Veer-Zaara is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed and produced by Yash Chopra, and written and produced by his son Aditya Chopra. It stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta as the titular star-crossed lovers, namely, Veer Pratap Singh, an Indian Air Force officer, and Zaara Hayaat Khan, who is the daughter of a Pakistani politician. Veer is imprisoned on false charges, and 22 years later, a young Pakistani lawyer, named Saamiya Siddiqui (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, 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, based on an eponymous song from the soundtrack of his 1981 film Silsila. Set in India and Pakistan, principal photography took place in Indian Punjab and 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. R.S. Mani composed the background score.
Veer-Zaara was released on 12 November 2004 during Diwali. The film earned over 97 crore worldwide in its first run, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of the year. It received universal acclaim, especially for its story, dialogues, soundtrack, 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. Veer-Zaara is ranked among the greatest romantic films of Indian cinema. The film faced competition with the Akshay Kumar-starrer Aitraaz (2004), which also became a box-office success.
At the 52nd National Film Awards, Veer-Zaara won Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. At the 50th Filmfare Awards, the film received a leading 15 nominations, and won 4 awards, including Best Film and Best Story (Aditya). At the 6th IIFA Awards, it won a leading 7 awards of its 11 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Chopra), Best Actor (Khan), Best Supporting Actress (Mukerji) and Best Music Director (Mohan).
Plot
The government of Pakistan decides to reopen the cases of former Indian prisoners to show them favoritism. Samia Siddiqui (Rani Mukerji) fights her first case to repatriate Indian Air Force Squadron Leader Veer Pratap Singh (Shahrukh Khan). Veer Pratap Singh has been imprisoned for 22 years under the alias Rajesh Rathod and has not spoken to anyone in 22 years. Samia goes to ask him about his story and addresses him by his real name, Veer Pratap Singh. Veer then begins to tell her his story.
Veer has been imprisoned there for the past 22 years. Twenty-two years ago, he was a squadron leader in the Indian Air Force and helped victims of accidents. At the same time, Zara Hayat Khan (Preity Zinta), the daughter of Jahangir Hayat Khan (Boman Irani), a powerful Pakistani politician, is traveling to Kiratpur Sahib to immerse her bebe's (nanny's) ashes. She had promised her that she would immerse her ashes there with her own hands. Zara leaves Lahore alone without telling anyone. At the same time, Zara's bus crashes, and Veer goes to rescue her, marking their first meeting. During the rescue operation, Zara's bag falls off the ground, and she asks Veer to get back down. After the rescue, Veer scolds him and asks if her bag was more valuable than the lives of others. Zara then reveals the truth. Upon learning the truth, Veer helps her. Later, at the bus stop, Veer asks Zara for a day of her life. When Zara agrees, Veer takes her to his village. There, he introduces her to his father, Chaudhary Sumer Singh (Amitabh Bachchan), and mother (Hema Malini). Zara stays there for Lohri. Veer's mother tells them that they are Veer's uncle and aunt; they had no children, and Veer's parents died when he was a child, and since then, he considers them his parents.
The next day, while Veer is returning with Zara, Veer's father asks him to propose to Zara at Attari station. Veer, having also fallen in love with Zara, agrees. However, at Attari station, Zara's fiancé, Raza Shirazi (Manoj Bajpayee), comes looking for Zaara. Veer then tells Zara the truth: he has fallen in love with her. After this, Veer and Zara part ways.
A month later, Zara is engaged to Raza. That same day, Zara tells her mother, Mariam Hayat Khan (Kirron Kher), the truth. But her mother insists that Zaara will have to marry Raza. After her engagement, Zaara begins seeing Veer everywhere, and realizes she too has fallen in love with him. Her friend, Shabbo (Divya Dutta), calls Veer and invites him to Lahore. Veer resigns from his Air Force post and moves to Pakistan. There, Zara embraces Veer at a shrine in front of her entire family, causing Zara's father to suffer a heart attack. Zara's mother then pleads with Veer to leave Zara, or else her father will die.
Veer relents and consoles Zara. Later, when Veer is leaving for India, Zara's mother makes Veer wear an amulet to protect him. At that moment, the police arrest him and accuse him of being an agent of India's Research and Analysis Wing. Later, Veer discover that this was Raza's ploy. Raza tells them that if he admits that he is Rajesh Rathod, Zara will be happy, otherwise he will make her life hell. Veer accepts the proposal. On the day of the wedding, the bus Veer was supposed to take to return to India falls into a ditch, leading everyone to believe Veer is dead.
Twenty-two years later, Samaya Siddiqui travels to India to retrieve evidence from Veer's village. She learns that Veer's aunt and uncle died many years ago. Still, she visits Veer's home, but finds no one there. Disheartened, she returns when she meets Zara, who has been living with Shabbo for many years. Shabbo tells her that upon hearing of Veer's death, Zara, with her father's support, broke off her marriage and moved to India. A few years later, Zara's parents also passed away. Since then, Zara has been trying to fulfill Veer's unfulfilled dream. Samaya reveals the truth to Zara, and she travels to Pakistan with the evidence. Veer wins the case. When the court asks him to speak on his behalf, Veer recites the poem "Main Qaidi No. 786." Samia eventually drops Veer and Zara off at the Wagah border and gives Veer vermilion to apply to Zara's forehead. Veer and Zara then move to Veer's village.
Cast
Production Development
Yash Chopra was due to return to directing after 7 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 finalised 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 (present-day Mumbai) 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 the 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, the title of a song from Chopra's Silsila (1981), was one of the contenders, but Veer-Zaara was ultimately chosen. Chopra said, "The film's lovers 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, but 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 of Veer. Khan shortly played a 60-year-old man in the film, which he felt was a difficult role for him.
Kajol was the original first choice for the title role of Zaara, but she turned it down due to her pregnancy. The role then went to Preity 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.
Based on the Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jehangir, the role of Saamiya Siddiqui was initially offered to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Pakistani actress Nadia Jamil, but upon their refusal, it went to Rani Mukherji. Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini were cast as Veer's foster parents. This marked the first time Bachchan was directed by Chopra after Silsila (1981) and Malini's reunion with the director after Vijay (1988). Manoj Bajpayee was cast as Zaara's fiancé, a role which was originally offered to Ajay Devgn. In 2017, while promoting Aiyaary, Bajpayee revealed that Chopra used to often worry about the film's possible failure. Real-life couple Anupam Kher and Kirron Kher appear in the film as Saamiya's mentor and Zaara's mother respectively, though they do not share the same frame. Other cast members included Divya Dutta, Zohra Sehgal, Akhilendra Mishra, and Tom Alter. 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 script, Aditya co-produced the film along with his father under the Yash Raj Films banner. 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 time like Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003). Sharmishta Roy, who had worked on Johar's Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), was chosen as the art director. Saroj Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant were the choreographers. Allan Amin was the action director.
Filming