Veer Review - Things Fall Apart

Salman Khan said in an interview said if Veer fails he will take the responsibility for it, this might be the time for it. Here, for a change director Anil Sharma shifts focus from Pakistan to the British rule in India without compromising on his full throttle speeches about motherland, honor and machismo. The movie stars Salman Khan in the lead role, and has one of the biggest hits of 2009 to his credit. He has also stepped into the shoes of a script writer with this film and it is obvious that this film is very close to him, but he disappoints his fans with his latest offering.
It is a well known fact to the movie goers that movies directed by Anil Sharma cares less for accuracy of historical facts and figures but offer a lot of entertainment where the central character almost single handedly routs the evil (remember Sunny Deol doing it in Gadar Ek Prem Katha). Here it is Salman doing it to the ruler of his state who has joined hands with British rule to oppress the Pindari tribes.
The movie revolves around the colonial India in 1862 and is mainly based on the Rajputana tribe of Pindari who are tough warrior alcoholics. They are good at war and drinking (that's what the film suggests). The film starts with the king of Madhav Garh betrays the Pindari tribe after they have won him a war, to appease the British. The tribals, as they would have it, swears revenge. The whole movie revolves around their revenge and it is in the last scenes that the focus shifts from revenge to free India from the British rule.
To achieve this revenge the head of the tribe Prithvi Singh (Mithun Chakraborty) sends his two sons Veer and Punya to England so that they can learn how the firangi mind works and they can beat them at their own game. The matter gets complicated with the arrival of princess of Madhav Garh played by Zarine Khan in the life of Veer, who falls in love with the princess. Our hero Veer fights fearlessly with the amoral king, the British rule and lay down the foundations of Indian independence movement.
The problem with the film is not the lack of logic but amount of boredom that it gives to a viewer. The hero takes the intestine of a man with his bare hands, participates in a strange kind of a Swayamwar to win the princess and seen swearing about motherland. Such things only bore and more so give a rather comic angle to the movie which is obviously not the intention of the director and scrip writer.
We have got some better movies in recent times on patriotism (Chak De) and epic movies (Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar). Here even the duration of movie bores a viewer. The music is ok for the film if not great. The film makers have tried to give conviction to the project and have worked hard to make it work on screen.
The movie deserved a better script than this one to back the hard work put forth by Salman Khan in virtually every scene. He has tried his best to lift the film to a new level but unfortunately he has let down himself with this epic. His brilliant presence in every scene surely deserves thumbs up.