He cries, he fights enemies in every form, human and natural, he saves people whilst breaking into impromptu dances.īut then, is all this in Bharat enough to pique the interest of those fans who took Race 3 to ₹303 crore? In the second half, he delivers an emotional performance. One dance with Bhaijaan isn't bad though).Īll this is a flashback, of course, as an elder Salman narrates his life story to his grandkids. In the first half, Salman is dancing with Disha Patani, rides a bike on the maut ka kunwa, flexes his muscles to impress Katrina Kaif, and escapes into dream sequences with her. Which left ardent fans - who came for the Salman-giri - and film lovers - who came for the story - dissatisfied.īharat totally bridges that gap - just like Bajrangi Bhaijaan once had. Well, of course, bad scripting and acting were to be blamed for their failures, but their biggest flaw was that the wacky grandness of what Bhaijaan himself embodies was missing from those films.
But while the first two bounced off an average Bhai fan, the last one shot a fuse somewhere in there. Jai Ho, Tubelight and Bajrangi Bhaijaan are proof. There were, of course, lollypop moments where a seventy-year-old Salman holds back a speeding bike to disembark the rider who was sent to beat him up - but is that enough?Įvery few years, Salman tries to give his fans something other than his bracelet-wearing avatar. And guess what they came to watch?īhaijaan.
It's not a single screen with cheap tickets, the middle-class rarely give up sleeping in on a holiday from work to catch a 9 AM show, and the rich don't need to sleep in the comforts of an AC theatre - they have it at home.īut Bharat was houseful. The true test of whether a film has actually had a houseful opening is when you see the first show in a moderately expensive multiplex in the heart of the national capital packed. So, yeah, the film has a very distinct message, driven home through the life story of Bharat, as he goes from an eight-year-old to a seventy-year-old.īut here's the problem - where is Bhaijaan? Heck, Bharat even has Jana Gana Mana weaved in for extra zing - which I sat out, even against peer pressure. Which is why even the lead actor is named Bharat without a surname because ekta - and surnames divide said ekta. You'll find maa ka pyaar, behen ki shaadi, dost ki dosti, baap ko diya hua wada and lots of romance - all soaked in a tub of sugary sweet desh bhakti. And that's how a beefed-up Salman Khan saves a merchant navy ship from being robbed in Somalia.īharat has its clichés. But just to be sure, add Hindi filmon ke gaane and Amitabh Bachchan. And so does the excitement.Peace talks can solve every problem, believes Bharat.
A roar goes up in the audience but the four go down easily. The audience sighs through tamer and tamer songs, and you see people checking their messages on the phone until the fifteen minutes to the end, when four motorbike riding goons attack Bharat with tube-lights. Whilst you gag at this 'good' guy thing, you're hoping for some ear-splitting action a la Dabanng. He's so good, he won't marry Katrina Kaif because he cannot divide his love for the family with her. He's so good, he saves all the miners trapped in the mines a la The 33. He's so good, he dances with pirates on a merchant ship (no leaf chewing wicked Somali pirates here a la Captain Phillips, but pirates who dance to Bachchan songs!). But he's so good, he gives that awesome job because 'many kids will want to emulate this dangerous stunt' and chooses to wait to be employed.
This kind of forced patriotism in the film makes you want to weep.īharat grows up to be Evel Knievel in the Great Russian Circus. He even sings the National Anthem in the film (makes his fans wake up and stand in a flurry of popcorn!).