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.

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!

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.

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.

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.