Swapna Narayanan
‘A few stolen moments of pure love are more than enough to live an entire life of commitment, duty and responsibilities,’ said SRK to the lovely Preity Zinta.
And an entire generation believed it.
This and many such iconic dialogues of the ever-time classic – Veer Zaara – are what a lot of us kids of the ’90s grew up on and probably still believe in.
As Veer Zaara completes its 15 years mark, it is time to rewind back and look at the beautiful movie that brought out the story of courage, conviction, sacrifice and above all committed love irrespective of whether it is requited or unrequited! Probably it will help the youth of today to see love beyond the WA texts, Insta messages and physical proximities.
The story is of Veer Pratap Singh, an Indian Air Force officer and Zaara Haayat Khan from Pakistan. A bus accident gets them to meet, and fall in love with each other. And a tryst of destiny, the clear differences of belonging to different countries and different faiths, Zaara’s fathers political ambitions, and the usual rhetoric of a mother’s plight torn between her family’s honour and her daughter’s wish, doesn’t allow them to unite. There is more. The fiance, clearly jealous and unable to bear himself to be the second choice, ensures Veer is jailed in Pakistan by declaring him to be an Indian Spy known as Rajesh Rathore.
But can love be bound? Or does love need to be necessarily reciprocated and need a ‘happily ever after’!
The story touches a few chords and clears a few misnomers while reaffirming the faith in love.
Love just happens. No reason, no logic, no checking on the backgrounds of the two people involved, no tracking of their historical and religious differences. Love is a great leveller – it boils down to just two individuals and their beating hearts. A clear and refreshing change from the various marriages, alliances, relationships that we saw around us then and we see around us even today!
Only a woman can love from heart and soul! – the movie changed this perception completely. There is a scene where Zaara, torn between her impending engagement and her new found love asks her mother, ‘will you die for your husband – the love of your life?’ While the mother immediately answers in affirmative, she is not so sure how to answer the next question with Zaara poses, ‘will father give up his life for you?‘ A deep point, that makes her take the decision to stand by her own love of life – Veer, who, as the movie progresses, readily sacrifices his love and accepts the injustice meted out to him only to protect the honour of Zaara.
True love is found only in books and poetry – the movie completely changed this myth. All possible challenges that often hit the people who fall in love came by in this piece of fiction, yet love triumphs in its own way. It debunks the popular notion that love must lead to a union and shows that selflessness and a happy sacrifice is also love. But yes, you definitely need a strong and matured mind that rises above all and defines love in the way it should be. And if you are committed, then sacrificing comes easy. Even if it is 22 years long.
Love makes you grounded. You never think of yourself. You think of only the ‘other’. Veer took care of Zaara’s honour by spending his entire youth in jail and not wincing a bit about it and Zaara took care of his dream by walking out on her marriage and moving into another country to take care of his elderly relatives and run his dream school. It is not humanity but love. And love is ethereal, eternal and pure.
The movie ends in both Veer and Zaara finally meeting thanks to a young lawyer, played by Rani Mukherjee, and her perceptivity, who saw the deep commitment and love in the heart of Veer and took it upon herself to change the course of fate.
Albeit, many years later.
Eyra 