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Saturday, January 25, 2025
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BOLLYWOOD VEER
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: * ?
Veer is one of those intended epics that goes wrong. Horribly wrong.
Director Anil Sharma had combined history and kitsch with compelling
consequences in Gadar Ek Prem Katha. But In Veer, the
khichdi of fact and fiction runs amok, creating a blend of babble and bloodshed
that is more hysterical than historic.
Veer wallows in primitive valour. Father Mithun Chakraborty (the
only tolerable performance in the litany of the unbearable) and son Salman Khan
often mock-fight, as the burly members of their tribe urge them on like animals
in a zestful zoo. Even Neena Gupta who plays Mithun`s wife (and has apparently
forgotten she was once a good actress) joins in the macho revelry.
There are no smoking guns. Only shining swords slicing across the epic canvas
with fashionable bravura.
Costume dramas are very tricky cinematic efforts. How do the makers know if the
clothes and props suggesting periodicity are going to work? In this case, they
just don`t!
The `research` that seems to have gone into the colossal fiasco is at best
scratch level. At worst the detailing suggested by the art director (Sanjay
Dhabade) and costumes (Anna Singh) smack of amateurish stage plays where the
actors create characters purely through props.
And here the props include the Buckingham Palace where our valorous hero Veer (Salman
Khan) and his brother-sidekick (Sohail Khan, behaving as though he was in the
sequel to Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya) teach those `Gora Log` a few lessons
on how to treat us Indians with respect and dignity.
Where would independent India be without such strident architects of freedom? It
is doubtful that a man like Veer actually existed in the history of our freedom
movement. But does anyone really care?
Veer is not really a freedom fighter. He`s Salman Khan with long
hair and costume jewellery (the diamond ear-tops could be the envy of all his
leading ladies) scowling with the same intensity into the panoramic camera as he
did earlier in Wanted.
Clothes definitely maketh this man, although Veer in one of the unintentionally
funny sequences of the film reprimands the gora professor in London (teaching
the most motley crew of colonists seen in any film) saying, Clothes do not
make the man, the man makes the clothes - a quote on he says he borrowed
from George Bernard Shaw.
Where did he learn about Shaw? In school? Do such questions really matter when
the intention is to create an optical illusion merging myth and history in a
claustrophobic clasp that leaves no breathing space for introspective
punctuations?
Veer is one sweeping rush of blood, sweat, gore, adrenaline and
saliva. It is meant to sweep audiences off its collective feet. But its takeoff
point, namely the ideological slant, is so faulty, you wonder what these
blood-thirsty warriors are fighting for.
Most of the time the characters` motivations are superimposed by a passionate
but pedestrian melodrama.
Director Anil Sharma`s inherent sense of drama comes with the blood-soaked
territory. While in the father-son sequences he manages to create a scale and
range that merge rugged machismo with a junk food version of patriotism, the
love story featuring the nomadic warrior and the bereft princess from the enemy
tribe is driven into a zero-chemistry zone by the pair.
Forget mutual passion, there`s very little drama or romance in the dialogues and
the visual props for them to share.
Veer gets details of the period and locations in place. But the
inner conviction and a genuine passion that made Anil Sharma`s Gadar: Ek
Prem Katha so special are completely absent in this film.
Sonam Kapoor Ahuja on Thursday treated her fans with an adorable throwback picture from her childhood.The 'Veere Di Wedding' star shared an image that features a young Sonam and sister Rhea, shyly posing with dad Anil Kapoor.Read More
Anil Kapoor proud of daughter Sonam's career choicesTaking a look back at Sonam Kapoor's cinematic journey, father Anil Kapoor says he is proud of his daughter's career decisions and he couldn't be happier.The 'Jhakaas' star took to his Instagram account and shared a collage of Sonam's blockbuster films, including 'Raanjhanaa', 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag', 'Khoobsurat', 'Prem Ratan Dhan Payo', 'Neerja', 'Pad Man', 'Veere Di Wedding' and the latest being 'Sanju'.Read More
From the misty pages of history comes a story of extreme valor, fierce pride and poignant love.
As the British enslave India with their devious ‘Divide and Rule policy’, kings and nawabs fall to their guile and cunning, and entrust their precious kingdoms to the foreigners.
Except for the brave Pindaris, who prefer death to dishonor and will fight to their last breath to save their land…their mother.
The bravest, the toughest, the strongest of the Pindaris is Veer. As Veer takes on the might of the British Empire, he also has to fight the conniving King of Madavgarh as well his own jealous tribesmen.
But then the stakes are high…
At stake is his love for princess Yashodhara, daughter of his sworn enemy…
At stake is his thirst to avenge his father’s dishonor…
At stake is his very existence itself…
Cannons roar, swords clash in fierce battle, the dead pile up….And when the dust settles down on the blood soaked land… one valiant warrior stands head and shoulders above them all -Veer!
