It is 2004. A new central government has just been formed in India, the Indian National Congress seems to have regained its strength after eight years out of power. Manmohan Singh has been named the Prime Minister of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, the first Sikh and non-Hindu to be so.  In November, Veer Zaara, a cross-border romance involving an Indian man and a Pakistani woman, hits theatres. In the mix of single screens and the fast-growing world of multiplexes, the Yash Chopra-directed film makes a box-office collection of over Rs. 98 crores worldwide, nearly five times its budget. In today’s terms, this collection would translate to over 300 crore rupees.  Veer Zaara opens with the voice of Chopra himself, reciting a poem, and to the visuals of a rising sun behind a mountain range, deep yellow mustard fields, a misty stretch of forest, and a sprawling sunflower field….

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