Reviews & Ratings for
भारत (2019)

first half is bearable but the second half is not at all tolerable. There is no proper story. Don't know what is happening when it seems that the director was himself confused. there is no plot. If you want to watch it just don't take any expectations with you.

I first heard about ‘Ode to My Father’ in an article about Salman’s next film Bharat. It is an official remake of the aforementioned film.

I saw both of the films and this is not a comparison but I will definitely reference to the strengths of the Korean original and the Bollywood remake.

Lets begin with, this is not going to the biggest film Priyanka chopra has walked out of, not even close. I don’t know what Sallu thought he was making but this isn’t even innovative just derivative!

Let’s talk about the strengths of the film Bharat.

This film is comparable to Forrest Gump. It follows the story of one ordinary person who gets into extraordinary situations and somehow manages to come out on top. As films go, this isn’t a bad film. It just lacks the focus and strength of its original source material. But to the director’s credit Ali Abbas Zafar has managed to reign in Sallu and not let him fly around like a superhero (Here is looking at you RACE 3). Sallu plays a common (albeit extraordinarily fit) man. He is not seen doing his typical stunts and action for almost all of the film, which was a pleasant surprise.
The film does seem disjointed, for example, Disha Patani who appears in the first segment of the film and for an item song is never seen or referenced to in the film again. Same for the interesting co-stars seen in the oil pipeline segment. There is no happy reunion in the end, not much thought to try and make a coherent story which all comes together in the end. But I will not hold that too much against the film, often times in real life nothing comes full circle and people we meet over the course of life just plain disappear. So inadvertently, they do manage to make it seem realistic.
Katrina looks better in this than she did in Zero. Her acting is fine too but I am puzzled as to why Salman kept touting this role/film as the biggest one Priyanka has walked out of… The heroine role can be done by just about anyone and has very little impact on the story!
The track Zinda is really good and works very well for the film. Overall the background music is mostly fine, despite having some really silly sound fx to illustrate the comedy factor in some scenes.
The annoying part of the film is the REST of the songs. They are really not good and bog the film down. Seeing Sallu dance in a merchant navy officer’s uniform to some random song was a huge waste of time and doesn’t do anything for the film or the audience entertainment.
Then there is the fact that in the original film, we find out the motivation of lead character at the end of the film, which is a surprise and hits the audience emotionally. This film on the other hand makes Sallu’s motivation crystal clear in the very beginning. Incase someone missed it, they reiterate on it. Then Jackie Shroff playing Sallu’s father, also repeats it multiple times just so the people seeing the film know the character motivation VERY clearly.
This removes a layer of mysticism to the character. We know exactly what he is doing and why. Also there are sequences where it is made to look like the lead character is about to die, but we already start the film with him fit and fine so what’s the point of those scenes?
The tagline says the journey of a nation and a man together or something like that… well I doubt India much remembers 90% of the fictional things that happened in this film. There is a indo-Pak reunification effort shown in the film which is a direct adaptation of a similar scene from the Korean original, but here is the thing… in the Korean film they are showing something that REALLY happened. Every Korean remembers it and seeing it onscreen made them cry. The reunification shown here never actually happened so for emotional impact it leaves us the audience stone cold dead. It’s nice to see the characters rejoice but we as the people are only seeing that as a film not revisiting that from our memory! Such things weigh the film down and it cannot get past the lack of ambition or innovation by its makers.

Overall, if you are a Salman fan, this film is a treat for Sallu fans. If you can’t stand him, skip it!

Rating: 6.5 /10. Fine for a one-time watch. I much rather RE-watch Ode to my father which is an excellent film or even Forrest Gump, one of my favourite films of all time!