Dharam Veer

Plot synopsis:
Maharani Meenakshi is a princess who one day while out hunting is rescued from a handful of attackers by a hunter-warrior Jwala Singh (Pran) who lives alone in the jungle, accompanied only by his pet falcon, Sheroo. She offers him a reward for saving her life but he only wants her hand in marriage which he had been denied by her father. During the night they are awoken by another tiger and Jwala goes to slay it. The tiger kills a villager and Jwala puts his poncho over him to cover his dead body. He wrestles the tiger and they both fall over a cliff. The Princess sees the body of the dead villager and she thinks it is that of Jwala and goes into shock. Her father eventually marries her off into another royal family. Unbeknownst to Jwala, Meenakshi is pregnant by him. King Satpal Singh, Meenakshi's brother is told in a prophecy that he will be killed by his eldest nephew, Dharam. In order to prevent this, he pleads poverty and moves in with his sister.
The Queen gives birth to a healthy baby boy. Satpal takes the baby, minutes after it is born and tosses it out of a window. Instead of falling to its death though, the baby is caught by Sheroo who flies him to his master. Jwala has been injured by a tiger and is being healed by a poor blacksmith and his wife. They are childless and are pleased when the bird brings the baby, believing it to be a gift. They explain what happened to Jwala when he awakes and he assents to them keeping the child and raising it as their own. In the meanwhile we learn than the Queen gave birth to twins and Satpal only dealt with the first born. He is satisfied that the prophecy has been averted and now plans to help himself further by swapping his sisters baby with his own. Whilst he is asleep though, his wife swaps the children back.
As the children grow up, Satpal mistreats his own child, who he believes to be the prince, and dotes on the prince whom he thinks are his own son. The twins grow up. The elder is called Dharam (Dharmendra) and grows up to be a blacksmith like his father. The younger, Veer (Jeetendra) is the crown prince. The boys become best friends and do not realise that this is because they are actually twin brothers. Dharam falls in love with a princess (Zeenat Aman) while Veer wins the heart of a gypsy girl, Rupa (Neetu Singh). They also meet Jwala Singh who is the master of swordsmanship. Jwala Singh teaches Dharam the skills of swordsmanship and as a result Dharam also becomes a master swordsman. The training scenes were exceptional.
Once the truth about his son is revealed to Satpal, he attempts to get rid of Veer. Before doing so, he realises he must first break the bond between him and his staunchest supporter, Dharam. The Kingdom has "an eye for an eye" as the ultimate law. Dharam's father is accused of shoddily preparing a chariot wheel which caused a soldier to lose his hands. In reality Satpal and his son Ranjeet sabotaged it. The Queen is forced to chop of Dharam's father's hands in retribution. Dharam vows never to forgive Veer for this. Satpal and his son then kill Dharam's mother and use one of the prince's royal arrows. Dharam fins this and accuses the prince of the murder. In retribution for the mother he has lost, Dharam demands the Queen become his mother. Although Veer strongly protests, the Queen submits stating that she must be seen to uphold the law or no-one will. For this act, Veer begins to bitterly hate Dharam. Veer challenges Dharam to a duel and Dharam accepts. Satpal and his son know that in this duet, Dharam will kill Veer and they will get Dharam executed for Veer's murder. Whilst the boys are fighting, the poor blacksmith reveals the story of how Dharam came to him and his wife. He shows the Queen the cloth the baby was wrapped in. The queen realises that this was in fact her own child who she believed to have been carried off by a falcon. She stops the fight just in time to stop the brothers from killing each other and reveals their relationship. Reunited, the brothers now face the challenge of disposing of the forces that Satpal Singh has gathered together. In the end, Satpal is killed by Dharam. The films special appeal is its grand and colourful sets, melodious and gradious music as well as its sharp screenplay and storyline based in the medieval periods.

Tags: good versus evil, revenge

Review:
A Must Watch Classic. Dharam Veer is a period costume drama set in the midieval periods shot in grand colourful palaces and forts. While the storyline and screenplay are contemporary, its the special effects and poorly edited action sequences that make the film look a bit dated. The film is based on the "lost and found" formula, a specialty of its director, Mr. Manmohan Desai. When the family astrologer predicts to the brother of the queen of a kingdom that his eldest nephew (sisters son) will be responsible for his untimely death, the uncle tries to eliminate him on the day he is born. While the scheming uncle believes that his nephew is dead, all that he has unknowingly managed to do is that he has separated the child from his family. The prince is brought up at a poor blacksmith's house in an environment of contrast with the life of a palace. However, as luck would have it, the poor prince emerges to be the best friend of his younger brother from the palaces in a kingdom which believes that rich and poor are all alike. They eventually reunite as brothers to get rid of their scheming uncle who had designs for his son to be the crowned king. Various parallel well knit side tracks enhance the pace of the film.All in all, thoroughly entertaining fare with nice music, beautiful backdrops, gorgeous stars (zeenat aman and dharmendra are just fab!), grand festivities, moderate emotions and hilarious comedy scenes make it a must watch!. Like The Beastmaster meets Pirates of the Caribbean, but like nothing else at the same time.. If you are looking for entertainment but aren't sure if you want to settle on a comedy, a musical, a period film, a mystery, some romance, some action, something the kids would like, or a nature documentary, look no further than Dharam-Veer. In this forest of interesting costumes, characters, plot twists, stunts and dialog, anyone hunting for a dull moment will come back to town empty handed! This isn't the film you go into taking seriously, however, it is entirely possible to do so granted the sincerity with which it was made. The setting is all at once an Ancient Roman/Medieval/Rococo period containing knights in armor, stage coaches, ships with cannons, zippers, laz-y-boy living room sets, and huge, jeweled clip-on earrings adorning the ears of the men. The surrounding events include everything from fencing to baby-carrying falcons to tiger wrestling to seafaring gypsies. But in spite of such a diverse and higher than average array of elements, it does not have LITERALLY everything. Due to the "historical" nature there aren't any motorized vehicles to be found, none of the English-mixed-in Bollyspeak, and in the opinion of one viewer "it could have used a disco ball." Our songs include an anthem of bromance and friendship between the heroes Dharam and Veer as they ride their horses across field and stream, make breakfast by the creek, and tease a passing princess. Next is a colorful arena-filling gypsy spectacular rife with sweeping leaping moves by a Veer in disguise, as one of our heroines kicks in the sand and some midgets poke a caged captive to the beat. Dharam interrupts a vain princess' bath to carry her out to the woods and we get what was probably the world's first bondage-fetish bollywood number. Later, the Gypsies are at it again, this time in a camp while the heroines disguise themselves to dance and jingle amongst the flickering torches and sparkling rainbow tambourines while clueless villains look on. With all this wacky stuff to look at, some things would be needed to keep the film from being just an empty, hyper spectacle. Dharam-Veer has those things. The first is the compelling dialog written by Khader Khan. For example, when Dharam is offered a set of armor during a jousting competition he says "an iron body like mine has no need for such jewelry!" and when Prince Veer dramatically enters a room by crashing through a glass window, he gives a little speech to the villain about why he just did so! Also preventing emptiness is the distinctness of all the characters, and even the most minor of them are lovable in a way that would inspire you to collect action figures and wear catchphrase t-shirts if such things had ever been made.Only after viewing Dharam-Veer multiple times and with various people have I developed a few criticisms to display in the course of this description. The first is Dharam's short tunic outfits that make no rare item of Dharmendra Deol's manly thighs. Constantly exposed by variations of a short, skirt-like garb, his legs have an unrelenting screen presence which could unnerve certain members of the audience. The second would be the matter of some rather crude special effects in the form of animations, dummies and showing things happening in the reverse. These moments are seemingly unnecessary and elevates the kitch factor of the entire venture to a point of mild embarrassment. There is also the matter of deficiency of songs and situations for the second pair of this feature's remarkable "double romance". However, it seems as if these required scenes may have been cut for the sake of duration and it presents a stellar opportunity for you to spend some time writing fan fiction afterward. This is a great movie to watch alongside friends and family and a must own for any Bollywood fan or collector of unusual films. In regard to DVDs I'd recommend the Shemaroo release as some people have reported sound quality problems with others.. Good story and acting hampered by cheesy stunts and special effects.. Dharam-Veer takes place in a mythical kingdom, tells the tale of twin brothers separated at birth who still become best friends not knowing they are real brothers.  It also tells about their adventures, loves, court intrigues, and has a host of terrific villains.  One of the main characters is a beautiful talented hawk who steals every scene he(she) is in.  The acting, writing, music, and choreography are all top-notch.
Despite all the above, I had to give the film a 7 since the fight and battle scenes were poorly executed, unrealistic, and, at times, looked more like people running around, pretending to get killed or injured, and/or doing a series of acrobatic falls, jumps, etc.  There were also times, such as when a horse jumps, where it looked like another piece of film had been inserted.I had some concerns which might be unique to me but which others might share.  I watched Dharam-Veer on a Sky DVD where the sound quality was so bad that I came close to chucking the whole thing but, either the story got better or the sound quality improved -- still not sure which.  I also had a problem with the Samurai hunter at the beginning of the film -- the actor's voice, physique, looks did not even come close to fitting the role. Luckily, he was not in the film all the much and, as he aged in the film, he fit more into the role.CAUTION: INDIRECT SPOILER.Finally, I wish the writer(s) had decided against taking a page out of Turandot because that is the major weak spot in the script.  As in Turandot, the hero falls for a princess who is cruel, tortures people  and puts some to death for trifles. In Dharam-Veer, she also sends a good number of her soldiers to death in an effort to catch the hero.  She even has him tortured yet it does nothing to dampen his ardor.  I could never understand why the hero in Dharam-Veer or Turandot were so smitten and, when the princess changed, it did not seem to match her previous personality deficits.In spite of all my reservations, the film was quite entertaining and, if the viewers can handle the flaws, the film will not be a waste of time.