Reviews

At my viewing of this movie in the Raja cinema in Vancouver at the end of the film the audience laughed heartily several times, times when the filmmaker plainly didn't want anyone to laugh. I was the only "gora" in the audience, which wasn't numerous so I could count, and the laughter was interesting, in part because I agreed with it. Without setting up any spoilers, there were a number of plot points in the climax that made my disbelief come out of suspension as,obviously, did the disbelief of others in the cinema. I'm a fan of Saif Ali Khan and believe him capable of great movies as we saw in Kal Ho Na Ho. But, although he gets to star in this film and show his dramatic chops, that ending sabotaged his efforts.

When I go to the opera, I expect big emotions that are in scale with the sets, stories and costumes. And many South Asian films, especially the Shah Rukh Khan romances, work on the same principle as opera. They keep everything in scale. Shah Rukh Khan relishes parts with love writ large and, when his acting is restrained, nobody can match him in those roles. I'm hard pressed to think of a male lead in Hollywood who could handle a love story of this size. Daniel Day Lewis, in Last of the Mohicans, but who else? Veer-Zaara is opera: opulent sets, extraordinary costumes and a tragic story. Add a score with one haunting melody and you've got something very familiar, to opera lovers,yet completely unique. Both art forms are acquired tastes, but addictive. You're warned.