Guru

Guru aka Gurukant
India (2007)
Starring:  Mithun Chakraborty, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai

Guru is a movie that has sat in my collection for months, once again I should have watched it sooner.

This movie is about a villager who left his family and went to Turkey to work at a young age.  His father never accepted that he would become anything.  When he was to receive a promotion he saw little sense in continuing to work for someone else while remaining poor and quit working to go back home and follow a dream.  From that point forward the story unfolds.  Unlike many Bollywood movies that go on and on and on while playing out the plot with nothing new being introduced, Guru was constantly brining new issues or causes into the movie all the way through.  Also unlike many Bollywood movies, Guru is not a sappy love story all the way through; granted the love story does play a main part in the movie, but it is not the focus.  There are a few cute dance scenes which of course I love just because they involve the beautiful Aishwarya Rai.

This movie was about overcoming obstacles.  It depicted how much having the right person at your side can make all of the difference while enforcing that without determination you will never reach your goals.

All in all I have to say I really enjoyed this movie.  Partially because of the messages the movie contains and partially because of it's uniqueness as a Bollywood flick.

Quote:  If you're with me I can beat the whole world.
              If law can be made in a day, it can be changed in a day.
              Think big, think ahead, and think fast.

Veer

Veer
India (Bollywood)
2010
Starring:  Salman Khan, Zarine Khan, Mithun Chakraborty, and Jackie Shroff

As the poster says, it Veer is the epic love story of a warrior. The movie boasts some decent sweeping visual scenes as well as a multicultural tale.  Veer is a story of honor, betrayal, and love against the backdrop of a historically epic time in India.

Veer is a Pindari warrior whose father and tribe are betrayed by the British and Madhavgarh's King.  Fate one day brings Veer and his warriors to rob a train that will change the course of history for the Pindari.

Veer has extremely mixed reviews on all fronts, still I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Some say the final scenes aren't necessary, but I find some cosmic peace in the ending; others say the battles were unnecessary, I'm not sure how else one would portray this warrior without them; and still others yet say it was cheesy, every Bollywood romance has a huge element of that.  All in all I'd watch it again.  I hope Netflix soon brings it to the USA masses, I'd like to see Zarine Khan boosted into stardom and this first movie of hers referenced as one of her greats in years to come.

Quote: This story belongs to fearless the Pindari whose saga of bravery was not considered as a part of history by the British. But, they could not stop them from becoming a legend.

"What is the Greatest Thing for a Pindari?" - "Courage"
"And greater than courage?" - "Promise"
"And greater than a promise?" . . .