Most of the story is revealed as a flashback from prison cell of Veer Pratap Singh [Shahrukh Khan]. The narrative begins by showing Zaara Haayat Khan [Preity Zinta], an independent, carefree, and sprightly young Pakistani girl travelling to India. She is on her way to India with the ashes of her Sikh governess Bebe [a Punjabi word to denote mother or grandmother, but here used for Zaaras old governess]. Before dying, Bebe [Zohra Sehgal] begs Zaara to fulfill her final wish - to take her ashes to India, to the holy Sikh city of Kiritpur, and scatter them in the river, among her ancestors. Zaara decides to carry out Bebes dying wish. Upon reaching India, Zaaras bus meets with an accident causing it to overturn. An Indian Air Force pilot, Squadron Leader Veer Pratap Singh [Shahrukh Khan] comes to her rescue and with his help, Zaara completes Bebes final rites. Veer convinces Zaara to return with him to his village to spend one day together. Zaara agrees and Veer takes her on a tour of Indias Punjab. They visit Veers home village on the day of the Lohri festival and meet Veers relatives [Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini]. With his father telling Veer that, in a dream he has seen Zaara becoming Veers wife, Veer realizes he is falling in love with Zaara. Taking her to catch her train to Lahore, Veer is just waiting for the right time to tell Zaara about his feelings, but before he can do that they are met by Zaaras fiance, who has come looking for her, Raza [Manoj Bajpai]. Just before she is to board the train, Veer confesses his love and then watches sadly as Zaara boards the train that will take her back to Pakistan. Veer gets no sense of Zaaras feelings, but as she is leaving he discovers her still has one of her silver anklets. She nods for him to keep it; both believe that this is the end of the road for their relationship and and that they will probably never meet again. On reaching Pakistan, Zaara realizes that she deep feelings for Veer, but that it is her duty to keep her familys honor and marry her fiancé, a wedding that will further her fathers political career. But Zaara starts to see Veers face everywhere and finally tells her mother that she has fallen in love with Veer. Zaaras maid and friend Shabbo calls Veer and tells him how miserable Zaara is without him, she dares him to come and take Zaara away; back to India. Veer who had told Zaara that he would give up his life for her, quits the Indian Air Force and goes to Pakistan to bring her back with him to India. Zaaras mother, Mariam Hayaat Khan [Kirron Kher], however, begs him to leave Zaara as Zaaras father, Jahangir Hayaat Khan [Boman Irani] is a high-profile politician whose reputation, and health, will be ruined if news gets out that his daughter is in love with an Indian. Veer respects this request and decides to leave for India but Raza, who is outraged by the shame Zaara has brought upon him, frames Veer and has him wrongly imprisoned on charges of being an Indian spy Rajesh Rathod. The story moves forward by 22 years and Veer now meets Saamiya Siddiqui [Rani Mukerji], who is an idealistic Pakistani lawyer, whose mission in life is to pave the path for womens empowerment in Pakistan. The Pakistani government has decided to review the cases of some Indians, but stacking the deck against Siddiqui winning her first case, she has been given prisoner 786s case [Veer] a man who has not spoken a word to anyone in 22 years. Many view it as an impossible task as the man has been languishing in prison and has not spoken for the last 22 years. Veer opens up to Saamiya and tells her that she can do anything for fighting his case except mention, much less subpoena, Zaaras family. The number 786 is considered to be a holy number in Islam, this convinces Saamiya that God has chosen Veer for some special purpose, and she becomes even more determined to exonerate him, restore his name and identity, and return him to his country. After the prosecution, presents it case, Saamiya realizes she must cross the boarder and find someone in Veers village who can prove Veers true identity. There, Saamiya meets Zaara- who had fled to India and has taken over running the girls school after the deaths of Veers parents, she has thought that Veer died on his bus that ran off a cliff, killing everyone on its way to India. Saamiya takes Zaara back to Pakistan to tell the court the truth about Veers identity. The judge releases Veer from prison and apologizes on behalf of Pakistan. After Veer is finally released, he and Zaara bid goodbye to Saamiya and Pakistan at the Wagah border crossing, returning to their village together, where Veer, now the aging village elder, continues his fathers dangerous habit of playing hockey with much younger men and boys.

Production

Yash Chopra returned to directing after eight years, his last directed film being Dil To Pagal Hai [1997]. The film was originally going to be called Yeh Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum, a name taken from the title of a song in the movie Silsila [1981]. The director, Yash Chopra, eventually decided on Veer-Zaara as a title. However, one of the songs in the film is called "Yeh Hum Aa Gaye Hain Kahan", a twist on the proposed title.

List of tracks

Release and reception

Veer-Zaara was heavily promoted pre-release. The film music, released before the actual cinematic release, went on to do very well at the charts, as was the movie. The movie opened in theatres on 12 November 2004. It grossed Rs. 410 million, the highest grossing movie of the year in India. In its first week it grossed Rs. 170 million, an opening week record which was held until 2005. The film was a success not only in India and Pakistan, but overseas, notably in United Kingdom, Germany, France, South Africa, Canada and the United States. It earned Rs. 357 million in the overseas markets, making it 2004s top-grossing Bollywood production overseas. It grossed $2,938,532 in the U.S alone When the three leading actors of the film, Shahrukh, Preity and Rani, visited the Virgin Megastore in the UK, over 5,000 fans thronged the store. Apart from that, it was screened at the Berlin Film Festival, where it was received well. In February 2005, it was featured in the issue of the National Geographic Magazine in an article about Bollywood. On 26 April 2006, Veer-Zaara had its French premiere at The Grand Rex, the biggest theatre in Paris. It is the first Hindi film to premiere in such a large and luxe venue. In September 2007, a book based on the making of the film, titled They said it, got released. The book contains testimonials from members of the film''s cast and crew and follows the production stages of the film.

Filmfare awards

= Veer-Zaara received fifteen Filmfare nominations. It won awards for best dialogue, story, movie and lyrics. The film was nominated for the following awards [Filmfare wins in bold. Other sections present only the wins]: * Best Movie * Best Director - Yash Chopra * Best Actor - Shahrukh Khan * Best Actress - Preity Zinta * Best Supporting Actor - Amitabh Bachchan * Best Supporting Actress - Rani Mukerji * Best Supporting Actress - Divya Dutta * Best Dialogue - Aditya Chopra * Best Story - Aditya Chopra * Best Lyricist - Javed Akhtar for "Tere Liye" * Best Lyricist - Javed Akhtar for "Main Yahaan" * Best Lyricist - Javed Akhtar for "Aisa Des Hai Mera" * Best Music Director - Madan Mohan * Best Male Playback - Sonu Nigam for "Do Pal" * Best Male Playback - Udit Narayan for "Main Yahaan Hoon"

Dvd release

On 6 June 2005 the Yash Raj Films released the DVD of Veer-Zaara on a Collectors Double DVD Pack, with the disc one containing the original film and second disc having special features, e.g. making of the songs [with little original melodies], interview with Yash Chopra, premier, deleted scenes, trailers and promo and deleted song Yeh Hum Aa Gaye Hain Kahan. Disc 1 [the film] has one audio track in Hindi, and eleven subtitle tracks for English, Spanish, Dutch, Hebrew, Arabic, Gujarati, Tamil, and Malayalam. In December 2009, the movie was released onto Blu-ray.

National film awards

= * Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment

Zee cine awards

= * Best Film - Yash Chopra & Aditya Chopra [Producers] * Best Director - Yash Chopra * Best Actor - Shahrukh Khan * Best Supporting Actress - Divya Dutta

Iifa awards

= * Best Picture * Best Director - Yash Chopra * Best Actor - Shahrukh Khan * Best Supporting Actress - Rani Mukerji * Best Music Director - The Late Madan Mohan * Best Story- Aditya Chopra

Star screen awards

= * Best Film * Best Actor - Shahrukh Khan * Best Dialogue - Aditya Chopra * Best Story - Aditya Chopra * Jodi No.1 - Shah Rukh Khan & Preity Zinta

Stardust awards

= * Star of the Year - Female - Preity Zinta * Stardust Best Supporting Actress Award - Kirron Kher

Bollywood movie awards

= * Best Film - Yash Chopra & Aditya Chopra [Producers] * Best Director - Yash Chopra * Best Actor - Shahrukh Khan * Best Music - Late Madan Mohan * Best Lyrics - Javed Akhtar - [Tere Liye...]

Global indian film awards

= * Best Actor - Shahrukh Khan * Best Supporting Actress - Divya Dutta * Best Story - Aditya Chopra