Bharat (film)

Bharat
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAli Abbas Zafar
Written byAli Abbas Zafar
Varun V. Sharma[a]
Based onOde to My Father
by Yoon Je-kyoon
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMarcin Laskawiec
Edited byRameshwar S. Bhagat
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byAA Films
Release date
  • 5 June 2019 (2019-06-05)
Running time
155 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹100 crore[2][3]
Box office₹325.58 crore[4]

Bharat (pronounced [ˈbʱaːrət] transl. India)[b] is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language drama film[5] directed and co-written by Ali Abbas Zafar. It is jointly produced by Atul Agnihotri, Alvira Khan Agnihotri, Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Nikhil Namit and Salman Khan under the banners Reel Life Productions, Salman Khan Films and T-Series. The film stars Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Grover, Jackie Shroff, Disha Patani and Tabu. An adaptation of the South Korean film, Ode to My Father (2014), it traces India's post-independence history from the perspective of a common man, and follows his life from the age of 8 to 70.

Bharat was theatrically released in India on 5 June 2019, on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr. It received mixed reviews from critics, who appreciated the performances of the cast, story and screenplay, criticising the second half. The film earned ₹42.30 crores on its first day. It was one of the highest grossing films of 2019.[6][7][8][9] It grossed ₹325.58 crore in its lifetime theatrical run, becoming a commercial success.

Plot

In 2010, Bharat Kumar, a shopkeeper in Delhi refuses to sell his store despite lucrative offers. On his 70th birthday, he tells his past to his grandniece, and the film goes into flashback.

Partition, 1947

Bharat, aged 7, along with his parents and siblings board a train to India with many other refugees for safety from the riots in Pakistan. Bharat loses his baby sister "Gudia" in the chaos. Their father, Gautam, stays there to search for Gudia, after Bharat promises to care for the family. He moves to the imported goods store of Gautam's sister Jamuna and her husband Keemat Rai Kapoor, and meets a roadside circus worker, Radha. They two fall in love, and join The Great Russian Circus.

17 years later (1964)

Bharat has gained a lot of fame over the years he has spent at the circus. His brother Chote suffers an accident while trying to emulate him. Bharat bids a tearful goodbye to Radha. He and his friend, Vilayati, look for jobs when the country is shocked due to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's death.

11 years later (1975)

Bharat joins many Indian migrants in Saudi Arabia, following an oil discovery, to earn money for his sister Mehek's marriage. There he falls in love with his chief engineer Kumud, who proposes to marry him. Bharat refuses, thinking it would come in his way of fulfilling Gautam's promise. Once the two arrive back in India, Kumud announces her love for him. They begin a live-in relationship.

8 years later (1983)

Bharat starts to work as a stationmaster after Jamuna dies. During the 1983 Cricket World Cup, Keemat decides to sell the store due to a need of money and asks Bharat to buy it. Bharat initially refuses as he hopes to keep the promise he made to Gautam, still believing he would one day come back, however he reluctantly agrees. Bharat leaves India, with his friend Vilayati, to become a sailor for 8 months and earns money to buy the store.

12 years later (1995)

After the economic liberalisation in India, Kumud becomes the creative director of the newly formed Zee TV and runs a program to unite the relatives of people who were separated during the partition. Bharat reconnects with Meher, a London citizen adopted by a British family during the partition, and realises that she is Gudia, who returns to India. An emotional reunion ensues where Bharat learns that Janki had died, prompting Bharat to find Gautam.

Present day (2010)

An elderly Bharat finally decides to sell the store, something which he had stubbornly refused to do despite the store losing money. Before reaching the train, Gautam had promised Bharat that he would reunite with him at the store, which had explained why Bharat had held on to the store for all that time. Bharat concludes that Gautam is likely to have passed away as he is too old to have survived. Bharat sees a vision of him, where Gautam assures him to move on. A tearful Bharat finally decides to move on and marries Kumud.

Cast

Production

Bharat is a remake of the South Korean film Ode to My Father (2014), which traces the history of South Korea parallel to a man's life, spanning from the 1950s to the 2010s.[11][12]

Bharat began principal photography in mid-April 2018,[13][14] and was shot in Abu Dhabi, Spain, Malta, Punjab, Delhi and elsewhere.[15][16] Priyanka Chopra, who was cast as one of the leading ladies, opted out of the film days before filming her scenes.[17] Nikhil Namit, CEO of Reel Life Productions, said that Priyanka quit due to her engagement to Nick Jonas.[18] She was replaced by Katrina Kaif.[19] Kaif shared the news on her Instagram account that filming was wrapped up on 5 March 2019.[20][21] The climax was shot in Film City.[22]

Soundtrack

Bharat
Soundtrack album by
Vishal–Shekhar
Released17 May 2019[23]
Recorded2018
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length35:32
LanguageHindi
LabelT-Series
ProducerMeghdeep Bose, Abhijit Nalani
Vishal–Shekhar chronology
Student of the Year 2
(2019) 		Bharat
(2019) 		War
(2019)
External audio
audio icon Audio Jukebox on YouTube

The songs featured in the film were composed by Vishal–Shekhar, lyrics written by Irshad Kamil, with music arranger & producer Meghdeep Bose.[24] Zafar wrote and composed the song "Zinda" with Julius Packiam.[citation needed] It is released under the banner T-Series.[23] Devarsi Ghosh of Scroll.in positively summarised the soundtrack review as 'near-perfect.'[25] Firstpost praised the song Chashni as "soul-stirringly beautiful."[26] "Chashni" song was originally sung by Atif Aslam but was replaced.

Track listing
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Slow Motion"Nakash Aziz, Shreya Ghoshal4:07
2."Chashni"Abhijeet Srivastava4:25
3."Aithey Aa"Akasa Singh, Neeti Mohan, Kamaal Khan3:39
4."Zinda"Vishal Dadlani2:20
5."Turpeya"Sukhwinder Singh4:34
6."Aaya Na Tu"Jyoti Nooran5:57
7."Thap Thap"Sukhwinder Singh2:53
8."Chashni" (Reprise)Neha Bhasin3:59
9."Aithey Aa" (Dance Version)Nakash Aziz, Neeti Mohan3:38
10."Chashni"Atif Aslam4:46
Total length:35:32

Release

Kaif promoting Bharat in 2019

Bharat was released on 5 June 2019 on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr,[27] worldwide on 6000 screens including 4700 screens in India.[28] The film was made available for video on demand on Amazon Prime Video in August 2019.[29]

Reception

Critical response

As of October 2021, the film holds a 32% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 19 reviews with an average rating of 5.3/10.[30] Bharat received positive reviews from critics on release.[31]

Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India gave the film three and a half stars out of five, calling it "an exhausting, scattered watch despite the entertainment, humour and nobility it propagates". She concluded, "Bharat is well-intentioned, entertaining and doesn’t succumb to the trappings of commercial potboilers".[32] Priyanka Sinha Jha of News18, praising Khan for his performance rates the film with three stars out of five, and feels that the script is a bit lengthy and required 'sharper' editing. In the end, She says, "For all its virtues, Bharat falls short of becoming a tour de force, but it could turn into a crowd-puller."[33] Trade analyst and critic Taran Adarsh concurs with Jha on script trimming and gives four stars out of five. Declaring it "smash-hit", he praises Ali for direction, Kaif, and Khan for performance. He feels that the film is an emotional journey that wins the viewers over.[34] Manjusha Radhakrishnan of the Gulf News, also says that it would have benefited from trimming so finds the film 'dull', that is likely to test the patience of the audience. And, she gives it two stars out of five.[35] Ananya Bhattacharya writing for India Today praised acting of Kaif and Khan but feels that the main attraction is Sunil Grover. She also rates it with three stars out of five and concludes that Salman has given his fans 'an out-and-out entertainer'.[36] Rajeev Masand writing for News18, finds the film "unmistakably boring" and "excruciatingly long". He rates the film with two stars out of five.[37] Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost finds the film laden with weak 'humor' and 'lackluster' songs. Rating it with two stars out of five, Vetticad concludes, "Far from being a Forrest Gump with Salman Khan, Bharat is mostly a plodding trek through post-1947 to contemporary India."[38] Jyoti Sharma Bawa of the Hindustan Times finds it 'an emotional Eid winner' and rates it with three stars out of five.[39] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave two and a half stars out of five and opines, "The good thing about the film, despite its eye-roll moments, is its attempt to create an ‘ordinary’ man without any particular skills.".[40] Anupama Chopra of Film Companion, "Madam Sir, a woman with courage and conviction, is the most memorable character in Bharat. I’d love to see contemporary history told from her perspective. This version has sweep and swagger but not enough soul."[41]

Box office

Bharat's opening day domestic collection was ₹42.30 crore. This is the highest opening day collection for Salman Khan.[4] On the second day, its screenings dipped in multiplexes, yet remained strong in single-screen theatres and earned 31 crore – raising the total to Rs 78.87 crore.[42] As of 25 September 2019, with a gross of ₹251.27 crore in India and ₹74.31 crore overseas, the film has a worldwide gross collection of ₹325.58 crore.[4]

Bharat is the fifth highest grossing Bollywood film of 2019.[7] Based on domestic net collection the film is among top twenty in the list of Hindi films with highest domestic net collection[broken anchor].

Notes

  1. ^ Credited for screenplay and dialogue
  2. ^ Also the title character, who is named after the country.

References

  1. ^ Bharat, British Board of Film Classification, archived from the original on 26 June 2022, retrieved 26 June 2022
  2. ^ Chakravorty, Vinayak (17 May 2019). "Eid 2019: Salman Khan's biggest challenge yet". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  3. ^ Dogra, Tavishi (1 February 2019). "Bollywood goes big on budget! Here are the top mega budget upcoming movies of 2019". The Financial Express. Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "Bharat Box Office Collection till Now". Bollywood Hungama. 5 June 2019. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  5. ^ "Bharat". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  6. ^ "Bharat Box Office Collection Day 1: Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif Film Gets Bumper Opening, Earns Rs 42.30 Crore". News18. 6 June 2019. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  7. ^ a b "Bollywood Top Grossers Worldwide Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 18 November 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  8. ^ "Bharat Box Office Collection Day 22: Salman Khan's film breaches Rs 325-crore mark worldwide which still resulted in losses to distributors". Business Today. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  9. ^ "Bharat box office collection Day 26: Salman Khan starrer is facing tough competition from Kabir Singh". The Indian Express. 1 July 2019. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  10. ^ Kumar, Ankit (7 June 2019). "सलमान खान की फिल्म 'भारत' में डेब्यू करने वाले 7 फुट लंबे रैसलर के बारे में 5 बड़ी बातें". hindi.sportskeeda.com (in Hindi). Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  11. ^ Frater, Patrick (7 February 2019). "Salman Khan to Star in Indian Remake of Korean Hit 'Veteran'". Variety. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  12. ^ Bechervaise, Jason (23 December 2014). "Ode to My Father". Screen Daily. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  13. ^ "'Bharat': Director Ali Abbas Zafar gives us a sneak peek from the first day of the film's shoot – Bollywood celebs' Instagram pics you should not miss!". The Times of India. 25 June 2018. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  14. ^ zafar, ali abbas (16 April 2018). "And it begins "Bharat" @BeingSalmanKhan . A journey of a man and a nation together . Eid 2019pic.twitter.com/nD05ca2FDE". Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  15. ^ "Salman Khan's Bharat to arrive on Eid 2019. Here's everything to know about the film". The Indian Express. 24 October 2017. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  16. ^ "WATCH: Shooting of Indian film 'Bharat' starts in Mdina". TVM News Portal. 19 August 2018. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  17. ^ "Priyanka Chopra leaves Salman Khan's Bharat to marry Nick Jonas? Ali Abbas Zafar drops a massive hint". Hindustan Times. 27 July 2018. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  18. ^ "Irked By Priyanka Chopra's Exit From Bharat, Salman Khan Goes Into Overdrive To Find Leading Lady". Mid Day. 28 July 2018. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  19. ^ Coutinho, Natasha (30 July 2018). "Katrina Kaif replaces Priyanka Chopra in Ali Abbas Zafar's Bharat". Mumbai Mirror. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  20. ^ "Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif wrap 'Bharat' with this lovely post; check out". Deccan Chronicle. 6 March 2019. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  21. ^ "And that's picture wrap of Bharat Katrina Kaif on Instagram". Instagram. 5 March 2019. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  22. ^ "Bharat movie set worth Rs 10 crore to be destroyed in climax: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif-starrer amps up production value". 13 February 2019. Archived from the original on 11 July 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  23. ^ a b Bharat – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, JioSaavn, 17 May 2019, archived from the original on 17 May 2019, retrieved 17 May 2019
  24. ^ "Best-kept musical secret in Bollywood – EasternEye". 3 January 2020. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  25. ^ Ghosh, Devarsi (19 May 2019). "'Bharat' music review: Vishal-Shekhar's soundtrack is near-perfect". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  26. ^ "Bharat music review: Vishal-Shekhar's eclectic album doles out bonafide chartbusters, suffers from inconsistent writing". Firstpost. 4 June 2019. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  27. ^ "Salman Khan books EID 2019 for the release of his upcoming film 'Bharat'". Times of India. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  28. ^ Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (5 June 2019). "#Bharat screen count... India: 4700 Overseas: 1300+ Worldwide total:6000+ screens⭐️ #Bharat has released at 43 locations [60 screens] in #Germany. One of the biggest releases ever [#Hindi]. #BharatThisEid" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  29. ^ "Bharat". Amazon. August 2019. Archived from the original on 11 July 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  30. ^ "Bharat". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  31. ^ Sarkar, Suparno (4 June 2019). "Bharat movie review and rating: Critics' verdict on Salman Khan's film". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  32. ^ Vyavahare, Renuka (5 June 2019). "Bharat Movie Review". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  33. ^ Sinha Jha, Priyanka (5 June 2019). "Bharat Movie Review: Salman Khan Plays Gloriously to His Strength". News18. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  34. ^ Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (5 June 2019). "#OneWordReview...#Bharat: SMASH-HIT. An emotional journey that wins you over... Salman is the lifeline. He's exceptional... Katrina excels... Ali Abbas Zafar blends humor + emotions wonderfully... Slight trimming needed... Get ready for #Salmania. #BharatReview https://t.co/FVMFYZf9y0" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  35. ^ Radhakrishnan, Manjusha (5 June 2019). "'Bharat' film review: It will test your patience". Gulf News. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  36. ^ Bhattacharya, Ananya (5 June 2019). "Bharat Movie Review: Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif laugh, weep, deliver a perfect Eid blockbuster". India Today. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  37. ^ Masand, Rajeev (5 June 2019). "Bharat Movie Review: It Exists Only to Add to Legend of Salman Khan as Selfless Provider". News18. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  38. ^ M. M. Vetticad, Anna (5 June 2019). "Bharat movie review: Salman Khan's sometimes heart-breaking, hesitantly political, plodding trek through history". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  39. ^ Sharma Bawa, Jyoti (5 June 2019). "Bharat movie review: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif deliver an emotional Eid entertainer". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 11 July 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  40. ^ Gupta, Shubhra (8 June 2019). "Bharat review: Postcard from the Past". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  41. ^ Chopra, Anupama (5 June 2019). "Bharat Movie Review: Sweep And Swagger But Not Enough Soul". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  42. ^ "Bharat Box Office Collection Day 2: Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif Film Earns Rs 73.30 Cr". News18. 7 June 2019. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
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