Veer-Zaara (Hindi: वीर-ज़ारा) is a 2004 Hindi film directed by Yash Chopra. The movie stars Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji in the leading roles, with Kirron Kher, Divya Dutta and Anupam Kher in supporting roles. Veteran actors Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini make special appearances in the film. The dialogues were written by Aditya Chopra.
Set against the backdrop of conflict between India and Pakistan, this star-crossed romance follows the unfortunate love story of an Indian Air Force Squadron Leader Veer Pratap Singh, and a Pakistani woman hailing from a rich political family of Lahore, Zaara Haayat Khan, who are separated for over twenty years. Saamiya Siddiqui, a Pakistani lawyer, finds Veer in prison, and upon listening to his story, tries to get him freed.
Highly anticipated pre-release, the film eventually became the top-grossing Bollywood film of the year at both the Indian and the international box office, earning over Rs. 750 million worldwide, in addition to being showcased at numerous prominent film festivals around the world. The music of the film, based on old compositions by the late Madan Mohan with lyrics by Javed Akhtar, was also successful.
Upon its theatrical release, Veer-Zaara received mostly positive reviews from critics. The film won several awards in major Indian film award ceremonies, including the Most Popular Film award at the National Film Awards and the Best Movie award at the annual Filmfare Awards, among others. This film marked the return to directing for Yash Chopra after seven years, last directing the film Dil To Pagal Hai.
The soundtrack was released on CD and specially on Audio DVD. The music is based on old and untouched compositions by the late Madan Mohan, as revised by his son Sanjeev Kohli.
Yash Raj Music also released complete background music of Veer-Zaara, this being a rarity. The CD was titled The Love Legend Themes - Instrumental.
The famous playback singer Lata Mangeshkar sang most of the songs. She used to sing with Madan Mohan, so there was a special poignancy to her contributions. According to Yash Chopra, upon coming for the recording, with tears in her eyes, Lata Mangeshkar told him, "Madan Mohan was like my brother. You [Chopra] are like my brother. I feel I have gone back in past".
Other singers: Jagjit Singh, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Gurdas Mann, Roop Kumar Rathod, Ahmed Hussain, Mohhamad Hussain and Pritha Mazumder appeared in the soundtrack.
