Trailer Review: Bharat

After the debacle that Notebook (2019) was, Salman Khan Films has unveiled the trailer of its latest offering, Bharat (2019). Highly touted as being a story about the journey of a man and the country together, the trailer dropped two days before its official date.Releasing on 5th June, 2019, the film stars Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, and Disha Patani in lead roles, while the supporting cast comprises of Sunil Grover, Jackie Shroff, Tabu, Satish Kaushik, Ivan Sylvester Rodrigues, Kashmira Irani, and Nora Fatehi.

First things first, we appreciate the multiple looks that Khan has flaunted. Finally, we will see him playing all ages, including his own age and even older. Back to the trailer, we are treated to the various shades of Bharat's (Salman Khan) life. While the trailer does not give away much, the story appears to stay true to its tagline. It takes us through Bharat's journey from being a daredevil stuntman, to a miner and finally, a Navy officer. Patani, who plays a trapeze artist, appears as the love of his life in his youth, before Bharat leaves behind the circus and becomes a miner. As a miner, Bharat goes through a quick mental transformation, when he gets trapped in a mine explosion. In a series of flashbacks, he relives his childhood and the partition before, obviously, being rescued or, possibly, saving himself. The rest of the story is left in the dark.

There is no frame without Khan, given his mega stardom, and of course, that the film is produced by Khan himself, and all the posters have had him featuring prominently. We also get to see Kaif rocking the role of 'Madam-Sir' and uttering some intense Hindi dialogues, which she appears to do with conviction, though with obvious effort. The trailer also showcases Patani, who is not seen mouthing any dialogues. Shroff appears seldomly in flashes from the past and voiceovers, while Irani plays Khan's sister. Grover portrays Khan's best friend as the much-needed comic relief. We do wish that the trailer would have shown us the roles Tabu and Kaushik are enacting in the movie, but it may have been done cautiously, to avoid disclosure.

The movie is directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, who has films like Gunday (2014), Sultan (2016), and Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) to his credit. As is true to his style, the film appears larger than life, with Khan getting a lot of chances to exhibit his manliness. The editing by Rameshwar S. Bhagat appears to be on par with the story, as the trailer reveals only parts that inculcate curiosity but does not give away much, leaving much to speculation. Vishal-Shekhar have taken over the music reins, along with Julius Packiam providing the background score. Both the songs and background groove appear to be memorable as most of Khan's movies are. The three composers are Khan's movie veterans and thus, we know what we can expect.

The film is touted to be based on the 2014 South Korean flick, Ode to My Father. While we can see the similarities, we sincerely hope that Zafar has rewritten the story enough that it is not a frame-by-frame copy of the original. Khan has always drawn in crowds to the theatres, even if the movie is a critical failure, but given the way big-budget movies have been doing recently, we can only hope that this film does not become another Tubelight (2017), which was both a commercial and critical failure. While we grade this trailer a 3.5 out of 5, we suggest you tune into YouTube or another video streaming website and watch the trailer yourself. Do comment below to let us know what you think of this journey!

Writer: Minnie G.

Editors: Anushka J. and Mohini N.

Graphics: Sandhya D. and Liana G.

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