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On 12 November 2024, the late Yash Chopra’s Veer-Zaara clocks 20 years. Social media is rife with memes that disprove Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta’s aging as shown in the film. Now, Veer Pratap Singh and Zaara Hayat Khan weren’t matinee idols with access to premium nutritionists, fitness coaches, and makeup. They were (almost) star-crossed lovers who suffered for 22 long years – one in jail and the other in the memories of her beloved.
So, what makes the film incredibly special to every Bollywood-loving millennial?
The 22-Year-Long Exile for Love
Will you live a lie for over two decades in exile, only so you can protect your lover’s honor? Veer-Zaara‘s definition of love, this way, is implausible for Gen-Z. For millennials, who have been brought up on a staple diet of fairy tales that epitomize celibacy and longing, Yash Chopra’s protagonists in the film are paragons of sacrifice. Although widely admired, Veer-Zaara’s philosophy and aesthetics of romance are now extinct after the filmmaker’s demise in 2012.
Madan Mohan’s Glistening Melodies
One of my prized possessions is the twin audio CD pack by YRF Music. It has the soundtrack, of course, but a complimentary disc contains the late Madan Mohan in his music room, creating these beautiful compositions. How magical is that!
Did you know that the tune for ‘Tere Liye’ was created for Gulzar’s ‘Dil Dhoondhta Hai’ from Mausam?
Aside from the songs, R. S. Mani’s background score, which takes strains from Madan Mohan’s tunes and Lata Mangeshkar’s aalaps, makes Chopra’s film a true-blue musical.
It always puzzled me why the Chopras didn’t hire Gulzar, a frequent collaborator with Madan Mohan, for Veer-Zaara. That said, Javed Akhtar’s words add poise and progressiveness to the film’s narrative.
The Right Kind of Patriotism
For two nations that faced an unfortunate separation and loss of human life during partition, the thought that Javed Akhtar’s patriotic song ‘Aisa Des Hain Mera’ espouses hit hard:
“Yahaan bhi wohi shaam hai, wohi saveraa
Aisa hi des hai mera, jaisa des hai tera”
Years of hatred stand dissolved in the simplicity of a song that chronicles everything that’s common between the neighboring nations – India and Pakistan. At several points in the film, Veer-Zaara endorses the idea of embracing the right kind of patriotism and not the variety of chest-beating jingoism in modern-day cinema.
“The future of these two nations rests with youngsters like you,” says Zakir Ahmed (Anupam Kher) and we agreed in unison.
The Heroine Introductory Song
From a playful waking-up routine to a dip in the bathtub and then the classic running across the meadows, Zaara gets it all in ‘Hum To Bhai Jaise Hain’ – the classic Yash Chopra heroine-introductory song.
We see Zaara as gorgeous and swan-like. The filmmaker’s aesthetics are largely unproblematic except when you see Zinta in Switzerland. While Khan gets a coat-muffler ensemble, the lady sashays in paper-thin Manish Malhotra sarees. When she sings, “badan kaamp jaaye”, it almost feels like a lament.
Rani Mukerji’s Hero Walks
Rani Mukerji’s Saamiya Siddiqui is a strong-willed newbie lawyer in Veer-Zaara. She is a Human Rights advocate in Pakistan and is passionate enough to make a name for herself without resorting to the unscrupulousness of the profession. At one point, Zaara (Zinta) refers to her as a ‘pari’ (angel). If we look closer, Saamiya is as much a hero in the narrative as Veer is. Saamiya’s determination is what ends Veer and Zaara’s vow to suffer in silence. Veer himself was easily convinced by Zaara’s mother to give up his dreams to fulfill society’s expectations but a girl with modern values, Saamiya would never buy into such ideas.
Historically, we know how much Mukerji loves the hero walk and Yash Chopra gives her ample chances in Veer-Zaara to strut around like a boss lady.
Amitabh, Hema, and the Warmth of Punjab
Zaara reaches India to fulfill her nanny’s last wish. A chance meeting with a stranger changes her life forever. A big catalyst here is when Veer requests her to gift him a day of her life.
It’s the night of the winter harvest festival Lodi, and Veer takes her to meet his family. Chaudhary Sumer Singh (Amitabh Bachchan) and Saraswati Kaur radiate the kind of chemistry they never did in their Satte Pe Satta days giving Zaara yet another reason to stay back.
I doubt if Amitabh Bachchan has ever been as romantic and if Hema Malini ever came across so warm after her brief Gulzar and Hrishikesh Mukherjee stints.
The Beauty of the Lodi Festival
In a chapter that gives us a mini tour of rural Punjab across mustard fields on bicycles and tractors, Veer-Zaara also gives us what must be one of Bollywood’s most authentic-sounding festival songs.
‘Lodi’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Gurdas Mann, and Udit Narayan is not only the most wholesome number in the soundtrack, but the lyrics also that Javed Akhtar pens paint a way of life that balances love and equality. Saroj Khan’s dance moves are great fun and the song famously filled the aisles in North Indian cinema halls with dancing cine-goers.
Anil Mehta’s Magical Camera
A cinematographer who knows his filmmaker – that’s how I would describe Anil Mehta. As a filmmaker who would rather surrender to the director’s vision instead of developing a definitive style, the love songs in Veer-Zaara (‘Yeh Hum Aaagaye Hain Kahaan’) and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (‘Tumhi Dekho Naa’) look drastically different despite Mehta and Shah Rukh Khan being the common factors.
Besides keeping the earthy flavor intact, Mehta works his mastery with lights and spaces. We see how he frames conflict with physical distance. To showcase the lovers’ intimacy (particularly in songs), he often gets Khan and Zinta incredibly close along with long shots that give us the larger picture of the couple being comfortable in their own company.
The Lovable Shabbo and Bebe
Divya Dutta’s Shabbo is a caring housekeeper who is both a boon and bane to the family. The actor plays it with equal amounts of playfulness and empathy that we wish to adopt the girl for her free-spirited ways. In one of her last screen appearances, Zohra Sehgal plays a Sikh woman whose death wish triggers the story. It’s a brief part where her chat with Zaara on the deathbed lingers.
A Message of Religious Tolerance
In a Lahore prison, Veer Pratap Singh is prisoner number 786 – a holy number in Islam. Yash Chopra’s film respects every religion. Whether it is Zaara’s love for her Sikh nanny or Mariyam Hayat Khan showering Veer with blessings, the film exhibits how we are all the same irrespective of our faiths.
A Balanced Color Palette and Art Direction
The costumes and accessories are so carefully handpicked that they add character to Veer-Zaara’s characters – particularly its women. The film dresses up Zaara mostly in pastel shades (except in songs) to highlight her vulnerability whereas Saamiya gets bright blue and yellow hues adding sheen to her brave persona. The frames, set in rustic locations are never overly colour-corrected. The only peculiar thing by the production design team (Sharmistha Roy) is the excessive usage of candles in the Hayaat Khan household. The characters, notably Shabbo, are constantly seen extinguishing them in already-lit rooms. Why?
Veer-Zaara was released at a cusp of sensibilities when Bollywood moved into a braver realm of love stories. Yash Raj Films alone produced Hum Tum and Salaam Namaste around the same time. The old-fashioned values that Chopra’s directorial presented were termed ‘soggy’ by a minatory whereas the masses lapped the film up.
Released on Diwali, Veer-Zaara is not exactly a festive film. It is difficult to digest that the couple wasted their prime years suffering in solitude. If we observe, Veer and Zaara’s love destroyed the lives of everyone around them. In the universe of ‘happily ever after’ finales, Veer-Zaara is doomed to have the least happy of all.
Veer-Zaara has re-released in the theatres and is streaming on Amazon Prime.
