The Great Hindi Film Industry has come a long way from the black and white, silent movies era. Now we can boast of the best technicians and best quality of production on our films. Sadly, we can not say that about content and storytelling. This can be because the people who did the films earlier, did not had any ready references to follow. They had complex and hard life which had enriched them with experiences which could make great stories.

Now with the globalization, every country in the world is getting structured in a same template. So the emotions and experiences are similar all over. Due to this, suddenly there is nothing new to express as everyone is having same kind of smoothed out experiences.

In such scenario the film makers use old hit machines as references and try to put multiple such movies into one movie. Veer is such kind of movie. It uses elements from Troy, Gladiator and even our own DharamVeer. We have nothing to complain, if the movie is able to create an enchanting experience for us for the 2-3 hours of length it has. As long as it entertains the audience, they do not worry if its a copy or a remake or an adaptation. The experience shall be entertaining or engaging.

15 mins into Veer and you feel that the makers got it right this time. They are able to create a great adrenalin pumping experience for us. The audience blow whistles and applaud to even the entry of the infant VEER assuming he is the infant Salman. The pre-release euphoria about Salman and the movie building a charged up atmosphere in the movie hall. This is the love, trust and hope audience has for Salman Khan.

But …..

I do not like these buts… but… they are are there in many major movies recently.

The But Effect acts…. the movie goes into sleep mode once Salman catches the glimpse of a princes while doing the train robbery.

Before that and more, let me tell you the background. Before independence, there was a community in Rajputana called Pindhari which is infamous for their drunken brutal ways of fighting a war. Often addressed in the movie as barbaric Pindhari, they are great warriors and are honest people in reality.

Prithvi Singh aka Dadda (Mithoon Chakraborti) is head of this clan who helps the King of Madhavgarh, Raja Gyanedra (Jackie Shroff) to win a war in lieu of a land they demand. Instead of fulfilling the promise, the king brutally kills the 4500 Pindharis with the help of the british army and canons. Though able to run away from the disaster, Prithvi Singh take oath for revenge and pride.

They get dispersed in different areas of the state to prepare their soldiers for war with Madhavgarh and the British. As the time flies, Prithvi has 2 young boys who grow up to be great warriors, Veer (Salman Khan) and Punya (Sohail Khan). Veer as mentioned above meets his dreamgirl in a train robbery where they try to get back the treasure which British are supposedly stealing from India (What was the princes doing in that train then?). Prithvi sends them to study in London where Veer very conveniently meets the girl just later to know that she studies in same college. What a coincidence ?

Veer learns the British ways and methods to equip himself with better knowledge and strategy to defeat them in their own game when time demands. Now what happens with him love story and his daddu’s revenge story, you can try to check out if you decide to watch this movie.

So till the time Salman meets his girl, the movie is very promising and engrossing. But as the love story starts unfolding, the writer goes out of Ideas. The director keeps rolling the valuable film stock to shoot stale moments which are unsuccessful in connecting the audience with any character on screen. As we patiently seat till the interval and witness a potent twist at interval, our hopes are ignited again that the movie can pick up after interval.

But… again the but comes into the picture…. and no mercy…. the fools which we are, spend so much money time and hope for a small demand of engrossing entertainment from the biggest are again let down by the Director Anil Sharma and Writer duo Salman Khan and Shaktiman Talwar.

The movie does not take off…. in-fact it goes down the drain spirally making us a VEER to watch the movie till the end.

All those crores of rupees of producer Vijay Gilani, the hard work of Salman Khan and Mithoon (no one else actually care to act!), the exciting action by Tinu Verma and Peter Pedrero, the breathtaking cinematography by Gopal Shah, everything is just drained to gutter due to shoddy work of writing, direction, editing, music director (Sajid-Wajid), Costume Designer (Anna Singh).

Why do these people fail in such a big opportunity to create something worthwhile? Why don’t they work on script and screenplay more than directly going to shoot?

These can be questions kept unanswered because that’s the way Bollywood is.

The movie rides totally on Salman’s star power, all the whistles and claps are for him. He does work hard for this movie (which he normally doesn’t) and puts in sincere efforts. Mithoon is a delight to watch. Sohail Khan does monkey job and thinks it is funny. Everyone else is totally wasted. I wonder what the Adman and Hinglish Theater pioneer Bharat Dabholkar is doing in the background row of extra pindhari soldiers? And what was the veteran marathi theater actor Vinay Apate doing in the same row? Many known faces are there for one or two scenes. The new actress Zarin Khan has a big role but no future for sure.

The climax is blow on our intelligence and patience and makes us angry about being taken for granted as fools by the film makers. On the whole, its a big disappointment. Still I give the one extra star for the good rare moments in the film, Salman and Mithoon.

BR Rating : 2
BR Verdict : Below Average
BR Recommends : Watch only if you are ardent Salman and Mithoon fan!