History Film / VeerZaara

* ActorAllusion: When speaking to Zaara, Saraswati Kaur says that she is a Tamil woman who married a Punjabi man, as is Creator/HemaMalini in real life.

* LoveHurts: Zaara is tormented by thoughts of Veer after her return from India, particularly his promise that he would give his life for her, especially given that she is to wed Raza in a matter of days. The "Main Yahan Hoon" sequence has her see Veer everywhere, to

** [[spoiler:Zakir Ahmed starts out as a particularly spiteful version of an AmoralAttorney, who openly tells Saamiya that he has chosen to prosecute this case, which would typically be far below his standing, solely to destroy her career after she refused a case that he had assigned her. His behaviour in court also involves a great deal of emotional manipulation of the truth, where he collaborates with the crooked cops who had arrested Veer as well as shames the prison guard for "not being a patriot" after the latter gives a positive account of Veer. However, after Zaara presents her testimony, thereby exonerating Veer and [[BrokenWinLossStreak breaking his multi-year streak of wins]], he gracefully accepts defeat and tells Saamiya he intends to retire to allow her generation, untouched by the resentments of the past, to usher in a new age of truth and love.]]

* InnocentBigot: When Chaudhary Sumer Singh shows Zaara the village on his bicycle, he talks about his efforts to establish a school in the village, which allowed the boys in the village to gain education for the first time. When Zaara asks him about education for the girls of the village, he dismisses it, asking what purpose it would serve when all they would do is housework anyway. However, Zaara telling him about how the world outside the village has women doing whatever men can do chastens him, and that very night, after the Lohri celebrations, he announces the construction of a girls' school in the village, even asking Zaara to lay the first brick. [[spoiler: While it is unclear whether the school ever got built, Zaara has been running a girls' school from Chaudhary Sumer Singh's home since Veer's alleged death.]]
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Other than Zaara divorcing him, Raza gets no comeuppance for framing Veer as a traitor and blackmailing him into a confession that saw him be falsely imprisoned for 22 years.]]

* RomanticRain: There is audible thunder during Zaara's engagement, but no sign of rain as she, Raza, and their families start the ceremony, nor when Veer enters the place. However, when Zaara, who has been haunted by Veer's memory since her return from India, senses his presence, turns around and sees him, torrential rain begins pouring almost immediately as she, without caring for the fact that her family and fiancé are watching, walks towards him before tearfully embracing him.

* ShoutOut: To ''Film/DilwaleDulhaniaLeJayenge'', another Aditya Chopra-written film, which also had a Punjabi woman who has been betrothed by an ArrangedMarriage take a trip to another country, fall in love with a character played by Creator/ShahRukhKhan, and pine for him when she returns over the objections of her mother.

* UndyingLoyalty: Shabbo remains by Zaara's side and is her strongest support no matter what. When Zaara, tormented by thoughts of Veer, begs Shabbo for help, she calls Veer to ask her to elope with him. [[spoiler:She is also revealed to have come with Zaara to Veer's village.]]

* ActorAllusion: When speaking to Zaara, Saraswati Kaur says that she is a Tamil woman who married a Punjabi man, as is Hema Malini in real life.

* {{Foreshadowing}}:

* ShoutOut: To ''Film/DilwaleDulhaniyaLeJayenge'', another Aditya Chopra-written film, which also had a Punjabi woman who has been betrothed by an ArrangedMarriage take a trip to another country, fall in love with a character played by Creator/ShahRukhKhan, and pine for him when she returns over the objections of her mother.

-->'''Saamiya''': You had once said that the names Veer and Zaara can never be together. But from today, the names Veer and Zaara will be spoken together forever.

** [[spoiler:Jahangir Hayaat Khan is introduced as a proud man who refuses to talk to his daughter for a month because of her trip to India, and, when he does speak to her, treats her less as a person and more of a symbol of the Hayaat Khan family's honour. He is also the one responsible for Zaara being betrothed to Raza, a marriage neither of them really wanted, to form an alliance with the Sharazi family and thereby aid his political aspirations. Seeing Zaara embrace Veer at her engagement shocks him so much that he collapses, and seems to bring about a change of heart: he apologizes to her when she talks to him on her wedding day, and later, when Veer is presumed dead, he fully supports her decision to divorce Raza, subsequently quitting politics.]]

* NumerologicalMotif: "786", of course, a number which represents the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basmala#Numerology Bismillah]], particularly in South Asian Islam (which is why it comes up several times in Indian cinema, most notably ''Film/{{Deewaar}}''). Saamiya even notes the irony of the prisoner with this number in a Pakistani jail being an Indian Sikh.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Most notably, several characters seem to be able to travel at a whim between India and Pakistan in both the past and present – Zaara seems to have been able to essentially sneak into India without her parents' knowledge mere days after her grandmother's death, while [[spoiler:Saamiya]] is able to take a train to India and return within a week. Visa processes between the two countries usually take much more time.

** [[spoiler:Jahangir Hayaat Khan is introduced as a proud man who refuses to talk to his daughter for a month because of her trip to India, and, when he does speak to her, treats her less as a person and more of a symbol of the Hayaat Khan family's honour. He is also the one responsible for Zaara being betrothed to Raza to form an alliance with the Sharazi family and thereby aid his political aspirations. Seeing Zaara embrace Veer at her engagement shocks him so much that he collapses, and seems to bring about a change of heart: he apologizes to her when she talks to him on her wedding day, and later, when Veer is presumed dead, he fully supports Zaara's decision to divorce Raza and exits politics.]]

* NumerologicalMotif: "786", of course, a number which represents the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basmala#Numerology Bismillah]], particularly in South Asian Islam (which is why it comes up several times in Indian cinema, most notably ''Film/{{Deewaar}}''). Saamiya even notes that the only prisoner with this number is an Indian Sikh.

* RomanticRain: There is audible thunder during Zaara's engagement, but no sign of rain as she, Raza, and their families start the ceremony, nor when Veer enters the place. However, when Zaara, who has been haunted by Veer's memory, senses Veer's presence, turns around and sees him, torrential rain begins pouring almost immediately as she, without caring for the fact that her family and fiancé are watching, walks towards him before tearfully embracing him.
* SadisticChoice: [[spoiler:Raza inflicts one on Veer: either sign a document framing him as an Indian spy and go to jail for life under a false identity but ensure that Zaara lives happily, or return to India without signing the document but ensure that Zaara's married life becomes a living hell. Veer choses the first option to protect Zaara, and indeed begs Saamiya to keep Zaara's name out of proceedings even 22 years later. Due to circumstance, this turns out to be a pointless choice – after the bus accident that everyone believes claimed Veer's life, Zaara divorced Raza and moved to Veer's village.]]

* TragicKeepsake: When Veer and Zaara return from his village, Zaara's foot twists while on the wooden bridge, and Veer has to carry her to safety; during this time, one of her anklets comes off, and he puts it in his pocket for safekeeping. When she gets on the train to Lahore, he realizes that it is still in his pocket, and she wordlessly tells him to keep it. Veer holds on to that anklet throughout his time in prison (his introductory scene has him fiddling with it as Saamiya comes to visit him). [[spoiler:When Zaara comes to court to testify as to Veer's innocence, Veer returns it to her and she asks him to put it back on; heartbreakingly, it turns out that she had only worn one of her anklets for all those years.]]

* WrongNameOutburst: Played with. When Saamiya rises to give her opening statement, this being her first ever opening statement in any case, she refers to the prosecution lawyer Zakir Ahmed as "Zaheer Khan". After she does it the second time, Zakir angrily corrects her...which [[MaliciousMisnaming turns out to have been intentional]].

* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: Inverted. Saamiya was once one of Zakir Ahmed's star proteges, till she refused to take a case to defend a guilty man, after which she left his employ and became a human rights lawyer. Zakir seems to have taken this personally; [[spoiler:he admits to have taken this case, normally a case far below his standing, solely to destroy her career as a warning for any other lawyer who may wish to defy him. He undergoes a HeelFaceTurn at the end after he hears Zaara's testimony, telling Saamiya he intends to retire to allow her generation, untouched by the resentments of the past, to usher in a new age of truth and love.]]

* LuckyCharm: When Veer is leaving Lahore after [[spoiler:being resigned to see Zaara married to Raza, Mariyam]] ties a band around his arm [[spoiler:as a sign of her blessing. Moments later, police officers bribed by Raza drag Veer out of the bus to arrest him on trumped-up charges of espionage, which means that he is not on the bus when it crashes on the way back, killing all on board. Veer himself credits the band (and Mariyam's blessings) with keeping him alive, and gifts it to Saamiya when she decides to go to India; Saamiya shows it to Zaara as proof of her identity and mission.]]

* TragicKeepsake: When Veer and Zaara return from his village, Zaara's foot twists while on the wooden bridge, and Veer has to carry her to safety; during this time, one of her anklets comes off, and he puts it in his pocket for safekeeping. When she gets on the train to Lahore, he realizes that it is still in his pocket, and she wordlessly tells him to keep it. Veer holds on to that anklet throughout his time in prison (his introductory scene has him fiddling with it as Saamiya comes to visit him). [[spoiler:When Zaara comes to court to testify as to Veer's innocence, Veer returns it to her and she asks him to put it back on; heartbreakingly, it turns out that she had only worn one of her anklets for all those years.]]

* ActorAllusion: When speaking to Zaara, Saraswati Kaur says that she was born a Tamilian, as Hema Malini was (and is) in real life.

* ArrangedMarriage: Zaara is engaged to Raza Shirazi, the scion of one of Lahore's wealthy and influential families, as part of an alliance between their families to aid her father's political aspirations. After her return to Pakistan, Zaara is tormented by thoughts of Veer, culminating in [[spoiler:her tearfully embracing him when he comes to her engagement, causing Jahangir to collapse; the fear of another, potentially fatal, shock to him causes Veer to convince Zaara to marry Raza, which she does. When Zaara learns of Veer's supposed death in the bus crash, she files for divorce with the support of her father; Raza is said to have moved abroad, while Zaara moves to Veer's village with Shabbo to fulfil his dream of creating a girls' school.]]

** For Saamiya's case, [[spoiler:after Zakir Ahmed viciously tears her apart in court, and given that Veer has forbidden her from mentioning Zaara's name in the proceedings, she resolves to travel to Veer's village in India to find his adoptive parents, who would be able to testify on his behalf. Unfortunately, when she reaches the village, she learns that both Chaudhary Sumer Singh and his wife have passed away in the interim, leaving Saamiya to suffer a small HeroicBSOD as her case is seemingly lost]].

[[caption-width-right:1000:some caption text]]

->''Across the border is a man who would happily give his life for you.''
-->- '''Veer Pratap Singh''' to '''Zaara Hayaat Khan'''

* APupilOfMineTillHeTurnedToEvil: Inverted. Saamiya was once one of Zakir Ahmed's star proteges, till she refused to take a case to defend a guilty man, after which she left his employ and became a human rights lawyer. Zakir seems to have taken this personally; [[spoiler:he admits to have taken this case, normally a case far below his standing, solely to destroy her career as a warning for any other lawyer who may wish to defy him. He undergoes a HeelFaceTurn at the end after he hears Zaara's testimony, telling Saamiya he intends to retire to allow her generation, untouched by the resentments of the past, to usher in a new age of truth and love.]]

->'''Saamiya''': You had once said that the names Veer and Zaara can never be taken together. But from today, the names Veer and Zaara will forever be spoken together.