Historical Masala Mess : Veer

-''Sal is the man" - as fellow Twitterer @sakshijuneja puts it. Yes, he is the man. The He-Man of bollywood. Which he proved in Wanted. Continuing the reign, he promised same in Veer. Actually, I was anxiously waiting for the movie. Anxious-cause I know what Anil Sharma can deliver. I am not a fan of movie making at all. Gadar - to me was a well resourced movie but technical disaster. Somehow I can't connect all the 'loud' ness Anil Sharma has in his movies. But thank God, in Veer, there is some-i repeat 'some' relief. There is no Hindustan-Pakistan shouts. And to top it all-No Sunny Deol.

This role could have easily gone to Sunny for sure if it did not have love story. But that's Sallu's genre for sure. That he can easily manage both-love and fight. He can look and act casanova and at the same time, he also can kick butts of baddies.

The first half though, is watchable, Just because of Salman. He is perfect for his part. Pardon his 'specific' style of lip synching, its a treat to watch him even in anger...All scenes shot at London are enjoyable. So easily he walks on fine line of romantic and funny. ok enough of Salman [:)] The newbie-Zarin Khan is quite average. All she has to do is smile throughout the movie. She looks real bad clone of Katrina. During each scene, I wished if that was Katrina walking in such gorgeous wardrobe. Zarine looks too baby faced. Correction-farex baby face. Mithun is okay but Neena Gupta is bad. character is written so badly that such nice actress is wasted on suggestive movement dancing. On the other hand, Suhail Khan was quite good. In a role of goofy brother of Veer, he did good. Jackie Shroff is out of form. He should retire now.

Veer is set in 19th century. But no - the movie holds no historic references. Its just a pure fiction based in times of English Raaj. Going by accuracy of portrayal of that era - Anil loses it all. But never mind if we don't expect that-cause after all , this is fiction, not a documentary. But due to shoddy editing, you start to yell at how the story develops. After Gadar, Anil has found new love of his life - Train. So somehow he tries to sprinkle scenes of steam engine chase. Which is badly choreographed. But on the other hand, cinematography by Gopal Shah saves us from sinking. But again, badly executed action scenes - especially bad wire jumps makes me shout.

Okay, now take this- two warriors are named - Magan and Chaman. what can you expect more from the writing department? No doubt Salman shines in acting department. But story is not his thing. May be that can be a fault of screenplay and dialogue writers. The movie had all the resources, talents and budget but everything is wasted by writing department. Such long boring sequences about following the oaths taken, not to deviate from 'Vachan' are stretched to death. **spoiler** in climax a 'bore to death' scene shamelessly ripped off from Troy. Where father-son go sword fight in front of fort. **spoiler** We can see that Anil is sleep directing the movie. While having DVDs of LOTR, Troy, Titanic, Gladiator and the Mummy. But yes, I won't forget to mention beautiful art direction. From costumes to palaces, everything was so much gorgeous.

My concerns for bad execution is with second half. Cause given my love to Masala movieness and music, I loved First half despite of little flaws. The lovestory is charming. And songs are icing on it. But in second half, especially last 20 minutes - it really put me off. I was litterally shouting 'troy' troy' troy... But soon, Salman comes to rescue me and screen goes live again. [talking about songs- I HATED editor for insulting the 'Kanha' song by putting only tit bits of it here and there in the movie]

So I would suggest you, if you are a fan of Salman AND masala movies - this movie is for you. But yes, for timepass. Don't expect "Movie Magic" or some serious lessons of History.

My Rating : 2 / 5
Fav Scenes : Beautiful Rajasthan captured, the climax shots of Jodhpur Fort. Surili Ankhiyon waale ..


oh,,,, and this is my 200th post !!! :-D