Will Yash Chopra get lucky in love?

<div class="section1"><div align="center" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="70.3%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/886354.cms" alt="/photo/886354.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">With love forever:</span><span style="" font-style:="" italic=""> </span>A <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Veer Zaara</span> wallpaper</div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />NEW DELHI: New kids on the Bollywood block are busy wooing audiences with glitzy locales and realistic storyline, but the grand old man of reel romance dares to dream his old dream - of love, passions and a dream-world setting.Come Diwali (November 12) and director Yash Chopra will be hoping that he gets lucky in love with his <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Veer Zaara</span>.<br /><br />Love and Chopra go hand-in-hand. The thespian director who has given Bollywood some of its most memorable, and sensitive, romances (<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Daag</span>, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Kabhie Kabhie</span>, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Silsila</span>, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Chandni</span>, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Lamhe</span>, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Darr</span>, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dil To Pagal Hain</span>) has played cupid all the way. A man with a sound sense of aesthetics and a penchant for Switzerland (the Swiss government honoured him for rediscovering Switzerland), his love stories have always been a visual treat.<br /><br />The Dadasaheb Phalke award winner''s latest offering is set across borders. With India and Pakistan doing peace parleys, the timing for an Indo-Pak love story is just right.<br /><br />He has kept his fans waiting. Chopra''s last venture <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dil To Pagal Hai</span> is eight years old. While Shah Rukh still has the lead, Preity Zinta steps in as the female lead for <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Veer Zaara</span>. The pair might prove third time lucky after the success of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dil Se</span> and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Kal Ho Na Ho</span>.<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"></div> <div align="center" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="70.3%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/886355.cms" alt="/photo/886355.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Lovely takes :</span><span style="" font-style:="" italic=""> </span>Stills from <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dil to Pagal Hai</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />The plot seems to be interesting enough. Swades man Air Force Officer Shah Rukh (Veer Pratap Singh) falls hook, line and stinker for Pakistani Preity Zinta (Zaara Hayaat). Zaara had come to India to immerse her caretaker''s ashes in the Ganga and instead drowned in passion. <br /><br />Her lover accompanies her to the Punjab border, where they meet Zaara''s fiancé (Manoj Bajpai). That''s where the tale twists. Veer is arrested by the Pakistani police and he chooses to go quietly. In steps a thinned down Rani Mukherjee, a Pakistani lawyer, who decides to unite Veer and Zaara. Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini team up after <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Baghban</span> to play Veer''s grand parents.<br /><br />Shot in the lush green fields of northern Indian plains, the film is brimming over with loads of colour and star glitter. Setting the tone is late Madan Mohan''s melodies, recreated by his son Sanjeev Kohli and sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Apparently, Kohli dug out more than 150 unused tunes composed by his father.<br /><br />The ingredients are quintessential Chopra, and old Bollywood. But will the time-tested love ballad work the BO this time? <br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section3"><div align="center" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="93.5%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/886372.cms" alt="/photo/886372.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Nothing romantic:</span><span style="" font-style:="" italic=""> </span>A still from Varma’s latest, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Vaastu Shastra</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />Since DTPH, Bollywood has undergone a metamorphosis. Traditional plots have given way to the contemporary. Think Mani Ratnam''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bombay</span>, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Yuva</span>, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dil Se</span>. Or <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Ram Gopal Varma </span>slick Company and the manipulative Saif Ali Khan in <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Ek Hasina Thi</span>. Everything''s fair in love and war, says the new trend. Ken Ghosh turned a love story into a hate story in <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Fida</span>, where Kareina Kapoor pull a fast one on real-life lover Shahid Kapur. <br /><br />This "realistic" Bollywood has not been very kind to the been-there-done-that lot. Rajkumar Santoshi''s Khakee was frowned upon at the box office, despite a star cast of Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Kumar. For the director who has given hits like <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">China Gate</span> and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Damini</span>, a social cop drama did not augur well.<br /><br />Govind Nihalani''s outing with Bachchan and Om Puri in <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dev</span> was no great shake. The tried and the tested formula of good versus evil clearly did not find any takers and left the Drohkaal director poor at the BO. For Prakash Jha, a take on Bihar''s political wrestling in <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Gangajal</span> suffered a tepid reception. Feroz Khan''s big-scale production <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Janasheen</span>, shot in exquisite locales, got nothing exquisite at all. <br /><br />With biggies having sunk disastrously at the box office, Chopra might be getting a little jittery. One thing he will be hoping for is that he does not run out of luck. And love.</div> </div>