Veer-Zaara (2004-movie) : Bollywood Hindi Film :

Veer-Zaara Bollywood Film Details :

Veer-Zaara is a 2004 Indian Bollywood period romantic drama film directer is Yash Chopra and producer are him and his son Aditya Chopra. It stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta as the eponymous star-crossed lovers; Veer is an Indian Air Force pilot and Zaara is the daughter of a Pakistani politician. Veer is imprisoned on false charges, and a young Pakistani lawyer played by Rani Mukerji fights his case. Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Divya Dutta, Manoj Bajpayee, Boman Irani, Anupam Kher and Kirron Kher play supporting roles.

Chopra wanted to make his return to cinema after seven years; he was dissatisfied with the scripts he received. Aditya then narrated a few scenes of a story he had written, which interested Chopra and prompted him to direct it. Chopra intended the film to be a tribute to Punjab; it was to be titled Yeh Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum. Set in India and Pakistan, principal photography took place in Punjab and various locations in Mumbai; parts of the film were also shot in Pakistan. The soundtrack album, based on old compositions by Madan Mohan with lyrics by Javed Akhtar, was the highest-selling album of the year in India.

The film was released on 12 November 2004 during the Diwali festival. Veer-Zaara earned over 976.4 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of the year in both India and overseas territories. It received highly positive reviews from critics, with praise directed to the story, screenplay, dialogues, music, performances and sensitive portrayal of India-Pakistan relations. It was described by analysts as having themes pertaining to a shared Punjabi culture, secularism and feminism, among others. The film received several awards, including four at the 50th Filmfare Awards, including Best Film and Best Story. At the 6th IIFA Awards, the film won seven awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Music Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. It also won the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment at the National Film Awards.

• Directer : Yash Chopra
• Producer : Yash Chopra,Aditya Chopra
• Screenplay : Aditya Chopra
• Story : Aditya Chopra
• Starring : Shah Rukh Khan,Preity Zinta,Rani Mukerji
• Narrated : Yash Chopra
• Music : Madan Mohan,Sanjeev Kohli
• Cinematography : Anil Mehta
• Edited : Ritesh Soni
• Productioncompany : Yash Raj Films
• Distributed : Yash Raj Films
• Casting : Sudesh Mahan
• Art Direction : Sharmishta Roy
• Costume Design : Manish Malhotra,Mandira Shukla
• Makeup Department : Ramchandra Asthule,Ajay Bane,Milind Chauhan,Lira D’Souza,Mangesh Desai
• Visual Effects : Husseini Barodawalla,Sherry Bharda
• Stunts : Devendra Bhave,Riaz Shaikh,Ainouddin Sheikh,Feroz Sheikh
• Genres : Drama,Family,Musical,Romance
• Release date : 12 November 2004
• Running time : 192 minutes
• Country : India
• Language : Hindi

Veer-Zaara Movie Story :

Squadron Leader Veer Pratap Singh (Shah Rukh Khan) is a rescue pilot with the Indian Air Force. In the line of duty he comes across a stranded Zaara (Preity Zinta) – a girl from Pakistan who has come to India to fulfill her surrogate mothers dying wish. Veer saves her life and his life is never the same again. Twenty two years later Saamia Siddiqui (Rani Mukerji), a Pakistani human rights lawyer on her first case, finds herself face to face with an ageing Veer Pratap Singh. He has languished in a Pakistan jail cell for 22 years and has not spoken to anyone all these years. And no one knows why. Her mission is to discover the truth about Veer and see to it that justice is served. VEER-ZAARA is a saga of love, separation, courage and sacrifice. A love that is divine, a love that is whole-hearted, a love that is completely consuming, a love that grows with separation and deepens with sacrifice. A love that is an inspiration – and will remain a legend forever.

Veer-Zaara Movie Star Cast :

• Shah Rukh Khan … Veer Pratap Singh
• Preity Zinta … Zaara Hayaat Khan
• Rani Mukerji … Saamiya Siddiqui
• Kiron Kher … Mariam Hayaat Khan (as Kirron Kher)
• Divya Dutta … Shabbo
• Boman Irani … Jahangir Hayaat Khan
• Anupam Kher … Zakir Ahmed
• Amitabh Bachchan … Chaudhary Sumer Singh (Special Appearance)
• Hema Malini … Maati (Special Appearance)
• Manoj Bajpayee … Razaa Shirazi (Special Appearance) (as Manoj Bajpai)
• Zohra Sehgal … Bebe
• S.M. Zaheer
• Tom Alter
• Akhilendra Mishra … Jailor
• Arun Bali
• Gurdas Maan … (as Gurdas Mann)
• Rushad Rana … Sahir
• Vinod Negi … (as Flt. Lt. Vinod Negi)
• Balwant Bansal
• Rajesh Jolly
• Anup Kanwal Singh
• Kanwar Jagdish
• Dev K. Kantawall
• Vicky Ahuja
• Ranjeev Verma
• Chandni Jas Keerat
• Sanjay Singh Bhadli
• Kulbir Badesron … (as Kulbir Baderson)
• Shivaya Singh
• Huzefa Gadiwala … (as Huzeifa Gadiwalla)
• Vishal Om Prakash … (as Vishal Sharma)
• Amir Zadey
• Syed Firdaus … (as Sayyed Firdaus)
• Manish Arora
• Banwarhlal Jhol
• Darshan Aulakh
• Jitendra Bhardwaj … (as Jitendra Bharadwaj)
• Pankaj Raina
• Gurinder Singh … (as Gurinder Singh ‘Ginda’)
• Yash Chopra … Narrator (uncredited)
• Surendra Rahi

Production :

Development :

Yash Chopra was due to return to directing after seven years since Dil To Pagal Hai (1997).After his son Aditya completed filming for Mohabbatein (2000), they started to look for a new script for Chopra’s return as a director. None of the new scripts excited Chopra; he expressed his disdain at the new trend of the films of the time, stating, “I was tired of television promos. All the semi-clad girls look the same.” Chopra stated he was as nervous of his return as he was while directing his debut Dhool Ka Phool (1959). He then finalized another script and began casting for roles.Aditya then provided a narration of a few scenes of a new script, but conveyed that he would be unable to direct it. Chopra was interested and began to work on the new project.

According to Aditya, the story of Veer-Zaara was written as a medium for his father to return to his Punjabi roots. Chopra was born in Lahore, Punjab (present-day Pakistan) and later moved with his family to Jalandhar when he was young. He travelled to Bombay in 1951, when he was introduced to the film industry.Speaking about the film’s theme, Chopra said, “Veer-Zaara is a humble tribute to my home in Punjab. It is my tribute to the oneness of people on both sides of the border.” In preparation, Chopra watched videos of Pakistani marriages and consulted Nasreen Rehman, a professor of Cambridge University for the film’s portrayal of Pakistani culture, their courts and dialects.

While completing the film, Chopra and Aditya had a discussion about the film’s title. Yeh Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum was one of the contenders for the title, but Veer-Zaara was ultimately chosen. Chopra said, “The film’s lovers [Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta] are not bothered with the strife around them. For them, love is the only religion.”The title Veer Zaara was initially hinted to mislead audiences.The film’s titled was officially confirmed by Sanjeev Kohli, CEO of Yash Raj Films, who stated that the title was chosen after “much deliberation.” Chopra stated that he used to have constant arguments with Aditya while filming Veer-Zaara.

Cast and crew :

Shah Rukh Khan was cast in the lead role.Khan shortly played a 60-year-old man in the film, which he felt was a difficult role for him.The role of Saamiya Siddique was based on Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jehangir. The role was initially offered to Aishwarya Rai and Pakistani actress Nadia Jamil, upon their refusal, it went to Rani Mukerji.Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini were cast as an elderly couple.Manoj Bajpayee was cast as Zaara’s fianceé, a role which was originally offered to Ajay Devgn.In 2017, while promoting Aiyaary, Bajapyee revealed that Chopra used to often worry about the film’s possible failure.Boman Irani was cast in a supporting role.Real life couple Anupam Kher and Kirron Kher appear in the film, though they do not share the same frame.Other cast members included Divya Dutta, Zohra Sehgal, Akhilendra Mishra, and Tom Alter.

Zaara’s role as Khan’s love interest was first offered to Kajol, upon her rejection, the role went to Zinta.According to Chopra, Zinta was a person “look and personality could be transformed.” He wanted to break the Western stereotype characters played by Zinta.Zinta was interested in being a part of the film due to Chopra’s finesse as a director. She also felt that it was time to move on from war-oriented films with Pakistan, saying, “I thought that was a great message to have in a film and I think what our governments can’t do… what our government cannot do, our cinema can do and this film is truly doing that.” Zinta had to attend various lessons for improving her diction for speaking Urdu.Though excited at first, she later “got knots in her stomach” worrying about her performance, but Chopra assured her.Chopra denied the existence of a rivalry between the co-actors in the film, when asked about it in an interview with The Quint.

In addition to writing the story and screenplay, Aditya co-produced the film along with his father under the banner Yash Raj Films.The film’s costumes were handled by Manish Malhotra.Khan’s costumes were specifically designed by Karan Johar.Mandira Shukla was the film’s costume designer. Anil Mehta, the cinematographer, was requested by Chopra to give the scenes a feel of olden times, in contrast with other films of the tome like Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003).Sharmishta Roy, daughter of art director Sudhendu Roy, was chosen as the art director. Saroj Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant were the choreographers. Allan Amin was the action director.

Film Shooting :

In October 2004, Rediff.com published an exclusive “On the sets” report for Veer-Zaara. Rediff.com reported that the cast members wore expensive costumes, one being Zinta, who wore a flurocent green lungi outfit; Khan was late for the shot. Parts of the film were shot in various locations in Mumbai.In 2004, the National Geographic reported that a folk festival sequence was being shot in Film City. An environment that represented Punjab was created and Sikh dancers were brought in, whom, according to the report, look like peacocks due to their colorful turbans. All scenes which featured Khan in a prison were shot in a single day, at a jail in Pakistan. The court scenes were shot in a Pakistani law court.

While filming for an action sequence with Khan, Zinta had a near-fatal experience when she was hanging from a harness for nearly six hours. Zinta labeled it “one of the most humbling experiences of [her] life” and stated that it made her realize the difficulties male actors have to go through. For a sequence involving Khan’s character calling Mukherji’s character daughter, over 10 retakes were taken, and a pack-up was also announced by an “infuriated” Chopra, according to Khan. According to Mukherji, Chopra usually used to refrain from taking retakes as these would make the actors “mechanical”.

Veer-Zaara was filmed entirely in sync sound. Khan stated that although he did not have to dub lines for the film separately, he did dub a few dialogues for the film.Saif Ali Khan’s palace in Pataudi served as Zaara’s mansion.A shoot was carried out in Punjab during a particular season, after which the indoor shooting was completed. Most of the filming was done in secrecy and no official announcements were made.Initially planned to be filmed over a period of 102 days, the film’s film shooting was completed in 72 days.The film’s reel length was 17757.61 ft

Release :

Veer-Zaara was released on 12 November 2004 and promoted with the tagline, “A Love Legend”.A special screening was conducted in Punjab, Pakistan for Pakistani audiences.Apart from that, it was screened at the Berlin Film Festival, where it was received well.On 26 April 2006, Veer-Zaara had its French premiere at The Grand Rex, the biggest theatre in Paris. It is the first Hindi film to premiere in such a large and luxe venue.It was released in 60 prints in the United Kingdom. It was released in the United States in 88 prints.In 2017, Veer-Zaara was restrained at the Best of Bollywood series in the United States.

On 6 June 2005 Yash Raj Films released the DVD of Veer-Zaara.The film was released on Blu-ray in December 2009.In September 2007, a book based on the making of the film, titled They Said It, was released. The book contains testimonials from members of the film’s cast and crew and follows the production stages of the film.In January 2006, a bus service was established between Amritsar and Lahore.Some credit the film for influencing this change.

Veer-Zaara Movie Songs / Music :

Veer-Zaara’s soundtrack features 11 songs with music based on old and untouched compositions by the late Madan Mohan, as revised by his son Sanjeev Kohli. The vocals are provided by Lata Mangeshkar, Jagjit Singh, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Gurdas Mann, Roop Kumar Rathod, Ahmed Hussain, Mohammad Hussain and Pritha Mazumder. The lyrics were written by Javed Akhtar.Kohli found Mohan’s unused recordings in his cupboard shortly after his death, which was then used for Veer-Zaara upon Chopra’s insistence.Mangeshkar used to sing with Madan Mohan; according to Chopra, upon coming for the recording, with tears in her eyes, Lata Mangeshkar told him, “Madan Mohan was like my brother. You [Chopra] are like my brother. I feel I have gone back in the past”.The soundtrack of Veer-Zaara was released on CD,LP recordand on Audio DVD.Yash Raj Music also released complete background music of Veer-Zaara titled The Love Legend Themes – Instrumental.After the soundtrack release, Chopra did not allow radiostations to air its songs to generate curiosity.

In a soundtrack review, Syed Firdaus Ashraf of Rediff.com states, “It will disappoint you at first, but if you listen to it repeatedly, the music will grow on you.” He commended the male singers but felt that Mangheskar somehow “disappoints”, when compared to her previous performances.Ashraf felt that “Kyon Hawa”, sung by Sonu Nigam, was the best song in the album. Derek Elley of Variety agrees with Ashraf on the first point, writing, “While not instantly hummable, they do the job effectively.” In a review of “Tere Liye”, a Sify editor writes, “Madan Mohan’s mastery with tunes is quite apparent in this number, parts of which are used often in the movie.” Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama rated it three stars out of five, writing, “Veer-Zaara is a mixed bag varying from a rich collection of love songs to emotional tracks to a patriotic number, a qawalli, a folk song and a ghazal. While the first half of the album is instantly appealing the second half will slowly grow on you.” A reviewer for BBC applauded the album, calling it “unique and special”.

Mohan was nominated for the Best Music Director at the 50th Filmfare Awards,and won the Best Music Director at the 6th IIFA Awards. Akhtar got nominated for the Best Lyricist at the 50th Filmfare Awards for “Tere Liye”, “Main Yahaan” and “Aisa Des Hai Mera”, winning for “Tere Liye”. It was the highest-selling music album of the year in India, with sales of around 3 million units.

“Tere Liye” – Lata Mangeshkar, Roop Kumar Rathod
“Main Yahaan Hoon” – Udit Narayan
“Aisa Des Hai Mera” – Lata Mangeshkar, Udit Narayan, Gurdas Maan, Pritha Mazumdar
“Aaya Tere Dar Par” – Ahmed Hussain, Mohammad Hussain, Mohd. Vakil, Javed Hussain
“Do Pal” – Lata Mangeshkar, Sonu Nigam
“Yeh Hum Aa Gaye Hain Kahaan” – Lata Mangeshkar, Udit Narayan
“Hum To Bhai Jaise Hain” – Lata Mangeshkar
“Kyon Hawa” – Lata Mangeshkar, Sonu Nigam, Yash Chopra
“Lodi” – Lata Mangeshkar, Gurdas Maan, Udit Narayan
“Tum Paas Aa Rahe Ho” – Lata Mangeshkar, Jagjit Singh
“Jaane Kyon” – Lata Mangeshkar

“Main Yahaan Hoon” Full Video Song :

• Song: Main Yahaan Hoon
• Singer: Udit Narayan
• Music: The Late Madan Mohan
• Music Recreated by: Sanjeev Kohli
• Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

“Aaya Tere Dar Par” Full Video Song :

• Song: Aaya Tere Dar Par
• Singers: Ahmed Hussain, Mohd. Hussain, Mohd Vakil & Javed Hussain
• Music: The Late Madan Mohan
• Music Recreated by: Sanjeev Kohli
• Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

“Aisa Des Hai Mera” Full Video Song :

• Song: Aisa Des Hai Mera
• Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Udit Narayan, Gurdas Mann, Pritha Majumder
• Music: The Late Madan Mohan
• Music Recreated by: Sanjeev Kohli
• Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

Veer-Zaara Movie Review :

This film review are Mostly Positive from Critics, IMDB Public Reviewing site give 7.8 Star Out Of 10 Star with Reviewers are 47847.

“Veer-Zaara” was shown as part of an international film series at my local public library. It is the first Bollywood musical I have ever seen, and as such, I lack the critical perspective necessary to make an informed judgement about it. However, I did rate “Veer-Zaara” seven out of ten, because I found it consistently entertaining, and often entirely delightful. I was never once bored – in spite of its three hour plus running time. In order to appreciate any form of musical drama, it’s necessary to “surrender” to theatrical artifice, and seen in that light, “Veer-Zaara” is no more illogical or “unrealistic” than a classic Vincent Minnelli Musical or a “serious” Verdi opera. I was also very intrigued at the way that the plot of the film crossed several genres and combined a number of classic story-telling archetypes: “the star-crossed lovers,” “the village pastorale,” “the saga of family honor,” “the courtroom drama,” etc.

Avg. Users’ Rating , from Times Of India give 4.3 star out of 5 Star.

Veer-Zaara Movie Box Office Collection :

INDIA

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