The teaser video of Salman Khan’s much-awaited film Bharat was released on Friday, with the Bollywood megastar showcasing his patriotic self on the eve of the Republic Day. Aside from Salman Khan, the film also has Jackie Shroff, Katrina Kaif, Disha Patani, Tabu and Nora Fatehi among others. Varun Dhawan too has cameo role in Bharat, which is scheduled to hit cinemas on Eid this year.
The teaser video begins with a scene of a railway station, seemingly from the time of India’s partition in 1947, with Salman explaining about his surname. He says, “Often, I am asked by people about my surname, caste and religion. And I smile and tell them that my father named me after this country, Bharat.”
Salman then explains that adding a surname to the name of this ‘great country’ would have amounted to belittling the country and himself.
The teaser video indeed gives goosebumps as Salman carries on with his powerful narration interspersed with dramatic visuals. The film has been jointly produced by T-Series and Reel Life Productions, owned by Salman’s brother-in-law Atul Agnihotri.
The film has the successful trio of Salman, Katrina and director Ali Abbas Zafar, whose last venture Tiger Zinda Hai had done exceedingly well at the box office.
Bharat was marred by controversy last year when Priyanka Chopra had abruptly walked out of the film. Salman had reacted angrily to Priyanka’s decision and told a newspaper, “It must have been very difficult for her to make this decision because she was very keen to work on this project. She (Priyanka) has called up Arpita a thousand times, saying, ‘I want to work with Salman’. She has even called up Ali (Abbas Zafar, director) and told him, ‘See if you can get me something in this film’.”
“She (Priyanka) had a reason to do that. It’s just that the project got stuck. Had we known earlier, we could have worked it out better. She was getting engaged and I told her, ‘If you are getting engaged, what’s the need (of exiting the project)?’ Then she said, Shaadi karni hai to which I said Toh shaadi kar lo,” Salman had added in the interview.
Reactions to Bharat teaser have been phenomenal with hashtag #BharatKaTeaser trending on Twitter for hours. Going by the fans’ approval to the film’s teaser, Bharat is all set to smash box office records this summer.