Bharat Movie Review: Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif’s Film Finds Its Strengths in the Emotions; the Rest Is Utterly Forgettable!

Bharat is an official remake of the acclaimed 2014 Korean film, Ode To My Father. It really doesn't matter, though, if you have seen the original film or not. I didn't. Salman Khan's mere presence changes the dynamics of any remake he is in. Even if you are remaking a masterpiece like Amadeus (which was London Dreams, BTW), Salman turns the product into his brand of cinema, tailored with enough moments for his fans to cheer. Same is the case with Bharat. With his favourite director Ali Abbas Zafar steering the ship, Bharat is an emotional roller coaster meant purely for Bhai fans. Bharat Box Office Prediction: Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif's Latest Offering Is Likely to Break the Opening Day Record of Their Last Film Tiger Zinda Hai.

When he was little, Bharat gets separated from his father (Jackie Shroff) and his younger sister in Lahore during the 1947 partition riots. His mother (Sonali Kulkarni) takes Bharat and his other siblings to India where they stay with his aunt and her grumpy husband.

Before he got separated from his father, the latter eked a promise out of Bharat to take care of his family, no matter what happens. That becomes the motto of Bharat's life, from his childhood to his old age. When he turns adult, Bharat (Salman Khan) has a very happening life, jumping from one profession to another, with his BFF Vilayati (Sunil Grover) always by his side. He also has two romances - a shorter one with a circus artiste Radha (Disha Patani) and a life-changing one with the strong-headed Kumud Raina (Katrina Kaif).

But even when the world changes around him, Bharat only has one goal in his life - to live upto the promise that he gave his father. And yeah, also to find out what happened to him and his sister.

The promotions of Bharat screamed that the movie is a journey of a nation through one man. I disagree. For one, most of the film tries to set itself outside of the country, from the Gulf to Malta to the high seas. Instead, the film is just about that one man, and that's Salman Khan.

While we do see a passage of the era from the '40s to 2010, very little is done to justify each decade the movie is set in with only passing references and some of the wardrobe making us take the hint. The latter case is mostly applied to men, since Katrina's wardrobe is way ahead of whatever era she is in. Why, Vilayati, at one moment, compares Kumud to Parveen Babi during the '60s era, when the latter had made her debut in 1973.

Also, for Bharat's desire to fulfil his father's wish of taking care of his family, he hardly spends time with any of them. Instead, we mostly see him in the company of Vilayti, Kumud and even Radha.

And yet, you won't really come out hating Bharat, mostly because the conclusion works well with the hero's journey.

Ali Abbas Zafar is a smart director. His craft may not be as polished as, say, a Sanjay Leela Bhansali or a Mani Ratnam. But Zafar, like a Rohit Shetty, knows how to weave a narrative around the strengths of his leading man. A trait that Kabir Khan failed when he made Tubelight for Salman Khan.

It's not that I am a fan of Zafar's previous works; neither Sultan's bravado nor Tiger Zinda Hai's swag overwhelmed the viewer in me. Even Bharat comes with its share of huge issues for me. But then, I am hardly the target audience for this film.

For an average Salman fan, Zafar has packed the film with enough light-hearted scenes, chartbuster music (Vishal-Shekhar impresses) and emotionally manipulative scenes that try hard to eke tears out of you. There is a mandatory shirtless scene for Salman (though, not as gratuitous as some of his other movies), and a random fight scene in the climax that could have been edited out.

But if you hear claps and cheers around you while watching the movie, you know that Bharat has clicked with whom it wanted to click. Zafar has also mounted the film on an impressive canvas with some fine help from Marcin Laskawiec's cinematography.

I have to admit, though, that for the first time in an Ali Abbas Zafar, or even in a Salman Khan movie for a long time, I connected with the emotional beats. The scenes of Bharat with his father, and some of the emotional sequences near the conclusion worked for me. This, perhaps, might be closer to what the original film's plot would have been. I also like how the film treated its main female lead, Kumud aka Bharat's 'Madam Sir', a fiercely bold lady who can stand upto her man and dictate her terms. It is quite a strong role, even if Kumud is more of an emotional anchor for Bharat, and I wonder why Priyanka Chopra, the maker's first choice, turned her back to this role!

So with its dramatic scenes being the best part, I wished the narrative had stuck more to its emotional core. Instead, nearly a majority of its runtime, Bharat behaves one of those bad skits you see in shows like The Kapil Sharma Show. The humour in these scenes are mostly for the front-benchers and are made out jokes on colour, race and speech defects. Grow up, will ya!

Some of the scenes are very ludicrously presented. Like for example, Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif's old person avatars are as believable as their chances of winning a National award. The Disha Patani portions are quite colourful, but don't add anything to the plot. There is also a needless injection of jingoism through a randomly inserted 'Jana Gana Mana' scene. But the most incredulous sequence is the Somalian pirate saga, that ends up being a ridiculous fan tribute to a popular superstar. While they may appeal to some sections of the audiences, what these scenes do is jar tonally with the far more effective sentimental scenes.

Watch the trailer of Bharat here:

The Performances

Salman Khan's performance is a very mixed bag sort of an act. He is hardly believable when he turns up as the man in his '70s. It's as if Salman Khan has walked out of a Thums Up ad with someone accidentally putting an old man's wig on him. He is also stiff in some of the light-hearted scenes.

Where Salman Khan really scores is also where Bharat scores - the emotional scenes. Though there are a lot of rough edges in his performance here, we can still see that Salman is really trying hard in these scenes and it works to some extent.

After a stellar act in Zero, the performer in Katrina Kaif has improved leaps and bounds and in Bharat, she doesn't disappoint you once again. She is pretty when she is needed to be (the songs, for instance), but she delivers when she has to take charge of a particular scenario. Though like her male co-star, even Katrina is hardly believable when she has to appear in her '70s.

Disha Patani redefines hotness as the circus artiste Radha, who is also Bharat (and Vilayti)'s first love.

Sunil Grover is perfect as Bharat's die-hard compadre, with his comic skills effective in the lighter scenes. Grover is particularly impressive, though, in that one emotional scene with Salman Khan near the climax.

Jackie Shroff is highly effective in the limited screentime he has, his presence being the emotional anchor of the movie. Sonali Kulkarni is miscast as Bharat's mother, she looks more like his younger sister. Tabu, once again, impresses in a cameo role. Aasif Sheikh shines as Bharat's annoying brother-in-law.

Yay!

- The Emotional Beats

- Some of the Performances

- The Canvas

- Songs

Nay!

- The Languorous Runtime

- Most of the Low-brow Humour

- Doesn't Completely Justify its Period Setting

- Some of the arcs and Characters are Wasted

Final Thoughts

Bharat's strengths lie in its emotional scenes, Salman Khan's swag-ado and Katrina Kaif's confident screen-presence. And unless you are a Bhai fan, you have a lot to nitpick with the rest of the film. Quite an improvement from Salman's last release, Race 3, and yet, Bharat could have been a much more well-knitted emotional saga than what we really get to see here!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 05, 2019 10:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).