Salman and Katrina come to Bharat

Hotel Taj Land’s End, Bandra, is about 500 metres from where Indian superstar Salman Khan resides. It would take him exactly five minutes to walk to the venue, or two minutes on cycle, cycling being among his favourite indulgences. So why did he arrive at 2 pm for the launch of his home production, Bharat’s, title song, when the time on the invitation was indicated first as 11.30 pm and later delayed by half-an-hour? Only he knows. His fans and most media-persons present couldn’t care less, for waiting gets you sweet fruit! Sharp at 2, on Friday, the 17th of May, he was there, as was his ex-flame and Bharat’s co-star, top heroine Katrina Kaif.

Also present on the occasion was writer-director Ali Abbas Zafar, producers Atul Agnihotri (Salman’s sister Alvira’s husband and actor) and Bhushan Kumar (the Supremo at T-Series, Super Cassette Industries). Neatly divided into two segments, the one-hour affair had the panel speaking first and the floor being thrown open to Questions and Answers in the second half of the proceedings. Exactly at 3 pm, it was all over, barring quick bytes, followed by big bites, as lunch was served at about 3.20 pm. I was home by 4, considering I live just 2 km from the venue, adjacent to Salman’s former house, where he lived as a pre-teenager, with his family.

Bharat has songs written by Irshaad Kaamil, but the video played for us had lyrics by Ali Abbas Zafar, marking the poetic debut of the man who has directed such block-busters as Tiger, Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai, all starring Salman Khan. The number is called ‘Zinda’ (alive) and the song rhymes ‘zinda’ with ‘parinda’ (bird). Many songs were played, but the track ‘Zinda’ was highlighted. It is only 2 min 20 sec in duration, and there are better songs in the film, as we saw in the trailer too.

Bharat, named after the official name of India, according to the country’s constitution, has Salman playing a man named Bharat. Music is by Vishal-Shekhar. Salman plays a man in five stages of his life, but looks the same, with the same face and same slight angle of the way the head rests on his neck and the same slightly shut and slightly droopy eyelids. Replying to a question, Salman, who is 53 going on 54, said that if he got old men’s roles as a result of Bharat, “I would play them my way; old outwardly, young inwardly. No coughing or walking sticks for me.” This is the first time he is playing a man in his 70s, among four other age slots.

Katrina has been given an atrocious hair-style in an attempt to make her look a commoner. That is fine in regular scenes, but when she gets into the seductive, waist-wriggling ‘Ethhay aa’ (Punjabi for ‘Come here’) mode, that bird’s nest jars. In jest, Katrina recalled that “…normally heroines get a lot of attention for their make-up, but in Bharat, Salman’s various moustaches and beards were what Zafar constantly kept adjusting.” She came into the project late, after things did not work out with Priyanka Chopra, but there was no controversy involved, as she knew the reasons.

Salman added that Bharat, though named after the country, is not a patriotic film, at least not in that specific genre, but happens to be a story that runs parallel to the birth and growth of Bharat as a nation. “It is fully entertaining, and offers no preaching whatsoever,” he elaborated. “The story idea is derived from a 2014 Korean film called Ode to My Father; however, everything else is freshly created,” pointed out Ali Abbas Zafar, who has also written the film.

Tabu, Sunil Grover, Disha Patani, Jackie Shroff, Sonali Kulkarni and Varun Dhawan in a Special appearance. Taking advantage of the Muslim holiday of Ramzan (Ramadan) Eid, the film will be released on June 5. The practice of releasing films on holidays, especially Eid and Deepavali, is common in India, and top stars and producers feel more assured that the holiday will draw greater crowds to cinema halls, to give the film the much needed ‘initial’ draw.