In the Hindi film industry, there are many films based on the relationship between the two neighbouring countries – India and Pakistan. Most of the films have been hard hitting with bloodshed and violence. Kabir Khan directed ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ (2015) has been one of the best movies with a beautiful moving story to get people of both countries become closer to each other.
The story is written by the well-known K. V. Vijayendra Prasad, who has earlier been credited for films like ‘Vikramarkudu’ (2006), ‘Maghadeera’ (2009), ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’ (2015), ‘Baahubali: The Conclusion” (2017), ‘Manakarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’ (2019), etc.
The plot is based on a six-year-old mute girl Shahida (Harshaali Malhotra) from Pakistan who gets lost in India from her mother and meets a stranger Pavan Kumar Chaturvedi (Salman Khan), who helps her to reach her family in Pakistan. The emotional journey and relationship between the two take the story forward.
Director Kabir Khan was well known for making documentary films and debuted in the Hindi film industry with ‘Kabul Express’ (2006) followed by ‘New York’ (2009) and ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ (2012). He has mostly worked under Yash Raj Films. But ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ was produced by him, Rockline Venkatesh and Salman Khan. He has done a brilliant job as this movie is a real classic and will be remembered for many years to come. This is a perfect example of a great movie where all departments from storytelling, performances, camera work, music to editing have been superlative.
Salman Khan’s role as Pavan Kumar Chaturvedi can easily be rated as his career best acting performance. His character is very pure hearted and full of innocence. Before that, we have seen him successful as an actor in romantic, comedy and action roles. He has always faced criticism as an actor during emotional scenes, except for ‘Tere Naam’ (2003) and ‘Kyon Ki’ (2005), and he always found it hard to convince the audience in emotional scenes. In ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, he has been his best during emotional scenes and made the audience cry with him in a few scenes. Personally in that film, the character Pavan Kumar Chaturvedi bowled over star Salman Khan.
Kareena Kapoor Khan in the role of ‘Rasika’ was more of a supporting character but she held her character strong and confident and plays an important role for Pavan to come out of the window of religion and casteism. Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays another important character of Chand Nawab, who helps Pavan in his journey in Pakistan to find Shahida’s family. He is a scene stealer and does not even need dialogues at places. Meher Vij as the mother of Shahida in the film has a special appearance but is impressive in emotional scenes and adds to the film positively.
The film belongs to six-year-old child artist Harshaali Malhotra. She is so cute as Shahida and has been a sheer brilliance in the film. Her chemistry with Salman Khan looks real and very convincing. Cinematography by Aseem Mishra is excellent and takes the film to another level and definitely adds to the longevity of this film. The film has been shot well. Music by Pritam is top notch. Songs like “Selfie Le Le Re”, “Bhar Do Jholi Meri”, “Tu Chahiye”, “Zindagi Kuch Toh Bata” are brilliantly composed. The qawwali “Bhar Do Jholi Meri” by Adnan Sami is soothing and emotional. Julius Packiam’s background music remains one of the highlights.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s climax is brilliant and has been shot on a large scale. What’s more, it talks about love and peace between two countries. There are no high-pitched dialogues. The ‘salaam’ by Pavan Kumar Chaturvedi to Pakistani people conveys the message in the right manner.
People in both India and Pakistan have deep emotional connections to each other and want to travel in each other country but the political ideologies have broken bridges. We want to watch more cricket matches between these two countries and have a liking for their actors and musicians. We do not know when the relationship between these two countries will improve. ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ was a good step towards it.
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