Chitra Mahesh
The Hindu
Veer-Zaara
2004 · The Hindu · May 2015
"Veer Zaara" is inordinately long and sentimental. Certain things like fabulous camera work, art direction and sensuousness of the moods, are a given. And you would over look the clichés simply because there are such good performances, especially from Preity and Rani.
Swades
2004 · The Hindu · Oct 2014
Yet, "Swades" is beautiful. Not instantly obvious, but in the many subtle ways that give the entire film its sense of poignancy. Yes it is long, on many occasions very verbose and with a feel and tempo of a well-made documentary on the problems of a backward nation. And yes there is the mandatory love story binding two people from differing worlds towards a common goal but not before they overcome their initial differences! Nothing that has not been seen earlier. But "Swades" is unique. Just as "Laagan" was.