Bharat

Bharat
Image source: Google

Ratings: 2.5/5

Duration: 2hr 35 mins

Director: Ali Abbas Zafar

Banner: Reel Life Productions, Salman Khan Films, T-Series

Genre: Action. Drama

Release Date: 05.06.2019 (India)

Star cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Disha Patani, Tabu, Jackie Shroff, Sunil Grover, Sonali Kulkarni

Plot: Bharat is an official adoption of the South Korean film ‘Ode to My Father’ (2014).

The narrative traverses a period of over six decades from 1947 to 2010, a journey of a man (Bharat) and a nation together. Bharat, as a child during the Indo-Pak partition in 1947 gets separated from his father and sister, and decides to dedicate his entire life to keep the promise he made to his missing father. He takes it upon himself as the eldest son of the house to look after his mother and siblings by jumping from risky odd jobs to make ends meet, hoping their family would reunite someday.

Review: Director, Ali Abbas Zafar plays a balancing act. He infuses emotions with ample fun ‘Salman elements’ that will get his diehard fans to whistle.

Salman Khan, with his old school values aim to get the families together. Even Katrina Kaif’s chemistry with Salman feels natural and she does a good job at portraying a woman who is self-assured.

What stands out in Ali’s writing is how he places Sunil Grover’s character as Vilayati, Bharat’s best friend and confidante. This has been reflected here in the movie beautifully. Grover does complete justice to his well-written role and deserves more such significant parts. Sonali Kulkarni and Jackie Shroff were terrific as always.

Bharat has too many things happening at once and too many time leaps which eventually make the movie an exhausting, scattered watch despite the entertainment, humour and nobility it spreads.

The movie manages to keep you hooked regardless of its complex source material and misplaced songs.  While emotional manipulation happens in every film, the fact that it’s evident here makes it a tad overbearing. Though Bharat is well-intentioned, entertaining, excruciatingly long (at close to three hours), but the fact that it tries a bit too hard to prove is the problem.