Veer

It is the mid 19th century,and the Rajwadas are allowing the British to gobble land and money because of interpersonal strife. Only one man is capable of staving off total ruin,and that’s the valiant ‘sardar’ of the Pindari tribe ( Chakraborty),who gets duped by a greedy Rajput king (Shroff),and chased off his lands. Naturally,loyal son Veer takes it upon himself to re-gain the lost glory of his people,and unleashes,in the process,his entire arsenal : here,watch Salman do his fierce tribal number,there,see him wrestle a giant to the ground,and oh there he is,falling in love with a princess ( Zarine),who turns out to be,surprise,the daughter of the ‘jaani dushman’.

And just in case we forget just how brave Veer is,everytime he is about to face down a rival,a roaring lion comes on as part of the background score : do not forget that this has been directed by Anil Sharma,who made ‘Gadar’,in which hero Sunny Deol handled the snarling all by himself. But no Deol can compare with Salman in the six pack stakes,which Veer bares splendidly whenever a chance arises,and arise it does several times( Salman is credited with the story ). There are no gladiator sandals,alas ; Salman makes do with tight leggings and leather armour,and once,a pair of orange pants.

Other actors flit in and out. Chakraborty sports straggly hair and a smile for the most part,which is pretty big of him,considering Salman calls him ‘dadda’ every other minute. Neena Gupta waggles her bosom in a ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ type song before she remembers she is a mom of two grown men. Shroff revels in a golden claw adorned with a diamond bracelet ( he got his hand cut off,see). Sohail plays the clown,as it usually happens in Salman ‘bhaiya’’s films.

Some amusement to be had initially when the ‘prem kahani’ is kicked off ,’Sholay’-style : the galloping band of Veer and his men jump a train,loot the treasure,and spare the ‘rajkumari’s life and ‘izzat’ : Zarine does look a little like Katrina,and goes through her role—mostly to smile and simper,and tear up a little toward the end—with confidence,which wavers only occasionally.

I didn’t get bored in the first half; the second put me to sleep. Go only if you can’t bear to miss a Salman film.