Veer Review

'Veer' was one of the most awaited film of Salman Khan, after the blockbuster 'Wanted' but it would be disappointing news for Salman Khan's fans to know that it is not up to the mark. It comes nowhere close to 'Wanted'.

This film would also disappoint them who are great fans of director Anil Sharma who had earlier directed hit films like 'Gadar', 'Hukumat', 'Elan-E-Jung' etc.

This film has everything except a tight and good script. Salman Khan is good in everything except in writing the story of this film. He is the great son of the great screenwriter Salim Khan, who had written several super-hit films like 'Sholay', 'Deewwar', 'Don' and mostly all Amitabh Bchchan's hit films of 70's and 80's, with his co-writer Javed Akhtar. But being a son of a great screenwriter is not a guarantee of being a great writer too. Salman Khan is a great star and he has millions of fans in this country and abroad but when he tried to pen down the script of this film, he failed.

Salman's screenplay writers Shaktimaan Talwar and Shailesh Verma couldn't write interesting screenplay which doesn't have the power to retain the interest of the audience. People get tired of watching such a boring and exhausting screenplay and eventually Salman Khan is blamed to give a boring film which should not be. The screenwriters need to be blamed totally.

But as an actor, Salman has done wonderful job. He is brilliant in action scenes. Overall it can be said that this film runs totally on Salman's shoulder.

This film is about British ruling India and their atrocities and how Veer as Salman Khan wages war with them. In the manner, British had actually divided and ruled India, in this film too, British to do the same. Most of the Indian Kings and rulers are either scared of British or greedy, so they can't go against the British but there is one brave person Veer, who belongs to Pandharis, who defy the British.

For Pandharis, prestige, self esteem and honour are above their lives. They can put their lives at stake to save their honour. How could they tolerate what British were doing to their country. This tribal is headed by Prithvi Singh (Mithun Chakroborty) who has two sons, Veer (Salman Khan) and Punya (Sohail Khan). Prithvi Singh (Mithun) sends both his sons to London to get education. But the main reason of going to London and enrolling there for studies is something else. They have gone there to find out how the mind of British works. The princess of Madhavgarh too studies there and Veer falls in love with her.

I need to tell something about the princess of Madhavgarh before proceeding further. The king of Madhavgarh is played by Jackie Shroff who is greatest enemy of the Pindharis because he has done a lot of harm to this tribal in order to please the British. So from now onwards you can well imagine in which direction the film has started going. This turns into a film where hero falls in love with the daughter of his enemy. Thus this film can't be told as historical film but a love story weaved in historical times.

The princess of Madhavgarh is played by Zarina Khan. Some people feel that she is a replica or duplicate of Salman's favourite Katrina Kaif, but it doesn't seem so totally. Of course Zarina resembles Katrina to some extent but she can't be said a true copy of Katrina Kaif. If you can distinguish people's face you can clearly make out this. I think it was merely a part of promotion to attract the viewers and fans of Katrina to pull them to the theaters and motivate them to watch the movie. Some years back, probably in the year 2005, Salman's film 'Lucky –No Time for Love' was released in which Sneha Ullal played the heroine's role. Before the release of the film it was publicized that Sneha Ullal was a true copy of Aishwarya Rai. It was really interesting news for the fans of Aishwarya Rai who, out of curiosity, went to watch the film, but didn't find Sneha a copy of Aishwarya. Of course, she resembled a bit to Aishwarya but resemblance and duplicate are two different things.

Overall Zarina is okay in this film except that she is not a true copy of Katrina. As a debutant she has played her role well.

But what is not okay is the story and screenplay of the film. Veer meeting the girl of his dreams immediately after reaching London seems planned by the screenplay writer according to their convenience. It doesn't end there! You are told that the girl studies in the same college where Veer had enrolled. Thus you find that everything is planned by the writers, which looks fake and far from reality.

The director Anil Sharma has taken the shots brilliantly. It is not an easy task to shoot battle fields shots. But his assistants have failed at many places to check the continuity of the film. One example of discontinuity can be given as Salman's hairstyle which keeps changing without any reason. Locks can't grow so fast.

Jackies Shroff and Mithun Chakrobort have done justice to their roles.

Costumes are worth watching and lots of money seems to be spent on that.

This film also lacks pleasant songs. Though music is okay but song which can last long in your mind or which one you can play again and again is missing.

Cameraman needs to be appreciated to capture such action scenes brilliantly and exposing Salman's personality which gives real feeling of Salman being brave.

As I told earlier, Salam is superb in his performance as well as exposing his muscle built body. Veer, as the title suggests, Salman is fit in the role and from his looks also he appears to be veer (i.e. brave and bold).

Overall, it can be said that in 'Veer' you will get to see mind blowing action scenes, tremendous performance of Salman Khan, forts and old palaces etc except good script. The producer Vijay Galani and Sunil Lulla should pay attention to the script next time rather than spending lots of money on huge sets.

So it's up to you to decide, whether to watch this film or not, because there is nothing special in it except Salman's action scenes.