Veer-Zaara

Veer-Zaara
2004
5/5 stars

After 22 years in a Pakistani prison, Hindustani Veer Pretap Singh (Shah Rukh Khan) is assigned a  novice lawyer, Saamiya (Rani Mukerji), to review and represent his case.  Having remained silent for the years of his imprisonment, he opens up to Saamiya and tells her the story behind his arrest: the love story between him and a Pakistani woman, Zaara (Preity Zinta).

The plot of this romantic drama is gripping, moving, and mostly believable.  It portrays Pakistan-India relations sensitively.  The music is average and above, with some enjoyable choreography. This is a gorgeous movie, with both costumes and scenery that were breathtaking.  Khan and Zinta have excellent chemistry and were entirely convincing.  Mukerji played the uncertain but determined attorney well. Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini were cast as Khan's parents, with Kirron Kher as Zaara's mother; the three were, naturally, fantastic. The cast also includes Divya Dutta, Anupam Kher, Zohra Sehgal, and Manoj Bajpayee, all of whom gave solid performances.  Overall, this is a wonderfully written and acted film, and I highly recommend it.

Khan and Zinta

This movie is available on Amazon Prime.

Bachna Ae Haseeno

Bachna Ae Haseeno
(translates as: Watch Out, Ladies)
2008
4/5 stars


Raj (Ranbir Kapoor) thinks of himself as a lady killer, and seriously breaks the hearts of two young women: Mahi (Minissha Lamba) as a teen, and Radhika (Bipasha Basu) as a twenty-something. Shortly after devastating Radhika, Raj falls in love with Gayatri (Deepika Padukone), only to have his own heart broken. Seeing how it feels, he sets out to try to make amends with Mahi and Radhika.

I was surprised at how good this romantic comedy-drama was.  All four leads were convincing, the film work was good, and the story was strong.  The music ranged from really terrible to average.  (That first song nearly put me off the movie entirely.)  I enjoyed the overall movie enough to ignore the bad songs, though, and do recommend it.

Lamba, Padukone, Basu, Kapoor

Movie is available with Amazon Prime.

Om Jai Jagadish

Om Jai Jagadish
2002
4/5 stars


Widowed Saraswati (Waheeda Rehman) has three sons: Om (Anil Kapoor), Jai (Fardeen Khan) and Jagadish (Abhishek Bachchan); the family is devoted to each other.  Om, much older than his two brothers, is the wage earner and is supporting Jai and Jagadish as they go to college.  The movie follows the lives, romances, and dramas of the family over the course of a few years.

While melodramatic at times, this family drama is well written, interesting, and generally entertaining.  The music and dancing are average but energetic. Bachchan gave a lively, enjoyable performance. Kapoor didn't show a large range of emotions, but was mostly convincing.  Khan was the least credible, in a role that gave scope for much character growth.  Rehman played her role well.  The three female love interests were Mahima Chaudhry,  Urmila Matondkar, and Tara Sharma.  Matondkar played a disagreeable character, and did it well.  The other two ladies, while not outstanding, were solid.    If the viewer is willing to commit to nearly 3 hours, it's worth watching.