Phil goes Bollywood: Phil watches VEER-ZAARA (2004)-December 7, 2011

Once again I took a trip to India via the amazing Bollywood films I found at my local library. One of the film I picked up looked very interesting. A film about the various stages of love: love at first sight, unconditional love, lost love, forbidden love, and reunited love. A story about one true love, and about fighting to keep that love with you through the good times and the bad times. What would you do for your one true love? Tonight's film was one of the best love stories to come out of India. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause to director's Yash Chopra's masterpiece VEER-ZAARA.

Original India Movie Poster (2004)

Veer Pratap Singh (Shah Rukh Khan from RA.ONE and the narrator of KISMAT KONNECTION) is an Indian Air Force Squadron Leader who on a mission rescues and befriends a beautiful Pakistani heiress, Zaara Hayaat Khan (Preity Zinta), as she travels to a small Indian village to scatter the ashes of one of her family's loyal servants.Veer helps her with her travel and to repay him, she travel with him to meet his family and his village. During the trip the two fall madly in love with one another. However, Veer learns that Zaara is engaged to a evil and cruel man named Raza (Manoj Bajpai). Zaara's close friend Shabbo (Divya Dutta) contacts Veer and tells him that she wants out of her engagement and is in love with him. But when he comes to rescue her, Raza arranges Veer to be set up as a Indian spy and is sent to jail. Twenty-two years later, a young and idealistic lawyer Saamiya Siddiqui (Rani Mukherjee) discovers Veer's case and takes swift actions to set her client free, but the question still remains: whatever became of Zaara?

This was such a powerful and emotional film that I caught my tearing up throughout the film. Both Khan and Zinta have great chemistry on screen; their performances are so captivating and convincing that you'd swear you're watching them actually falling in love with one another. Within the first 30 minutes of the film you'll fall in love with them as well. Singh is proud, dashing, and strong but falls hard for Zaara, the carefree spirited soul who had no plans of ever falling in love, suddenly unable to live her life without Singh in it.

Each of these talented actors brings with them vulnerability to their characters; they are flawed, they are human, which makes them relatable to us the audience. We have had that one love that got away. I myself just recently went through this a couple of years ago. The pain I went through is the very same thing that both Veer and Zaara must suffer as well. Also Mukherjee is just as incredible and breathtaking as Zinta. A very talented up and coming actress in Bollywood.

Like other Bollywood films, there are several great musical numbers that really heighten the film's romantic love affair. Right in the beginning of the film we are introduced to Singh's musical sequence looks and it feels like it came from THE SOUND OF MUSIC: sweeping hills of green grass, saturated color, the wind blowing Singh's hair in the wind while he sings about finding love, only for the scene to end with a sound of a gunshot. Then cut to seeing Singh, looking haggard and unkempt as he rots away in a cold, dark prison cell. Credit to director Chopra for creating simply a magnificent film! The movie was released in India to theaters on November 14, 2004.

VEER-ZAARA is one of the greatest romance films ever made; touching, emotional and honest. The film will make you feel like you are watching art. It doesn't matter what country your from or what language you speak, we all understand the language of love. Five out of five stars!

VEER-ZAARA is currently available on DVD and can be purchased on the Amazon website by visiting www.amazon.com

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!