I credit Veer-Zaara with basically my entire Bollywood obsession. Ten years ago, my best friend and I ordered the dvd on the basis of a) Shahrukh Khan and b) the “Love Legend” tagline. We’d already watched Bride and Prejudice, which isn’t a very good movie, Devdas, which I hated, and Dil Se, which I really, really, did not get. Veer-Zaara was a good choice. Like Kandukondain, this movie is just as good ten years later. Maybe even better.
So we start with an absolutely standard romantic ballad in the yellow mustard, starring Shahrukh and an unknown woman. It’s not bad, but it’s not poignant until you’ve actually, you know, seen the whole movie.
After the credits, we meet Saamiya (Rani Mukerji), idealistic human rights lawyer in Pakistan. She’s been assigned her first case, an Indian prisoner who’s been in for 22 years. It’s probably an unwinnable case, since the man won’t speak. Until Saamiya addresses him as Veer Pratap Singh, previously of the Indian Air Force. And he tells his story.
Veer (Shahrukh, duh) was a rescue pilot with the Indian Air Force and it all started when he met a girl. A girl from Pakistan, spoiled and sheltered, and very beautiful, with a kind heart. Her father is a rich man, and has fixed her marriage with a political ally. Zaara is charming, because, well, she is played by Preity Zinta and there’s no way she couldn’t be. But her Bebe (Zohra Sehgal, the best grandmother Bollywood has ever known) passes away, and her dying wish is that her ashes be taken to Kiratpur, in India, to join her Sikh ancestors. So Zaara goes, alone, to India.
