Bajrangi Bhaijaan — Salman & Kabir Khan’s best film yet!

Irrespective of whether Salman didn’t realize what he was participating in or whether he made a conscious choice, this is definitely Salman Khan’s best film till date. And it has also made 185 Crores in its 1st week. This, despite 1. there being hardly any violence, objectification and front-bencher ‘herogiri’ and 2. that it talks about a socially relevant cause! So stop using “we give people this because this is what they want” as an excuse!

You don’t remember seeing such a Salman before! He’s so sincere and performs with child-like honesty. He makes fun of himself, he stutters and stumbles, yet comes through such that you begin to care for him!

After an artsy ‘Kabul Express’, an in-between ‘New York’ and a commercial ‘Ek Tha Tiger’, Kabir Khan seems to have struck the right balance as an Indian Film Director. Some may say he has deteriorated, I’d say he has matured.

Notice how he quietly weaves in undertones of communalism, saffronization, politics, terrorism, borders and much more…

I can’t remember any other Indian film that treats the relationship between India and Pakistan with such relatable humanity! Move over ‘Gadar’, ‘Border’ and ‘Lakshya’!

Harshaali Malhotra (Shahida/Munni) is a cherub. Her eyes, her smile and her tears talk volumes! Few actors are able to achieve the same even with words! I hope that when she grows up, if she continues to act, she does so with the same expressiveness and innocence as now & doesn’t get turned into yet another over-sexualized female body

Kareena (Rasika) is effective in a smallish role but why her make up in all recent films is an excessive bloodless-white evades me!

Nawazuddin is as usual brilliant! Starting off from the viral Chand Nawab YouTube video was a masterstroke by Kabir Khan

I don’t know if the film has actually been shot in India’s J&K and the region Indians call the PoK, but wherever it has been shot, the locales are exhilaratingly beautiful!

Even though you know that you’re being shamelessly manipulated during the film’s utopian climax, you don’t mind it because you understand what it symbolizes!

By no means is this perfect cinema but it is perhaps the best kind of cinema for India because such messages with such reach cannot be delivered any other way!

Salman has now reached that demigod status where he can get away with anything! Despite the mind still being pessimistic, the heart hopes that he continues to partake in such cinema and not the brand that he’s usually associated with!