BHARAT BHAGYA VIDHATA

Starring: Chandrachur Singh, Shatrughan Sinha, Jaya Prada, Puru Raaj Kumar
Director: Osho Raja
Producer: T.P Aggarwal
Music: Hriju Roy

PREDICTED RATING: 2/10

With the recent rise of terrorism around the world, it seemed inevitable that the Hindi film industry would sooner or later jump on the bandwagon and try to cash in by using it as a subject of a storyline.

Bharat Bhagya Vidhata is the latest offering from director Osho Raja, who has based the story on terrorism across the border. As the name suggests, the film has a strong patriotic flavour and is described by the director as "a story about the aspiration of today's generation. Our youth, our future, our tomorrow."

With such strong views for the film, it can even be seen as trying to recreate the universal success that was achieved by Border a few years back. The main differences between the two are of course that Border contained some of India's top actors and was made by a renowned director (JP Dutta).

The closest BBV gets to a famous starcast is two stars who were famous for their films in the 80's (Shatrughan Sinha, Jaya Prada), two who have yet to secure their place as leading actors in Bollywood (Chandrachur, Puru) and a whole host of newcomers.

The story is about Chaitanya Suryavanshi (played by Vikram Aditya), the son of India's Home Minister (Shatrughan Sinha) and school principle (Jaya Prada).

A military officer captures a major terrorist causing a science graduate turned terrorist, Shabbir Khan (Chandrachur Singh) to hatch a plan for his release.

BBV is a teenage love story with the backdrop of terrorism, politics and patriotism. How convincing this concoction is, is yet to be seen.

Is this what the audience want to see? With enough atrocities filling news bulletins, wouldn't the public just prefer to turn on their televisions and catch a glimpse of what is really happening rather than a Bollywood rehash?

It may not offer absolute originality or an eye-catching cast, but if you are looking for something other than the usual mass appeal comedy-romantic flick, you may just want to give BBV a look.

RELATED LINKS:
• Buy This Soundtrack CD
• Listen To The Songs @ IndiaHits.com
• Movie Stills
• Video Trailers

SCHEDULED RELEASE DATE: April 19th 2002

PREVIEWED BY ZAHRA NAYANI