Salman Khan’s Bharat, Kartik Aaryan-Kriti Sanon's Luka Chuppi promise entertaining times ahead

Joginder Tuteja

Exciting times seem to be continuing well into 2019 for Bollywood. Year 2018 saw films of different genres turning out to be blockbusters regardless of having superstars or not. This trend seems to have set well for the current year as well.

While on one hand there is Kangana Ranaut's Manikarnika - The Queen of Jhansi doing brisk business at the box office, there is Vicky Kaushal's Uri - The Surgical Strike on the other, continuing to create havoc even in the third week.

Now, if recently released glimpses of two upcoming films is any indication, the audience is in for a treat. These films are Salman Khan's Bharat and Kartik Aaryan-Kriti Sanon's Luka Chuppi.

Teaser unveiling of Khan's Bharat has thrown a pleasant surprise. No one knew this one was on the cards, especially since the Eid release is almost half a year away. However, with the patriotic flavour on a rise, the makers decided to unleash the well cut teaser during Republic Day weekend. Well, the results are there to be seen.

From its announcement, it seems that Bharat would be a serious affair on the lines of Tubelight as it chronicles the journey of Khan from a 7-year-old to a 70-year-old. An official remake of Korean film Ode to My Father, it seems to have been Bollywood-ised in a terrific manner with director Ali Abbas Zafar continuing to demonstrate his love for everything masala and massy.

Of course, the man with two back to back triple centuries knows better. After making Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai, he definitely knows how to play along, and around, with the superstar power of Khan. No wonder, he is playing to the gallery once again, if the stylish teaser of Bharat is anything to go by. It basically introduces the Khan's character Bharat who revels in the fact that he does not have a prefix or a suffix his name, with anything that identifies his religion.

All of that is complimented well with visuals that give out six different glimpses of Khan where he is everything from being a rock star to an armed forces officer. His swag is certainly on display here and rest assured once this teaser would be seen in theatres, everything that one had to complain about his last two releases Race 3 and Tubelight would be forgiven and forgotten.

As for Aaryan, one instead does not want to forget the image that he has built right from the Pyaar Ka Punchnama series to Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety.

He is of course changing his entire body language, persona and diction in this Mathura based live-in tale Luka Chuppi, in order to get into the small town milieu. However, the trademark facial expressions are intact and that should entice the youth. Ditto for Sanon, who was quite good in Bareilly Ki Barfi and is now clearly going many notches up in Luka Chuppi where she seems really comfortable with the ambience and the milieu.

The trailer has indeed been cut quite well and reveals quite a few hilarious situations in the lives of Aaryan and Sanon with the latter expressing her keen interest in developing a live-in relationship.

Yes, the ‘live-in’ concept has been seen earlier in Bollywood with films like Salaam Namaste, Love Aaj Kal and Cocktail, to name a few. However, each of these were hardcore urban affairs. This is what makes this Laxman Utekar directed film exciting as the entire family moves in together, including Vinay Pathak and Pankaj Tripathi.

No wonder, the promo promises fun, humour, songs, dances and loads of entertainment in Luka Chuppi which is releasing on March 1. There is a bit of a naughty element in the promo too, something that goes with the subject of the film and would not make the family audience look the other way.

As a matter of fact, producer Dinesh Vijan has time and again backed films that are actually made for pan-India audiences. Recent examples are blockbuster Stree and Hindi Medium. Now, Luka Chuppi follows and one expects music to hold centre-stage all over again, something that is an integral part of his films. The glimpses of the songs are already promising.

Year 2019 has already started well with audiences continuing to accept films with open arms as long as it promises good entertainment. Now, Bharat’s teaser and Luka Chuppi’s promo are only adding on to the excitement and one just hopes that the trend continues for weeks and months to come as well.

Joginder Tuteja is a trade expert and film critic, and loves to talk and write about anything that is related to films. He loves the word 'Bollywood' and truly believes that it has a ring to it that is sweeter than 'Hollywood'.