Veer-Zaara

This is one of those movies that I revisit every time I'm in a not-so-good mood, and the main reason for this habit of mine is Veer Prathap Singh, my crush since forever. This review is more a love letter to my man (that I wrote for my sake) than a review so beware lmao Imo, Veer is very different from the typical main leads, including the ones that SRK himself played. Veer is super straight forward, no-nonsense kinda guy. In fact we understand what kind of a guy he is within the first 5 minutes of the flashback itself. He introduces himself to Saamiya by explaining the speed of the plane and the aircraft model and goes onto one of my all time favorite scenes in Bollywood. "Aisa nahi hai ki usse zyada khoobsurat ladki ko maine kabhi nahi dekha hai. Par pata nahi kyu, uske chehre se nazar kabhi hati nahi thi." Usually we always here the main lead rambling on and on about the beauty of his love, but in this case, Veer just mentions how special Zaara looked to him and how his gut feeling almost told him that she was not gonna be a person he's gonna get over any time soon (and don't lie to yourself that this has never happened to you, please). He goes on to talk about how she looked down the whole and how she was breathing fast, concluding that she was scared without her saying any of this to him like BOIIII which guy nowadays pays attention to his girl like this! And despite the fact that he found Zaara attractive and all, he does not stop himself from letting her know how disgusted he was cuz of how she wanted to get her bag and forced him to pull her down. He's just so brutally honest. Another major example of his straight forward nature comes up when Zaara tells Veer about her mangetar, Raza Shirazi, and Veer, instead of keeping quiet like most male protagonists, tells her his true feelings. About how he loved her and wanted to marry her IF SHE LIKED HIM TOO. I feel like that's for some reason a forgotten addition to a proposal -- acknowledging the partner's intentions in love. When Raza comes over and asks Veer what he can do for Veer for saving Zaara's life, Veer just goes on to explain his selfless love for her by asking Raza to keep her happy, and that that's the only dua that he has. Even when Raza says to him, "Aap ere honi wali biwi ke baare mein baat kar rahe ho. Samaj nahi aa raha hai ki mein ise tareef samjhun ya gaali?", Veer simply replies with, "Aap ise kuch naa samjhe toh behtar hai". He never denied his love for Zaara, he simply just hid it for the sake of Zaara's happiness. When he finds out that Zaara loves him and was not happy about the marriage with Raza (love you and hate you for that Shabbo), he did not care about what the outcome was about his visit to Pakistan (remember he lost his Air Force ka job and could not get it back again). All he cared about was being there for Zaara and their love. I'm not gonna say that's smart cuz that's pretty foolish imo, but the fact that he was ready to give up his dream and his career just to help Zaara out of the wedding amazes me and makes me wonder if love really is that powerful. Even in Pakistan, he tells Zaara his decision of leaving her for the sake of her parents but also gives her the option to essentially elope with him if she really did not want to marry Raza, and he explains all this so calmly, acting as if he was fine with the first option. But he does break character when they both hug to the Do Pal BGM and starts crying (but it's okay cuz I cry to that too). But the fact that he always gives Zaara complete autonomy over situations and never forces himself upon her is something that I believe is very rare in Indian cinema (to this date). Like (lemme backtrack a bit) even when Veer makes Zaara swear for the sake of Pakistan to give him one day of her life to take her to his village, when Zaara looked hesitant, he tries to casually brush it off and never rubbed it in her face that she swore to Pakistan and stuff. What a man. And even when he was going to jail and was falsely accused of being in RAW and all, even when Saamiya forced him to let her reveal the truth about him and Zaara, without a second's thought he hid it all just so that Zaara's marriage stays intact and that Zaara is happy. And he doesn't ridicule Zaara for her fear of heights :,) (I'm petrified of heights so like hehe) Maybe some of the things I talked about here sound generic, but to me Veer is such a comfort character. Whenever I'm disgusted by the people around me and lose hope in men and mankind and have tears in my eyes, I always watch Veer be the most desirable man out there, and although unattainable, internally pray that I find a Veer for myself, someone who will listen to the ton of things I have to say, someone who will never ridicule me for the fears I have, someone who always gives me strength and support when I most need it, no matter what the situation is. Squadron Leader Veer Prathap Singh, I love you. Thank you for existing.