Veer Movie Review: Veer Veers Towards Veer-Gathi

Veer, one movie that Salman Khan has very high expectations from, has a predictable story and has little going for it, though it opens with a good premise. The story line is clichéd and touches all bases from Gladiator to DDLJ, and somehow Veer veers to an unsatisfied ending. By the reaction of audience in the cinema, they liked the first half which was peppered with some fine lines and scenes, but it all went down in the second half to the extent that Veer limped to a hasty climax (just like Salman Khan’s limping leg in the first half)

Story of Veer
The story of Veer is based in colonial India and deals with a Rajputana tribe called Pindharis. They are people who live by the sword and would prefer death to dishonor. They have a weird dress sense (blamed it on designer Anna Singh to give some atrocious clothes to Salman Khan) too. Anyway the movie starts with promise, thanks to a large scale war happening resulting in the killing of many Pindharis, thanks to the king of Madhavgarh played by Jackie Shroff who cheated them by conspiring with the British. The reader of the Pindhari clan, Prithvi (Mithun Chakraborthy) in a fit of mad rage, cuts off the right arm of Jackie Shroff.

Years pass and Prithvi has a son who grows up as Veer(Salman Khan). He also develops into a blood thirsty person who wants to make a mincemeat of the Britishers. Mithun Chakrabothy also has another son Punya(Sohail Khan, as usual sidelined) too. The father decides to send both his son to Britain to get educated and learns what’s cooking in the minds of the Britisher. We see shades of Gaddar now as Salman Khan falls in love with the Indian ‘mem’ Yashodhara (Zarine Khan) who happens to be the daughter of Jackie Shroff (the king of Madhavgarh). Both the lovers know about this but Zarine Khan prefer to let her hormones take over and above her relationship with the father. Her brothers do not take to this kindly and when they come to know of Veer’s identity, they try to kill him, but they are killed eventually by the fierce and revenge hungry Veer.

Now back to India, Yashodhara assumes the throne of Madhavgara at the behest of her father. Veer decides that he will win over his lady love from the arms of her father(DDJL style), at the same thinking of how to avenge the lives of people who died years ago due to the treachery of the Madhavgarh king. There is a swayamvar held where Veer is injured, painful enough for the princess to shout ‘Veer’ giving a clear signal to her father that Veer is a pindhari. Though father is ferocious, it is too late because the Pindharis have laid siege on his kingdom. The Britishers with vested interests agree to give the pindharis Madhavgarh on the condition they can go to another place (where they hope to rule).

Though Veer is okay with it, her father does not agree to it, and he wants to finish it off with a fight. There is a stupid thing here where the father says that he would like to decide this with a fight with the son. They brandish their swords and slug at each other. On one hand, they strike each other and the next second, they wince at seeing blood flowing from each other's bodies. Make up your mind guys!! In the meanwhile, the Britishers manage to shoot them and the bullet hits our Veer. And then there is the mandatory fight, albeit a small one and Veer attains Veer-gati

Plus points of Veer
1. Salman Khan has always been the best part in all his hit films (apart from Hum Aapke Hain Kaun where Madhuri Dixit overshadowed him) and the best part in his flop films too. We do not know the status of Veer, but Salman Khan has given his whole and sole to the film. He manages to make even the silliest scenes work.
2. The sound and the grandeur of the cinema is majestic and the action scenes are brilliantly shot

Minus Points
1. Though the movie dwells majorly in romance, the ‘magic’ of romance is missing. The eye to eye contact is overdone and whenever there is a premise of a good romantic scene, the song ‘surili ankhiyon wale ‘ song comes in and spoils the mood. Though the song is good, you definitely do not want it to come 5 times, do you?

2. The director seems confused about how to end the film. The last two scenes including the climax showed the director’s lack of grip. Some scenes are over the top. One of the scenes where Salman Khan leaps like a superman from his horse onto a running train was not needed.

Best scenes of Veer
1. The scene where Veer gives a piece of his mind to the English teacher
2. The fight scene where Veer kills the brothers of Yashodara who tried to badly injure his brother
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Performances in Veer
1. Salman Khan looks great and well-suited to the part. He does well and makes for just about 85 percent reason to watch the film. The voluptuous Zarine Khan (she aint ‘fat’rina as some bitchy Bollywood actress would say, she is curvy just the way Indian males would love) shows promise. For a debutante, she has given a decent performance. Her character needed to be fleshed out better too. And what’s that stupid pair of spectacles she is shown wearing in the end of the movie?Mithun Chakraborthy gets a good meaty role and does well. The rest are not worth talking about.

In conclusion:
A better romance and more thrilling fight scenes (even if it were hare brained cinema) would have made it a watchable fare.