# Bharat (भारत) (film)
**Bharat** (भारत) is a 2019 Hindi-language drama directed by [Ali Abbas Zafar](https://www.edgepedia.org/ali-abbas-zafar) and starring [Salman Khan](https://www.edgepedia.org/salman-khan) in the title role, an official adaptation of the 2014 South Korean film *Ode to My Father*. The film follows a man from the [Partition of India](https://www.edgepedia.org/partition-of-india) in 1947 to the present day, his personal life of promise and loss running in parallel with the birth and growth of the Indian nation.[1](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/bharat-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc00mde3ntk) • [2](https://www.telegraphindia.com/entertainment/bollywood/movie-review-bharat-is-let-down-by-the-weight-of-its-own-ambition/cid/1691847) It was released on 5 June 2019, timed to Eid, by the banner combination of Salman Khan Films, Reel Life Productions, and T-Series.[3](https://www.salmankhanfilms.com/movies/bharat) • [4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea_GKoe81GY)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | Ali Abbas Zafar (director, story, screenplay); screenplay with Varun V. Sharma; original screenplay credit to Park Su-jin of the Korean source film[5](https://m.behindwoods.com/hindi-movies/bharat/bharat-review.html) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7721800/fullcredits/) |
| Source | Official adaptation of *Ode to My Father* (2014), a South Korean film that follows an ordinary man through modern Korean history[2](https://www.telegraphindia.com/entertainment/bollywood/movie-review-bharat-is-let-down-by-the-weight-of-its-own-ambition/cid/1691847) • [7](https://www.gqindia.com/entertainment/content/real-story-of-bharat-movie-based-on-the-korean-film-ode-to-my-father-bharat-cast-plot-story-release) |
| Release | 5 June 2019 (Eid), India; UK certificate dated 31 May 2019, distributed in the UK by Cinestaan AA Distributors Ltd[3](https://www.salmankhanfilms.com/movies/bharat) • [1](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/bharat-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc00mde3ntk) |
| Runtime | About 155 minutes (BBFC lists 154m 50s for the cinema version)[1](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/bharat-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc00mde3ntk) |
| India box office | Nett gross ₹2,34,27,00,000, fifth-highest Hindi film of 2019, verdict "Semi Hit" (Box Office India); distributor share ₹1,016,000,000[8](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/india-total-gross.php/india-total-gross.php?year=2019) • [9](https://boxofficeindia.com/years.php?pageId=7&year=2019) |
| Opening day | ₹423 million (₹42.3 crore) India Hindi net on day one (Sacnilk)[10](https://legacy.sacnilk.com/entertainmenttopbar/Bollywood_Box_Office_2019?hl=en) |
| Critical reception | 30% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (20 reviews) against a 52% Popcornmeter audience score (100+ ratings)[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bharat) |
| Music | Songs by Vishal-Shekhar; background score by Julius Packiam[5](https://m.behindwoods.com/hindi-movies/bharat/bharat-review.html) |
## Spoilers
### Story and source
The premise is a vow. During the 1947 Partition massacres, an eight-year-old boy promises his father that he will keep the family together no matter what, and he works to keep that promise over the next sixty years of his life.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bharat) In the opening sequence the young Bharat boards a train to India and, in the process, loses his father and his younger sister; from then on he carries the responsibility of fulfilling his father's word.[5](https://m.behindwoods.com/hindi-movies/bharat/bharat-review.html) The protagonist carries no surname, only the name Bharat, and the film maps his story onto the changes taking place in a newly independent and growing India.[2](https://www.telegraphindia.com/entertainment/bollywood/movie-review-bharat-is-let-down-by-the-weight-of-its-own-ambition/cid/1691847)
The film is an official adaptation of *Ode to My Father* (2014), which depicted modern Korean history from the 1950s to the present through the life of an ordinary man, and was the fourth-highest-grossing film in Korean cinema history at the time of the adaptation.[7](https://www.gqindia.com/entertainment/content/real-story-of-bharat-movie-based-on-the-korean-film-ode-to-my-father-bharat-cast-plot-story-release) • [12](https://www.fijijournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/44th-Edition.pdf) The Indianised version of the story was written by Zafar, with the screenplay jointly credited to Zafar and Varun V. Sharma.[13](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bharat-8-june-2019/) • [5](https://m.behindwoods.com/hindi-movies/bharat/bharat-review.html) The Indian setting substitutes the Partition of 1947 for the [Korean War](https://www.edgepedia.org/korean-war), and the film keeps recognizable structural beats from the original, including the train separation and a television program in which families separated decades earlier are reunited; in the Indian version, Indian and Pakistani channels run simultaneous programs to help trace relatives separated during Partition.[7](https://www.gqindia.com/entertainment/content/real-story-of-bharat-movie-based-on-the-korean-film-ode-to-my-father-bharat-cast-plot-story-release) • [13](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bharat-8-june-2019/)
## Cast and production
**Salman Khan** plays Bharat across the decades of his life, from youth to his seventies. [Katrina Kaif](https://www.edgepedia.org/katrina-kaif) plays Kumud Raina, Disha Patani plays Radha, Tabu plays Meher, Jackie Shroff plays Gautam Kumar, the father, and Sunil Grover plays Vilayti Khan; the supporting cast includes [Sonali Kulkarni](https://www.edgepedia.org/sonali-kulkarni), Satish Kaushik, Nora Fatehi, Kashmira Irani, Aashif Sheikh, Shashank Arora, and Kumud Mishra.[14](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/cast_crew.php?movieid=5671) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7721800/fullcredits/) • [15](https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81587836?fromWatch=true&source=35)
The film was produced by [Atul Agnihotri](https://www.edgepedia.org/atul-agnihotri), Alvira Khan Agnihotri, Bhushan Kumar, and Krishan Kumar, with Nikhil Namit as co-producer, under the banners Salman Khan Films, Reel Life Productions, and T-Series.[3](https://www.salmankhanfilms.com/movies/bharat) • [4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea_GKoe81GY) Marcin Laskawiec was the cinematographer, Rameshwar S. Bhagat the editor, and the score was composed by Julius Packiam alongside the Vishal-Shekhar songs.[5](https://m.behindwoods.com/hindi-movies/bharat/bharat-review.html) • [16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bharat/cast-and-crew) Filming locations included [Abu Dhabi](https://www.edgepedia.org/abu-dhabi) in the [United Arab Emirates](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-arab-emirates).[17](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7721800/) The British Board of Film Classification certified the film on 31 May 2019 with advice for moderate violence, bloody images, and threat, noting sequences that include a lynching, a child witnessing a train full of bloody corpses, miners trapped underground during a gas leak, armed pirates boarding a cargo ship, and archive footage of Jawaharlal Nehru's funeral.[1](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/bharat-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc00mde3ntk)
## Box office
Bharat opened strongly. Sacnilk records an opening day India Hindi net of ₹423 million (₹42.3 crore), the fourth-highest opening day among 2019 Bollywood releases in its year-end table, behind *Saaho*, *Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy*, and *War*.[10](https://legacy.sacnilk.com/entertainmenttopbar/Bollywood_Box_Office_2019?hl=en) Box Office India ranked the film second among 2019 Hindi films for first-day and first-weekend India collections, behind only *War*.[9](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/years.php?pageId=7&year=2019)
Final tallies differ by tracker, and the figures are not directly comparable because they measure different things. Box Office India lists an India nett gross of ₹2,342,700,000 with a "Semi Hit" verdict, fifth among 2019 Hindi films behind *War*, *Kabir Singh*, *Uri - The Surgical Strike*, and *Housefull 4*.[8](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/india-total-gross.php/india-total-gross.php?year=2019) Sacnilk lists ₹2.12 billion (₹212.03 crore) India Hindi net and ₹3.21 billion (₹321 crore) worldwide with a "Hit" verdict on a reported budget of ₹1.65 billion (₹165 crore).[10](https://legacy.sacnilk.com/entertainmenttopbar/Bollywood_Box_Office_2019?hl=en) Trade editor Atul Mohan of *Complete Cinema* put the film at ₹1.973 billion (₹197.34 crore) net in his year-end accounting.[18](https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/2019-a-bollywood-hit-as-collections-top-rs-4-000-crore/amp-11577470071121.html) The distributor share, the portion actually returned to the film's distributors, was ₹1,01,60,00,000, fourth highest of 2019.[9](https://boxofficeindia.com/years.php?pageId=7&year=2019) Overseas, IMDb records $2,971,549 gross in the United States and Canada and $35,261,263 gross worldwide.[17](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7721800/)
## Reception
Critical and audience responses diverged. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds 30% on the Tomatometer from 20 critics against a 52% Popcornmeter score from more than 100 audience ratings.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bharat) Reviewers singled out the film's scale and its emotional premise while faulting the execution. Shubhra Gupta of *The Indian Express* gave it 2.5 out of 5, writing that the idea of long-separated loved ones being reunited still moved her even though she knew she was being played; Namrata Joshi of *The Hindu* called the film ponderous and plodding.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bharat) The trade review site Bollywood Hungama took the opposite view, calling Zafar's direction topnotch and noting that the film changes tracks every 15 to 20 minutes.[19](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/bharat/critic-review/bharat-movie-review/) Film Information criticized the screenplay for lacing the drama with comedy that diluted the emotional core of a Partition-separated family's story.[13](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bharat-8-june-2019/) Simon Abrams, a freelance critic whose work has appeared in *The New York Times* and *Vanity Fair*, wrote at RogerEbert.com that one of the film's main pleasures is seeing Khan coast on his charm while Kaif frequently outshines him.[20](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bharat-2019)
Netflix lists the film as a Filmfare Award nominee and describes it as an epic, emotional family saga of hope and loss spanning six decades, set against tumultuous events in India and Pakistan.[15](https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81587836?fromWatch=true&source=35) The film has remained available on Netflix in India, and it also appears on Prime Video in some markets.[21](https://www.justwatch.com/in/movie/bharat) • [22](https://www.digit.in/digit-binge/movies/bharat-9254.html)
## Context in 2019 Hindi cinema
Bharat arrived in a year when [Hindi cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/hindi-cinema)'s commercial results and critical verdicts rarely aligned. Fifteen Hindi films entered the ₹1 billion (₹100 crore) club in 2019, and Hindi-language box office reached an estimated ₹43.5 billion (₹4,350 crore) net domestically, up from ₹33 billion (₹3,300 crore) in 2018.[23](https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/when-audience-and-critics-rarely-agreed-was-2019-the-year-of-most-divisive-bollywood-movies/story-Pc3ENKsCev39vRRcK17YcM.html) • [18](https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/2019-a-bollywood-hit-as-collections-top-rs-4-000-crore/amp-11577470071121.html) Within that market, Bharat's combination of a large opening and a "Semi Hit" final verdict from Box Office India illustrates the gap between a star vehicle's first-week performance and its long-run endurance: the film was second only to *War* in first-day and first-weekend India collections but finished fifth in total nett gross.[9](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/years.php?pageId=7&year=2019) • [8](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/india-total-gross.php/india-total-gross.php?year=2019)
## References
1. [Bharat, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/bharat-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc00mde3ntk)
2. [Movie review: Bharat is let down by the weight of its own ambition, Telegraph India](https://www.telegraphindia.com/entertainment/bollywood/movie-review-bharat-is-let-down-by-the-weight-of-its-own-ambition/cid/1691847)
3. [Bharat, Salman Khan Films](https://www.salmankhanfilms.com/movies/bharat)
4. [BHARAT | Official Trailer, T-Series on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea_GKoe81GY)
5. [Bharat (aka) Bharath review, Behindwoods](https://m.behindwoods.com/hindi-movies/bharat/bharat-review.html)
6. [Bharat (2019) - Full cast & crew - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7721800/fullcredits/)
7. [Real story of Bharat movie: Korean film Ode to My Father inspired the Salman Khan film, GQ India](https://www.gqindia.com/entertainment/content/real-story-of-bharat-movie-based-on-the-korean-film-ode-to-my-father-bharat-cast-plot-story-release)
8. [Top India Grossers 2019, Box Office India](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/india-total-gross.php/india-total-gross.php?year=2019)
9. [Top India Distributor Share 2019, Box Office India](https://boxofficeindia.com/years.php?pageId=7&year=2019)
10. [Bollywood Box Office Collection 2019, Sacnilk](https://legacy.sacnilk.com/entertainmenttopbar/Bollywood_Box_Office_2019?hl=en)
11. [Bharat, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bharat)
12. [Fiji Journal, 44th Edition](https://www.fijijournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/44th-Edition.pdf)
13. [BHARAT review, Film Information](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bharat-8-june-2019/)
14. [Bharat Cast List, Box Office India](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/cast_crew.php?movieid=5671)
15. [Bharat, Netflix India](https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81587836?fromWatch=true&source=35)
16. [Bharat: Cast and Crew, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bharat/cast-and-crew)
17. [Bharat (2019), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7721800/)
18. [2019 a Bollywood hit as collections top ₹4,000 crore, Livemint](https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/2019-a-bollywood-hit-as-collections-top-rs-4-000-crore/amp-11577470071121.html)
19. [Bharat Movie Review, Bollywood Hungama](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/bharat/critic-review/bharat-movie-review/)
20. [Bharat movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bharat-2019)
21. [Bharat streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/in/movie/bharat)
22. [Bharat Movie (2019), Digit Binge](https://www.digit.in/digit-binge/movies/bharat-9254.html)
23. [When audience and critics rarely agreed, Hindustan Times](https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/when-audience-and-critics-rarely-agreed-was-2019-the-year-of-most-divisive-bollywood-movies/story-Pc3ENKsCev39vRRcK17YcM.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 2010s › Hindi films of 2019*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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