Veer-Zaara

By Gaurav Malani, Sep 17th, 2004 - 1800 hrs IST


Yash Chopra’s Veer-Zaara is the latest and the biggest talk of the tinsel town currently. From its title, theme and cast to its completion, the film has been an object of constant media speculation. Getting straight to the music of the film, which essentially is one of the prime reasons why the film has been under constant conjecture, it’s now a known fact that the film has music composed by yesteryear maestro – the late Madan Mohan.

The prolific composer had scored some of the best and the biggest hits from the early 50’s to the late 70’s. To refresh memories some of his golden compositions include songs like Aap Ki Nazron Ne Samjha (Anpadh), Kaun aaya mere man ke dware (Dekh Kabira Roya), Woh bhooli dastan lo phir yaad aa gayee (Sanjog), Naina barse rim jhim (Woh Kaun Thi?), Ab tumhare hawale watan saathiyon (Haqeeqat), Milo na tum to, Yeh duniya yeh mehfil (Heer Ranjha), Dil Dhoondta Hai Phir Wahi (Mausam) . Others may identify him as the original composer of current remix tunes like Jhumka Gira Re (Mera Saaya) and Kya Soorat Hai (Man Mauji) .

The music legend who unfortunately passed away at a young age had composed a bank of tunes while he was still going great as a musician. Yash Chopra specially selected those tunes from this unused collection that went in perfect sync with his movie theme. These 30-year-old eternal tunes were recreated by Madan Mohan’s son – Sanjeev Kohli and recorded in voice of contemporary singers. Incidentally though both Yash Chopra and Madan Mohan were from the same era, they never worked together before this album. (An example of a musician’s tunes being used after he passed away is in case of 1942 – A love Story where RD Burman’s memorable compositions were recreated by his erstwhile assistant Babloo Chakrabarthy).

Over to Veer-Zaara…

The album opens with mellow string notes of the track Tere Liye (the interludes of which are currently aired in the promos of the film). In the melodious vocals of Roop Kumar Rathod and the evergreen Lata Mangeshkar, this makes for a slow (but steady) start for the album. This emotional track appears to be the theme song of the Veer-Zaara, interludes of which are usually played in the background at several instances in the film. Lata’s vocals do tend to get somewhat sharp on treble notes but overall the track refrains from getting to high pitch.

After a poignant start, the album takes a peppy turn with Main Yahan Hoon. Udit Narayan vibrates his voice and lends an effervescent feel to his solo number. A typical Shahrukh number, the song has a vivacious feel to it.

Udit Narayan and Lata Mangeshkar get along for Yeh Hum Aa Gaye Hai Kaha. Though the song title may sound like an inversion of a track “Yeh Kaha Aa Gaye Hum” from one of Yash Chopra’s earlier films Silsila, the tune is far from it. Nevertheless it’s a melodious tune catching up instantly. A refreshing romantic duet this may turn out to be the most popular song of the album!

Gurdas Mann opens the fervent Punjabi flavored Aisa Des Hai Mera and Udit Narayan soon takes over the track. An inspiring song in praise of the motherland, Javed Akhtar gets to his usual best with his practical down-to-earth lyrics. In fact rather than admiration of Des (nation), the song is more targeted towards a man’s love for his village/town and its way of life. Thematically it reminds of the song Ghar Aaja Pardesi from Chopra’s earlier film DDLJ. Gurdas returns to add the bhangra touch with interludes of Punjabi folk tunes like Ye Desh Hai Veer Jawano Ka and Reshmi Salwar Kurta Jaali Ka (also used in yesteryear films) interspersed in between. Lata Mangeshkar makes a late appearance in the track and points out how similar is the neighboring country (Pakistan) with this des (India). Small time singer Preetha Mazumdar also gets to croon a few lines in the song and incidentally is the only other female voice (after Lata Mangeshkar) in this album.

Do Pal by Sonu Nigam and Lata Mangeshkar is a touching track and essentially has that touch of 60-70. The light metal percussions (which were an essential element of SD Burman compositions) make that more evident.

Yash Chopra goes beyond the microphone for the first time in Kyun Hawa. But hold on… he isn’t singing but just gives a commentary for the track. Faintly reminiscent of Amitabh Bachchan’s prologue in the song Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum (Silsila), Chopra’s heavy-worded foreword seems to be slightly stretched out by the time Sonu and Lata Mangeshkar take charge of the mike.

Hum To Bhai Jaise Hain, a Lata Mangeshkar solo is a fun-frolic song about ‘I will be the way I am’. A youthful and joyful track as far as it lasts! Hussain brothers (Ahmed and Mohd.) get together for a traditional qawalli Aaya Tere Darr Par Deewana. The tune is restricted within the conventional qawalli domain with the customary table arrangements and vocal pitch variations (and without much experimentation). The song appears be set in the climax of the movie.

Udit-Lata-Gurdas Mann get together once again for the Punjabi track Lodi (which stands for the Punjabi festival of fire). Basically a male-female ched-chad song with a frothy folk feel, it is in the lines of Soni Soni Akhiyo Wali (Mohabbatein) . Gurdas Mann dominates the track while Udit plays the supporting singer here.

Two bonus tracks also feature on the CD in the sense that they won’t appear in the film but have been recorded as add-ons to the disc. Jagjit Singh and Lata Mangeshkar feature in the mellow ghazal Tum Paas Aa Rahe Ho while is Jaane Kyun is a soft and slow solo song by Lata with a sonata thrown in between.

Veer-Zaara is a mixed bag varying from a rich collection of love songs to emotional tracks to a patriotic number, a qawalli, a folk song and a ghazal. While the first half of the album is instantly appealing the second half will slowly grow on you. At the end the outcome is pretty likeable.

Take a break from the world of techno music and remix item numbers. Dip into divine melodies with Veer-Zaara .

Rating: ***

(The Twin Audio CD pack comes with a bonus CD on ‘The Making of the Music’ presented by the late Madan Mohan with commentaries by Lata Mangeshkar and Yash Chopra.)

Eagerly awaiting Zulmi reviews on this one. I generally don't like the music on recent Yash Chopra films, but this is a special case.

if you did not like DTPH, then no comment!

YRF vs Yash Chopra Film is different entity imho..

I loved DTPH music!

YRF music..has been down hill..

VZ...does not click with you right away! Lata seems singing with NO TEETH or NO DENTURES..

This REVIEWER seems preposterous, Karaey ka tattu!! or simply CLUELESS! imho

I agree, it is in 2 words, STALE and STINKY!

like a man with no teeth! edentulous!

might find patrons with mid life crisis!

on a personal note i felt the music for DTPH was very good BUT the film was CRAP,UTTER SHIT POINTLESS RUBBISH maybe because it came too soon after PARDES hence i just thought SRK character from DTPH was an extention of his portryal from PARDES !!!!

I have like YC earlier films upto and including DARR.....but anything after has been a total let down i for one do not hold much hope for his VEER ZAARA in fact the title alone is enough to put me off

I have to put my two cents on this one. Bollywood is plagued today by titles that are very generic like 'Mujhse shaadi karogi,' 'Dil ne jise apna kaha,' 'Kyun ho gaya na' etc etc. The trend seemed to have commenced with DDLJ, KKHH, and DTPH. It's not that they don't say anything about the movie. In fact they do, but what these titles recognize is the romance angle of bollywood, and only that angle, that is in itself pretty old. Also, it identifies nothing the audiences would be interested in that's different from another movie. There is no whiff of freshness there and these titles definitely do not stick out as an identity for the movie. I was never interested in these movies because of the titles, but because I heard from friends later that the movie was good. On the other hand, when I see a title like 'The Village,' 'The Matrix,' '25th hour,' 'Mimic' etc etc, I'm interested and excited about seeing the movie just because the movie seems to have an identity.

Back to Bollywood, there are titles like 'Mission: Kashmir,' 'Lagaan,' 'Ab Tak Chappan,' 'Shool,' 'Khakhi' and even 'Aankhen.' I actually appreciate that the filmmakers try to infuse some identity to the movies by coming up with these titles. I mean, really, if a movie comes out with the title 'Dil Tumhe Chahta hai,' tommorrow, I would not be surprised. I don't expect a movie like this to get a good initial collection. It's almost like sending a movie to its grave before it's born.

If Bollywood does make certain types of romance movies though, I understand that they really cannot stray away from using generic titles. However, they can give it some infusion of identity. And I definitely think that Yash Chopra is giving an identity by calling a movie "Veer Zaara." Now I'm actually interested and I give him and his crew credit for trying. Would you rather this movie be called 'Dil ne Jise apna kaha?" Or is that taken already?

Whatever but VZ is when you cant find any thing better!

How 'Veer-Zaara' will be released
By Abid ©2004 Bollyvista.com

The theaters that will screen 'Veer-Zaara' will hike the admission rates for one of the most eagerly awaited films of this year . The aim is to cash in on the film's popularity and the thirst among viewers to watch it. Exhibitors, eager as ever to book the multi-starrer at their cinemas, are being asked to up their capacities on the one hand and reduce their rentals on the other. Needless to add, most of the cinemas are agreeing to the demands of the distributors of 'Veer-Zaara'. The heat is being generated... slowly but surely.

im being stupid, but arent all SRK movies overhyped and are all "the most eagerly awaited movies of the year." It reminds me of the old day when the video shop guy used to split an Amitabh Bachan RElease over two tapes and charge double for it..... i wont buy in for that shit anymore.. if ANY movie overcharges me, i refuse to watch it on the big screen, and will most likely just download it...

music is good btw..

what did you!!!!!! particularly liked about it man?

not sure.. but it has a few good songs in it!!

Rita ji, where is suri bhenji these days? kinda missing her here in action

I agree a couple songs are OK in Veer Zara(not JARA)

punjabi with Gurdas( that is salute to Mehndi laga ke..again awful singing by Lata), Qawalai, I agree is for sure is good! and will be highlight if used in Climax..

Preity is pretty talented..I agre!! But YRF films dont need talent..they just use BIG names grouped together in the Mush!

I like her, but didnt care abt her much in KHNH and Lakshya!

SRK/AB..no comments!

I personally liked DTPH and loved its music..may be because I saw it before Pardes? and I loved Madhuri/SRK chemistry in the film, along with simply brilliant music and songs!

This music is nothing on Par with Yash Chopra's Lamhe, Chandani, Silsila, and even DTPH...It tries to go in direction of DDLJ and KKHH, by Aditya's influence!

One thing I cant understand? make your pardon? how come SRK, AB and Preity's Presence will make MUSIC GOOD???

With Kinda story, I would love this music, if would be on par with 1942 a love story or Hena!! Both of those sound tracks were Superb, even without AB/SRK/Preity's presence imho!

I'm usually in favour with alot of recent Yashraj Film(s) music, but Veer-Zaara is in my opinion a huge experimental failure. Recreating music from a long-gone era is no easy task, but Sanjeev Kohli's vision to his late father's tones is nothing but crude hindi film music of the 90s from the like's of Bahpi Lari or Anu Malik. Veer-Zaara is just a LAME! album. Although, the bonus CD is rather an interesting listen.

Now when I have listened to it multi times, and given time to grow..

I go with reviewer's rating, not verbal glory!

It is 6-7/10, depends how you milk it!

indeed RS gives it 7/10..verdict..buy a tape!

http://radiosargam.com/audio/musicrevie ... rzaara.htm

Btw!! I just remembered Climax of another SRK film, Pardes was done with Qawali..and I did like it!

I am not anti SRK/AB....when they are GOOD! I ilike them..I did like Pardes and DTPH, but did not like Mohabtaen, KKKG, CC, KHNH!
I did like MHN too, but not because of SRK..

For AB, he is making so little of him, I feel pitty and sorry for him, that for money sake what he has come down to doing!

Preity's last GOOD FILM was ARMAAN!

VZ when a bit fast, heavily lifts from DTPH, DDLJ etc etc!!

But one thing overall, it does not sound dito, mohabtaen, myksh etc etc..that all sound the same imho.

I immensely felt absence of ANAND BAKSHI, Javaid Akhtar sucks in this album, could not creat the feelings!