Bhuj: The Pride of India | |
---|---|
![]() Official release poster | |
Directed by | Abhishek Dudhaiya |
Written by | Abhishek Dudhaiya Raman Kumar Ritesh Shah Pooja Bhavoria |
Produced by | Bhushan Kumar Ginny Khanuja Krishan Kumar Kumar Mangat Pathak Bunny Sanghavi Vajir Singh Abhishek Dudhaiya |
Starring | Ajay Devgn Sanjay Dutt Sharad Kelkar Sonakshi Sinha Ammy Virk Pranitha Subhash Nora Fatehi Ihana Dhillon |
Cinematography | Aseem Bajaj |
Edited by | Dharmendra Sharma |
Music by | Score: Amar Mohile Songs: Tanishk Bagchi Gourov Dasgupta Lijo George - DJ Chetas Arko Vipin Patwa Amar Mohile |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Disney+Hotstar |
Release date |
|
Running time | 113 minutes |
Country | India |
Language | Hindi |
Bhuj: The Pride of India is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language war film[2] directed by Abhishek Dudhaiya.[3] Set during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, it follows Indian Air Force Squadron Leader Vijay Karnik — then in-charge of the Bhuj Air Force Base who, with the help of 300 local women, reconstructed the damaged landing strip in 72 hours.[4] The film features Ajay Devgn as Karnik, alongside Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha, Nora Fatehi, Sharad Kelkar, Ammy Virk, Pranitha Subhash and Ihana Dhillon.[5]
Principal photography commenced in June 2019 in Hyderabad, Kutch, Bhopal, Indore, Lucknow, Goregaon, Kolkata and Dubai.[6] Production was put on hold in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown in India when filming was 90% complete; Devgn resumed shooting in November 2020 and wrapped up in March 2021, bringing the film into post-production stage.[7]
Initially slated for theatrical release on 14 August 2020 on the Independence Day weekend,[8] it was delayed by the pandemic and finally premiered on 13 August 2021 on Disney+Hotstar.[1] The film received mostly negative reviews from the film critics, who criticized the film for its writing, pace and unrealistic situations but praised the film for its visuals and the performances of the ensemble cast.[9][10]
In the beginning of Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the airstrip at the Bhuj Base is destroyed by enemy aircraft, cutting-off reinforcement supply from mainland India. A small group of Indian Army soldiers defend Bhuj from being overrun, while 300 local women, led by the base's commander Squadron leader Vijay Karnik, reconstruct the airbase under enemy fire.
Bhuj: The Pride of India was announced in March 2019, with Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Parineeti Chopra, Sonakshi Sinha, Rana Daggubati and Ammy Virk in leading roles.[12] Directed by newcomer Abhishek Dudhaiya, it was supposed to be the Hindi debut of Sandalwood actress Pranitha Subhash but eventually became her second Hindi film, the first one being another Disney+Hotstar 2021 film Hungama 2.[13] Dutt began principal photography on 25 June 2019.[14] Filming took place in Bhopal, Kutch, Indore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.[15]
In November 2019, Chopra exited the film as the rolling dates were clashing with her other film Saina and later Nora Fatehi replaced her.[16] In January 2020, Sharad Kelkar replaced Daggubati after the latter also stepped out due to health problems.[17] When the film was 90% complete, production was put on hold in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown in India, and got further delayed again owing to the new shooting guidelines.[18] Post a gap of 8 months, Devgn restarted filming in Hyderabad on 22 November 2020 and wrapped up in March 2021.[19]
Bhuj: The Pride of India | |
---|---|
Soundtrack album by | |
Released | 16 August 2021[20] |
Recorded | 2020 |
Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
Length | 30:11 |
Language | Hindi |
Label | T-Series |
Official audio | |
Bhuj: The Pride of India - Full Album on YouTube |
The music of the film was composed by Tanishk Bagchi, Gourov Dasgupta, Lijo George - DJ Chetas, Arko, Vipin Patwa, and Amar Mohile while lyrics were written by Manoj Muntashir, Devshi Khanduri, Anil Verma, Manoj Kabir, Abhilash and Vayu.
The song Zaalima Coca Cola is a remake of the song of the Zalima Coca Cola Piya De from the 1986 Pakistani Punjabi language film Chan Te Soorma sung by Noor Jehan, composed by Taafu and written by Khawaja Pervez[21] but was not included in the film.
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Hanjugam" | Devshi Khanduri | Gourov Dasgupta | Jubin Nautiyal | 3:45 |
2. | "Bhai Bhai" | Manoj Muntashir | Lijo George - DJ Chetas | Mika Singh | 3:40 |
3. | "Desh Mere" | Manoj Muntashir | Arko | Arijit Singh | 3:23 |
4. | "Rammo Rammo" | Manoj Muntashir | Tanishk Bagchi | Udit Narayan, Neeti Mohan, Palak Muchhal | 3:39 |
5. | "Ishq Mera" | Manoj Kabir | Vipin Patwa | Pratibha Singh Baghel | 2:00 |
6. | "Aarti" | Abhilash | Amar Mohile | Shankar Mahadevan, Priya Malik, Sonali Chandratre, Surabhi Singh | 6:19 |
7. | "Bhuj Theme" | Anil Verma | Amar Mohile | Shikha Joshi | 3:57 |
8. | "Zaalima Coca Cola" | Vayu | Tanishk Bagchi | Shreya Ghoshal | 3:28 |
Total length: | 30:11 |
The film was earlier scheduled for theatrical release on 14 August 2020, but was postponed and premiered on 13 August 2021 on Disney+Hotstar.[1]
The film received mostly negative reviews from the film critics, who criticized the film for its writing, pace and unrealistic situations but praised the film for its visuals and the performances of the ensemble cast.[9][10]
Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave the film 1 star out of 5 and wrote "Ajay Devgn in slow motion does little for what is anyway a godawfully sic dull war saga". She criticized the writing of the script by saying "Terrible writing, sleep-inducing direction and some pretty bad acting – there’s so much that’s wrong with Bhuj: The Pride of India, that an in-depth analysis of its politics makes no sense." She concluded "Bhuj: The Pride of India clearly does not want to be like either of these two films [referring to Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl and Shershaah], but it fails miserably even in its attempt to be [a] hormonally-charged, flag-waving, chest-thumping, clichéd nationalist entertainment. Yawn."[22]
Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV rated the film at 1.5 stars and criticized the acting and writing. He summarised the film. "busy gathering the scattered splinters of its insipid ideas made infinitely worse by resolutely ham-fisted treatment."[23]
Shubra Gupta of The Indian Express too gave the film 1 star out of 5 opening "High on slogan shouting, Ajay Devgn film almost hides its real heroes-Toplined by a swaggering Ajay Devgn, the film is so heavy on jingoistic jingle jangles and slogan-shouting that it almost succeeds in hiding the 300 women who pulled off an incredible feat."[24]
Soumya Srivastava of Hindustan Times wrote, "Ajay Devgn's chest-thumping, gunpowder-snorting film fights Radhe for worst of the year crown."[25]
The Hindu described the film as "hyper-nationalistic, shrill and outdated action entertainer."[26]
Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5 and called it "Thrilling" noting, "Bhuj is a Big Screen, mass-appealing spectacle. Scale, Star power and Stunning visuals leave you mesmerized." He praised Nora Fatehi's performance and concluded that Bhuj would've worked very well if it had been released in cinemas.[27]
Anupama Chopra of Film Companion wrote, "The characters are stick figures who repeatedly proclaim their love for the motherland. The film is streaming on Disney Plus Hotstar." [28]
I knew this would turn out to be an expensive film as it is a war movie.
Article Bhuj: The Pride of India in English Wikipedia took following places in local popularity ranking:
Presented content of the Wikipedia article was extracted in 2021-08-23 based on https://en.wikipedia.org/?curid=60318741