Film Review: VEER Salman Khan

Cast: Salman Khan, Mithun Chakraborty, Jackie Shroff, Zarine Khan, Neena Gupta, Sohail Khan

Director: Anil Sharma

The Story:

The film is set in the 1860s when the British had established the English colony in India and hoped to take over the whole country. While many of the Indian kings including the ruler of Madhavgarh (Jackie Shroff) had taken the side of the British, the strong and rough Pindaris were keen to take a stand.

Prithvi Singh (Mithun Chakraborty) chops away the Madhavgarh king’s fore arm when he finds out that his tribe has been betrayed. The British cannons blow away a number of their men at this point. That’s when Prithvi swears to bring justice.

Twenty-five years later, Veer (Salman Khan), Prithvi’s son, is trained to take on the might of the British. Veer and his brother Punya (Sohail Khan) are sent to London to be educated. Veer meets Yashodhara (Zarine Khan) for the second time and gives his heart to her.

It is later that he finds out that Yashodhara is the daughter of his father Prithvi’s worst enemy and the Princess of Madhavgarh. The film goes on to show whether Prithvi is able to keep his promise to his tribesmen and whether Veer gets married to the love of his life.

Our Perception:
The film has been shot superbly, the cinematography nothing short of exotic. The historic scenes come to life in the many settings in the guise of the forts, the battlefields and the tribal get-togethers. The grandeur of colours and costumes are totally convincing.

The film is sure to bring joy to Salman fans. He has become quite fit and done total justice to the part of Veer. There were a few minutes that got me worried when the brothers land in London and Veer starts singing in the streets. At that point, I was quite sure that the film was going to the dogs. But luckily, it was but a dream sequence and the film picks of from there. Salman has already proved his prowess in romantic scenes in movies like Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hai Kaun? This is just another feather in his cap as he is subtlety personified in the romantic sequences.

Mithun Chakraborty is superb in his role as the tribal leader of the Pindaris and as Veer’s father. A special kudos to the veteran!

Sohail Khan’s acting is like a persistent fly that keeps irritating you however hard you try to ignore it or push it away. He does all his roles in exactly the same way, speaks in the same fashion and has the same expression. If he seriously believes that he is adding to the comedy quotient, he needs his head examined.

Zarine Khan – well, many of the reviews have insisted that she is fat or plump. Are people blind? If you tend to compare her to the pencil thin Katrina Kaif, yeah, Zarine might be called plump. But otherwise, she is quite alright. The young women of today are keen to have reed thin figures and are ready to starve themselves for the same. But here we are talking about history set 150 years ago. Zarine Khan looks very good in the part and she can act. I cannot say the same for Katrina Kaif even though she is extremely popular due more to her British accent. Zarine has a role that has very few words to say and she has to rely totally on her facial expression and she has played the part of Yashodhara really well.

The only problem with the film is that it has been released at the wrong time. There is a mood that plays with film goers. Today, the trend is more towards sci-fi, horror and violence. A romance or a historical one at that is bound to take a back-seat and will not be able to receive as good a response as it could have otherwise. A film-maker needs to keep the trend very much in mind before creating a movie.

Otherwise, the movie itself has been so well made, the editing just right. There were no dragged out sequences and the music was also very good.

To see or not to see: It’s worth a watch on the big screen if you a Salman fan or if you like history.

Rating: ***Smart

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super