Bajrangi Bhaijaan: Un-Sallu but happening

Staring: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Harshaali Malhotra, Om Puri, Sharat Saxena
Rated: 6/10
Here comes aman ki asha, Sallu bhai style. Actually not really, really Sallu style but definitely aman ki asha all the way. And Bajrangi Bhaijaan (Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi) just in case you are looking for synonyms for Hanumanji) smiles though this cross-border film on a dream that has lived alongside the depressing reality of India, Pakistan relations.
Now, as we all know, our Sallu Bhai has been on a trot with NGO kind of movies. From Jai Ho to Kick and now Bajrangi Bhaijaan — the beleaguered star has been churning out movies which are away from the chawanni chhaap stamp of success that has Sallu Bhai wringing in the cash registers, as always.
But un-Sallu does not really mean a bad film, it only means a different one from Salman Khan. In this one, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and his two-bit role as a Pakistani TV journo is allowed to almost steal the show from  our blockbuster man and a six-year-old debutante girl Harshaali Malhotra comes out as the centrepiece of the film. Now, if Sallu Bhai does not mind that who are we to do so? Worshipping Hanuman and all the on either side of the border monkeys consequently, Salman plays the do-gooder who is typically smalltown to call Muslims ‘Mohammaden’ and a Hindu bhakt all tied up against meat eaters from the other community.
But there is no communal friction or even a hint of it as Sallu’s inherent stardom, pithy but laughing dialogues, the stunning locales and the absolutely ethereal beauty of the little one who gets lost in India and has to be returned to her parents in Pak Occupied Kashmir holds you in and keenly interested.
The humour keeps you tantalisingly hungry for more. When Nawazuddin asks Salman if his Bajrang Bali will be able to help him in Pakistan too, or when the Pakistani maulana (Om Puri) tells him ‘Thoda Kashmir hamare paas bhi hai’ — it is all meant to catch your attention and it does. But the music is no great shakes except for the Selfie song which introduces Salman in the film.
See this one for Sallu, Shahida and Chand Nawab.
Source: Sunday Pioneer,  19 July 2015

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