Revision as of 18:53, 23 June 2015

In Bajrangi Bhaijaan Salman Khan, film actor, plays Bajrangi, a devotee of Hanuman ji, who would rather die than tell a lie.

In Bajrangi Bhaijaan Salman Khan, film actor, who plays a devotee of the Bajrang Bali, with his little vaanar sena.

Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor in Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Kareena Kapoor , Salman Khan in Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Bajrangi meets a little Pakistani girl (Harshaali Malhotra) who has strayed into India. That she cannot speak adds to the problems.
Harshaali Malhotra and Salman Khan, film actor, in Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Bajrangi decides to help the Pakistani girl (Harshaali Malhotra) get back to Pakistan. A Pakistani reporter (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) joins their efforts.
Salman Khan, Harshaali Malhotra and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Bajrangi Bhaijaan .

’How will you find her ammi-abbu (parents, in Pakistan)?’ the Pakistani reporter (extreme right) asks.
‘Bajrang Bali will help us, no?’ Bajrangi replies.
‘Even in Pakistan?’ the Pakistani reporter asks, incredulously...
Salman Khan, Harshaali Malhotra and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Bajrangi Bhaijaan .

...but He does, yes, even in Pakistan.
Salman Khan in Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Burqey kay peechhay kya hai?
Harshaali Malhotra and Salman Khan in Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Harshaali Malhotra, Salman Khan cross the Thar Desert in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, in order to take the child back to her home in Pakistan

They cross the LOC in Kashmir, too, in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, in order to take the child back to her home in Pakistan

Salman Khan is, instead, arrested as a spy in Pakistan in Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Pakistani policemen chase Salman Khan for an autograph.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Salman Khan, Harshaali Malhotra outside the office of the ‘SDPO, Sindh’ in Bajrangi Bhaijaan (But SDPOs are for tiny sub-districts; all of Sindh has an Inspector-General/ IGP)

Inside the SDPO’s office, Bajrangi Salman Khan, film actor shows the Pakistani cops what one determined Indian can do. Maybe it was just as well for the IGP that the ‘SDPO, Sindh’ agreed to bear the brunt for him.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Salman Khan in a wrestling match in Pakistan in Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Harshaali Malhotra, Salman Khan at the Indo-Pak border in Bajrangi Bhaijaan

And, of course, there is Kareena Kapoor with Salman Khan in Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
With the story being focussed on how Bajrangi (Salman) gets to know a mute Pakistani girl (Harshaali Malhotra) and then travels illegally through Pakistan to reunite her with her parents, Rasika (Kareena Kapoor ) pops up only in the film’s initial stages and when the film is about to end—for less than 30 minutes in all.

Rasika (Kareena Kapoor) is a supportive girl friend.
With Salman Khan and Harshaali Malhotra in Bajrangi Bhaijaan

What’s a Salman film without extreme fisticuffs?
Salman Khan, film actor, in Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Or street dances?
Salman Khan, film actor, in Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Rules are rules.
Salman Khan, film actor, on the sets of Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Bajrangi Bhaijaan: first look, as tweeted by ‘Brother’ Shah Rukh Khan.
India Today's report was headlined, ‘Shah Rukh, Aamir together for Salman,’ because a while later even Aamir Khan tweeted the first look

Kareena Kapoor in Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Salman Khan, film actor, shooting in Kashmir in 2015 for Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Salman Khan, film actor, shooting in Kashmir in 2015 for Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Salman Khan, film actor, shooting in Kashmir in 2015 for Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015)

Crew

Directed by

Kabir Khan

Written by

Vijayendra Prasad

Produced by

Salman Khan

Kabir Khan

Music

Pritam Chakraborty

Background Score

Julius Packiam

Cinematography

Aseem Mishra

Cast

Salman Khan, film actor, as Bajrangi

Kareena Kapoor as Rasika

Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the Pakistani reporter

Emraan Hashmi

Ali Quli Mirza

Najeem Khan

Mir Sarwar

…and Harshaali Malhotra

Indpaedia has a special page about the little doll who has already taken India and Pakistan by storm, Harshaali Malhotra

Locations

Bajrangi Bhaijaan was shot in:

New Delhi: November 2014

Mandawa, near Shekhawati in Rajasthan: January 2015, including at the Fort

Jhunjhunu district: January 2015

Kashmir, mainly Pahalgam: April,May 2015

Scheduled release

17 July 2015 (Eid ul Fitr)

The Hanuman Chalisa controversy

In the trailer of Bajrangi Bhaijaan the leading character, a devotee of Hanuman ji (played by Salman Khan, film actor), is heard chanting two verses from The Hanuman Chalisa, both of which assure devotees that Hanuman ji will protect them.

He first chants

sab sukh la-ha-é tumhârî sharnâ

tum rakshak kâhû ko Darnâ?

(‘Under Your shelter are joy and cheer/ With You as protector what’s there to fear?’: From Parvez Dewan’s now out-of-print The Hanumân Châlîsâ of Goswâmî Tulasi Dâs jî (Viking-Penguin/ 2001)

Here he resorts to two minor over-compensations: he uses the Hindi sharnâ and rakshak instead of the Avadhi sarnâ and rach-chhak of The Hanuman Chalisa. The sincerity of Salman Khan and director Kabeer Khan should be appreciated. However, clearly they did not research adequately—or their advisor on Hinduism did not tutor them adequately.

(The concept of over-compensation in the context of Hindi-Bhojpuri was lucidly explained in the song Saawan ka maheena--pawan karey sor/ shor from the film Milan/ 1967.)

The second verse created some needless controversy (The Times of India, Deccan Chronicle). The Salman Khan character then says

sañkaT hara-é miTa-é sab pîrâ

jo sumira-é Hanumat bal-bîrâ

(Calamities vanish, pains disappear/ For those who Hanumat, the brave, revere: : From Parvez Dewan’s The Hanumân Châlîsâ of Goswâmî Tulasi Dâs jî (Viking-Penguin/ 2001))

Here, he says hara-é (is taken away) instead of kaTa-é (is cut short). Both words reach the same conclusion.

Parvez Dewan’s The Hanumân Châlîsâ of Goswâmî Tulasi Dâs jî had looked at around 51 versions of the Châlîsâ. They have minor differences, like the less common tãsu amit instead of the more popular soî amit, Sajeevan and Sanjeevan. However, none of the versions said hara-é instead of kaTa-é. In two Google searches by Indpaedia’s volunteers, out of twenty results nineteen said kaTa-é. The twentieth had a third alternative! RS-rel uses the word haTey (is removed), which, too, leads to the same assurance.

Summary: There is no need to shriek ‘the biggest blunder of Salman Khan,’ as a Hyderabad daily did. There are minor regional variations not only in very old Hindu prayers (e.g. the Ram Dhun/ Raghupati Raghav…) but also in lists of The 99 Names of Allah. Kabeer Khan’s advisor chose some obscure variant that meant the same as the mainstream versions, but used different words. This is not a blunder. Just a lack of a scholarly approach, using which scholars weigh the relative usage of different versions. The newspapers calling this a blunder, too, lack a scholarly approach, because they are not aware of the existence of regional variants.

Indeed, one of the newspapers has got the words wrong. It has written ‘Hanuman balbeerâ’ instead of ‘Hanumat balbeerâ.’ Hanuman has a longer mãtrã than Hanumat. Therefore, no version can possibly say Hanuman.

In their recitations, Amitabh Bachchan and Hari Om Sharan have employed the usages Sajeevan-Bharathi and Sanjeevan-Bharatahi, respectively. Which of them has committed the blunder? Indpaedia's view is: neither.

There is no blunder if you use an obscure version. However, you win more hearts if you use a popular version.

See also:

Hanuman Chalisa

See also

Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Harshaali Malhotra

Salman Khan, film actor

Salman Khan: hit-and-run case, 2002