Lately we’ve been on a passage to India around here almost every night — Bollywood India. I wrote about it before — see the reviews of Om Shanti Om, Eklavya, and Jodhaa Ackbar. Now most recently we have watched Veer-Zaara (2004) the story of a star-crossed love between an Indian pilot and the daughter of a Pakastani politician.

The usual Bollywood elements — beautiful scenery, exotic characters, plot-driven narrative, song and dance numbers — are all present. What makes this film most unusual is its utter unpredictability. You really don’t know what is going to happen next. And you do care, because the characters somehow, despite their initially stock nature, do seem more human than the usual. The framing of the story from 22 years later, after one character’s life has been, it would seem, utterly destroyed only adds to the suspense, as does an included courtroom drama involving an ethical woman lawyer and a member of the “old boy” network of India.

Also typically Bollywood in its length — about three hours — the star of the film is Shahruk Khan, Indian movie star and billionaire film producer known for posing with his shirt off in tight jeans as well as for portraying romantic heroes for whom no suffering is too great.

Bollywood seems flooded with love stories, seemingly doomed love stories between Muslims and Hindus, rich and poor, people whose families hate each other, people who were already promised, by their parents, to someone they hardly know — the plot possibilities are endless, especially when you throw in the Hindu belief in reincarnation. But I can’t remember any such movie we’ve watched — we must have seen more than a dozen now — with more surprises than this one.  And it’s the surprises, somehow, and the characters, that make movies worth watching.  So hats off to Indian film for providing these dramas that last longer than American films, believe in more than American films, and aren’t afraid to layer on the glamour and pathos — sometimes you need a little bit of that. Viva Bollywood! Here’s the trailer — only in Hindi, sorry, couldn’t find an English version. The movie itself, of course, is subtitled.