Director Ali Abbas Zafar is looking forward to the release of his upcoming directorial Bharat that has Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif in the lead. The trailer of the film has been well received by the audience. The film is produced by Salman Khan, Bhushan Kumar and Atul Agnihotri and is slated to release during Eid on June 5. In a recent interview with a leading daily, Zafar heaped praise on his lead actor Salman and spoke about how only he could have played the role of Bharat in the film.
Talking about Salman’s connection with the audience, Zafar said, “Whether it’s Gunday, Tiger Zinda Hai, Sultan or Bharat, you have to connect with the audience in the first 20 minutes by showing something the character does or believes in that makes them root for him. Once that happens, they are with him even when he single-handedly decimates an entire army. If a superhero is selfless, and you have a star like Salman Khan, whom the audience loves, playing him, half the battle is won.”He further explained what makes Salman a superhero and said, “His honesty and earnestness. His communication with his audience is very direct. And even when he lives a character, Salman Khan doesn’t disappear 100 per cent, whether it’s Tiger, Sultan or Bharat, his magical presence in there in the characters.”
During the course of the interview, Zafar was asked why he took up a Korean film Ode to My Father to tell the story of Bharat. To this Zafar said, “Emotions are universal and what I liked about Ode To My Father was the coherency of the emotions and the text. We’ve added a lot of Indian cultural subtext, the film reflects the events and changes from 1947 to 2010. My dad believes if you pick the right story that says the right things, you can’t go wrong. While many Hindi films revolve around the mother and son, the father has often been portrayed as a hard disciplinarian. My relationship with my dad and Salman’s with his (Salim Khan) is different and at the core of the film. That’s why only Salman could play Bharat.”
Bharat also boasts of an ensemble cast that includes Jackie Shroff, Tabu, Disha Patani, Aasif Sheikh, Sunil Grover and Sonali Kulkarni.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
