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Bharat backdrop
5 June 2019Hindi155 min

Bharat

5.728 reviews
CriticsMixed

Bayesian avg · 28 critic reviews

7.5+ Exceptional · 6.5 Recommended · 5.0 Mixed

6.89 ratings
UsersMixed

User Score · avg of 9 ratings

8.0+ Exceptional · 7.0 Recommended · 5.5 Mixed

A little boy who is forced to be responsible early on, grows up with no regret of a non- existent childhood. He in fact makes it his life goal to put his family before him. The film follows the journey of Bharat over the course of several decades as he navigates the ups and downs of life.

Critic Consensus

Critical reception for Bharat is mixed, with scores ranging from 30 to 90 and most reviewers landing in the average-to-middling range. Several critics acknowledged Salman Khan's willingness to lean into emotional performance over his typical action-hero persona, and a handful praised the film's entertaining, crowd-pleasing scale and emotional ambition. However, a broad cross-section of reviewers cited the excessive runtime, uneven pacing, and a script that reduces its protagonist to a one-dimensional, idealized figure as the film's core weaknesses. A recurring observation is that the film ultimately functions as a vehicle for Salman Khan's star image rather than delivering on its larger storytelling premise.

28 reviews · 12 positive · 9 mixed · 1 negative

Praised: Salman Khan's emotional performanceCriticised: Excessive runtime and uneven pacing

AI-generated summary of 28 critic reviews · may contain errors

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Critic Reviews (28)

Shubhra GuptaTop Critic· Indian Express
5.0
"More a miss than hit...In a Salman Khan movie, anything is possible, even tall tales that can transcend borders."
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Rajeev MasandTop Critic· IBNLive
4.0
"In the end Bharat is exhausting and pointless. It exists only to add to the legend of Salman Khan as the selfless provider, the man who has a heart as big as his biceps. In Bharat, Salman Khan plays Bhai."
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Anupama ChopraTop Critic· Film Companion
"Sweep And Swagger But Not Enough Soul...The South Korean film on which this is based in a masterclass in melodrama, while this is bloated and inconsistent"
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Saibal ChatterjeeTop Critic· NDTV
"Crowd-Pleaser For Salman Khan Fans Seeking Recompense For Tubelight"
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Bollywood Hungama News Network· Bollywood Hungama
9.0
"On the whole, BHARAT is a super-entertainer with emotions as its strong USP and Salman Khan like never before. The superb combination of Salman Khan, emotions and the release period [Eid] will ensure fireworks at the ticket windows. At the box office, it will fetch bumper profits for all concerned."
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Pinkvilla Team· PinkVilla
8.0
"The movie comes to a complete circle in the climax. There are no questions left unanswered, leaving you satisfied. You laugh, you weep and you just feel nice for Bharat. The movie is treated like a grandpa telling a couple of tales to his grand-kids and it does it beautifully. Watch Bharat for it will definitely bring a huge smile on your face. I never felt so heartwarming since Bhajrangi Bhaijaan. Suggestion: Watch it with an avid Salman Khan fan in a single screen for a memory of a lifetime."
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BollySpice Editors· Bollyspice
8.0
"Watching Bharat I felt a strange stirring of hope and joy. The film spreads a sunshine across its tapestried universe. But it fails to provide an even narrative soundboard for its protagonist whose life hardly seems as illustrative of India's chequered history as he would like us to believe. Not always credible, Bharat nevertheless manages to never loose its composure. It is an achievement of epic proportion which losses some of its greatness in trying to say too many things at the same time."
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Renuka Vyavahare· Times Of India
7.0
"Bharat is well-intentioned, entertaining and doesn't succumb to the trappings of commercial potboilers. The fact that it tries a bit too hard to prove that, is its problem."
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Tushar Joshi· Bollywood Life
7.0
"Bharat delivers it's promise of being an emotional entertainer. Fans who want to see Salman reinvent his superstar image with a solid storyline will be pleased with Bharat."
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IndiaTvNews Reviewer· IndiaTvNews
7.0
"Salman Khan's inexhaustible swag and Ali Abbas Zafar's direction make for a perfect Eid gift..."
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R.M. Vijayakar· IndiaWest
7.0
"If only the flaws had been reduced or ironed out, "Bharat" could have been a classic. It just stops short. But a Salman-Eid whopper is back after a two-year holiday."
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Ananya Bhattacharya· India Today
6.0
"Bharat has its own share of problems, beginning with the near-three-hour runtime. But when people wait a year for a Salman Khan Eid release, can you really blame the superstar for giving his fans their larger-than-life hero in an out-and-out entertainer, replete with song and dance? Don't go looking for logic in a Salman Khan film. Upar Allah, neeche dharti, beech mein... tera junoon."
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Jyoti Sharma Bawa· Hindustan Times
6.0
"This Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif Eid release is epic in its scale - starting from Partition, touching on Pandit Nehru's era, it fast forwards us to 2010 with Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Manmohan Singh as reference points"
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IANS· Mid-Day
6.0
"Bharat is not a patriotic film, it has all the elements required to make a full-fledged masala pot-boiler. With some age-old ideologies sprinkled with newness, Salman's film will entertain audience."
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Devesh Sharma· Filmfare
6.0
"It's a Salman Khan film where he's required to emote and not just punch some 20 goons at regular intervals. To his credit, he doesn't shy away from the challenge. He's shown to be modelled on Lord Ram - caring towards everyone, loyal to his friends, devoted to his family and having a strong sense of dharma, of justice. Somewhere along the way, the focus of the film shifts from India to Bharat the character and that's its chief flaw. You leave the theatre feeling underwhelmed..."
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Ritika Handoo· Zee News
6.0
"Salman Khan's 'ode to his father' rides high on nation love..."
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Giridhar Jha· Outlook
5.0
"Emotion Over Action May Let Salman Khan Fans Down...In BharatThe film relies more on emotions than action which may prove to be a dampener for many of his fans who have grown up watching their macho idol bashing up dozens of goons, bare-bodied, on screen in film after film."
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Kunal Guha· Mumbai Mirror
5.0
"Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif-starrer is a melodramatic mess that overtly idolises its one-dimensional lead"
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Umesh Punwani· KoiMoi
5.0
"All said and done, Bharat is no Sultan or Tiger Zinda Hai – it's the weakest film of Ali Abbas Zafar. The pace is the culprit along with the length. In order to keep something for everyone, Ali also keeps nothing for someone."
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Anna MM Vetticad· Firstpost
4.0
"The best of Bharat comes right in the beginning and then almost towards the end. The initial portrayal of the Partition and later efforts to reunite families separated at the time may seem emotionally over-wrought to some, but I confess I was reduced to tears in both segments. Unfortunately, what comes between, though largely inoffensive is only sporadically rewarding. Far from being a Forrest Gump with Salman Khan, Bharat is mostly a plodding trek through post-1947 to contemporary India."
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IANS· Sify
4.0
"A novel concept in Bollywood derailed by writing and direction...As Bharat, Salman Khan is charismatic, but lacks on-screen energy."
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Deccan Chronicle Team· Deccan Chronicle
4.0
"Overall, in spite of the ensemble of some good performers, 'Bharat' is cursed by a mundane script and forceful attempt to get the entire audience in tears. It is a film that seems signposted as a vehicle to attract attention for its committed leading star Salman Khan, but thanks to the team behind it it ends up as a vehicle that never gets out of first gear."
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4.0
"It will test your patience...The pulpy Salman Khan epic is overstuffed, painfully dull and meanders on and on"
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Sreehari Nair· Rediff
3.0
"Bharat is nothing more than a reflection of the times we are living in: where we expect our heroes to be flawless, virtuous fellas -- it is our current national disease,"
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Namrata Joshi· The Hindu
"Khan might get to show off his emotional chops with the ever-reliable Tabu for company but it's Kaif who pleases and almost walks away with the film with her natural, unaffected and winsome ways. Also, for a change, it's refreshing to find a film in these times, that doesn't portray former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a bad light. Some points scored there."
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"Khan is the only thing that matters here, and to Zafar's credit, he makes the effort to carve out a character that doesn't depend entirely on the star status of his leading man. "Bharat" is too long, too overdrawn and too maudlin for it to evoke any genuine emotion."
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Rahul Desai· Film Companion
"A Greatest Hits Mixtape Of A Fading Superstar...Khan goes from age 8 to 70 in an awkward, episodic narrative that tips its hat to his transformation from Prem to Chulbul to Tiger"
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Nandini Ramnath· Scroll.in
"An ode to the Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif pairing and little else...Ali Abbas Zafar's movie sets his hero's adventures against the backdrop of India's post-Independence history."
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Cast & Crew

Cast

Details

Release Date
5 June 2019
Runtime
155 min
Language
Hindi
Genres
Drama, Action

User Ratings & Reviews

Users6.89 ratings

9 ratings from the community

Community Reviews (6)

AHJun 2019

Acting,Superb Directing,superb Story,excelent Music,superb Rest of all,very good ,superb,excelent and all time blockbuster

PAJun 2019

This is one of the best movie of salman Khan career

APJun 2019

Its a sure shot BLOCKBUSTER... SALMAN KHAN megastar is extraordinary in this movie.. emotions are the heart and soul of the movie.. direction by ali abbas zaffar is top notch.. cinematography is excellent..a very good combination of humour+ emotions+ drama=perfect entertainment..

Comedy and Emotional movie . Heart touching movie

MIJun 2019

Disappointing film, no logic at all

TEAug 2019

There are a lot of things to watch and ponder about in Bharat yet none of them outsmart the final emotional message, which would have been delivered faster had Zafar not taken too long to get to the point. If you have the patience and some tissues for the tears that are bound to come even though artificially, Bharat will not just be a jingoistic, tear-jerking recipe. TN.

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