movie. Jackie Shroff has slightly done it over the top. Sohail Khan does the usual act similar to his previous flicks. Both Puru Raaj Kumar & Aryan Vaid don't get enough scope to make an impact but Neena Gupta shines in her few scenes. Interestingly there are no familiar faces in the actors playing the British Officers and they all do the usual stuff without making any great efforts. "Veer" also has its resemblances with "Taras Bulba" (1962) and "Kranti" (1981). Apart from a similar climax, it even has a half arm person in the form of Jackie Shroff just as there was Prem Chopra in "Kranti".

Anil Sharma, tries to revive the magic of "Gadar" with many similar kind of heroic sequences using the current He-man Salman, following the legacy of Dharmendra & Sunny Deol. But in absence of a logical script and a tight edit, he fails to connect with the audiences after few initial engrossing moments and thus could only deliver a half hearted project.

In the end, I would sincerely like to add, that "Veer" could have been a much better movie with a more realistically directed and written second half. It is clearly the fault of the script writer and the director that the movie which reasonably impresses you in the first half, works so negatively post intermission. As Salman has reportedly written the main story of the movie, I doubt whether this was exactly the tale he wanted to bring on the wide screen. Anyway, if you are a Salman Khan fan, then you are surely going to like it, especially before intermission. Otherwise the magnum epic satisfies the viewer only partially.

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.

Veer is no art-house flick and nor is it historically accurate. Its a historical drama with an entertainment capacity only. One cannot expect to watch this film and analyze it as being "poetry in motion" or groundbreaking.

Like most Salman Khan movies its a pure entertainer and quite paisa vasool in this regard. There are cringe worthy moments with the historical inaccuracies (would there really have been female "exchange students" in the era in question?)and following the interval the film loses some momentum. However whilst these flaws are present they are overshadowed by the stellar aspects of the film such as the impactful performances and melodious music.

Salman Khan is PHENOMENAL in and as Veer. During the course of the film one cannot separate him from Veer and never has he delivered such a consistent serious performance. His role is strong, powerful and intense which he meets all throughout the film, to the extent that one is able to overlook the films ludicrous historical inaccuracies.

Mithunda is another consistent and powerful performer in the film. He is a pleasure to watch and the audience will find themselves missing him in the portion of the film Veer is in England. All the other cast are strictly OK, understandable by the sheer strength and presence in the performances mentioned before. As far as Zarine Khan is concerned her role is undemanding,however her screen presence ought to be noted.

The films music alongside the awesome performances is another of it's assets. All the songs are beautiful and well placed in the film. Surprisingly none of the songs stick out like a sore thumb and really enhance the film.

What exactly happens post-interval is difficult to pinpoint, the plot slackens and it hits the viewer as it was preceded by the such an engrossing and speedy first half. However the film does quicken toward the end and the ending coupled with Salman and Mithunda's intensity and chemistry can almost make the viewer forget the preceding "shonkiness".

Veer is not the greatest film ever made, but it isn't the worst as one of its critics cited (comparing it to Tashan!). It is a mega entertainer, a great cinematic experience and perhaps one of Salman Khan's best performances.

Veer's production budget was rumored to be around Rs 50 crore. Obviously that raised my expectations to a new height. Had my fingers crossed and hoped that Salman Khan might have finally delivered something laudable. But within 10 minutes into the movie, I knew that I was going to be greatly disappointed, once again.

The story was simply absurd. Any story on the struggle for independence against British Raj should not be narrated with so much surrealism. The viewers must be somehow influenced to be sympathetic and respectful to the characters who fought long and hard to win our freedom. Instead, the movie felt like a stupid joke at times and many people inside the theater started laughing. In the process of writing a period movie, the writer seemed to have been lost in time a few times. Certain parts of the story (in London) felt too modern to be early twentieth century. If Mangal Pandey ought to be criticized for lacking sense of proportion then I am not even sure what to say about Veer.

Salman Khan should consider some training in serious acting. His expressionless face became a burden to watch at times. He should realize that it is time for him to come on the screen as the character, not as Salman Khan. The lead actress was equally inept in her role. Mithun Chakravarty was melodramatic as usual, but he was bearable. The quality of the English actors was mostly poor.

I must admire the technical aspects of the movie though. The sets, costumes, artifacts, decorations, computer graphics, cinematography, etc were one of the best I have seen in Indian movies. Editing could have been better. Some of the fight scenes and stunts seemed old school and felt flimsy in comparison to standard Hollywood action movies.

Anyway, I believe such astronomical production cost and efforts could have been much better utilized on a story from Ramayan or Mahabharat.