Bhuj: The Pride of India Movie Review

Abhishek Dudhaiya's 2021 war film Bhuj: The Pride of India is an Indian production in the Hindi language. In 1971, during the course of the Indo-Pak War, Indian Air Force Squadron Leader Vijay Karnik served as the base commander at Bhuj Air Force Base, and he is the main character in the story. In under 72 hours, he was able to reconstruct the destroyed landing strip with the aid of 300 local women. The plot of the film is lifted from the 2001 Hollywood military picture Pearl Harbour. Ajay Devgn plays Karnik in the movie, which also stars Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha, Nora Fatehi, Sharad Kelkar, Ammy Virk, and Ihana Dhillon.

Principal photography began in June 2019 in Hyderabad, Kutch, Bhopal, Indore, Lucknow city, Goregaon, Kolkata, & Dubai. Filming was 90% complete until the COVID-19 lockdown in the nation of India forced a production halt in March 2020. Devgn picked up the camera again in November 2020, and he finished filming in March 2021, completing the pictures post-production. The pandemic forced a change in the release date from the original Independence Day weekend on August 14, 2020, to August 13, 2021, when it finally debuted on Disney+ Hotstar. The bulk of reviews for the film were negative, and they criticized the plot, the pacing, and the unrealistic settings.

Critics Review

The movie garnered largely unfavourable reviews from critics, who criticized the script, the pacing, and the ridiculous scenarios in the movie but commended the visuals and the acting of the ensemble cast. In her review for the First post, Anna M. M. Vetticad gave the movie one out of five stars and stated, "Ajay Devgn rocking slow motion accomplishes minimal for what is already a godawfully dull war saga. " She criticised the composition of the script, saying, "Bhuj: The Pride of India has so many flaws that a thorough analysis of its politics made no sense. Poor writing, drowsy direction, and some really awful performances. She concluded by saying that while Bhuj: The Pride of India "apparently does not want to be like any of these two films, it fails horribly even in its attempt to be hormonally-charged, flag-waving, chest-thumping nationalist entertainment." Yawn."

NDTV's Saibal Chatterjee gave the movie 1.5 stars and criticized the writing and acting. He gave a summary of the movie. "Busy gathering the scattered splinters of its feeble ideas made infinitely worse by stubbornly ham-fisted treatment," one reviewer wrote. In her article for Film Companion, Anupama Chopra stated, "The characters are stick figures who constantly proclaim their love for the motherland."

According to Shubra Gupta of The Indian Express, who also gave the movie one star out of five, "High on slogan shouting, Ajay Devgn film almost hides its real heroes" and "Toplined by a swaggering Ajay Devgn, the film is so heavy on jingoistic jingle jangles as well as slogan-shouting that it almost succeeds in hiding the 300 women who pulled off an incredible feat." The Hindustan Times' Soumya Srivastava stated, "Ajay Devgn's chest-thumping, gunpowder-snorting film rivals Radhe for worst of the year crown."

Bollywood actor Taran Adarsh, The review site Hungama, scored the movie 3.5 out of 5 stars and labelled it "Thrilling," adding that "Bhuj is a Big Screen, mass-appealing extravaganza. You're mesmerized by the scale, star power, and stunning visuals. He appreciated Nora Fatehi's portrayal and said that if Bhuj had been shown in theatres, it would have done very well.

Cast Members of Bhuj Movie

Audience Reviews

• "I find it quite astonishing that these ratings exist given how entertaining and thrilling this movie was. Bhuj: The Pride of India isn't one of those films that is entirely driven by speech or some deep character drama; rather, it is driven by the action and tension. As a result, the spectacle becomes an entirely action-packed one with nonstop set pieces and quick pacing throughout."
• "Many of the reviews I've seen, particularly in publications like the Hindustan Times, The Hindu, and Quint, are quite unfavourable and label the movie as "hyper nationalism" while expressing hatred for Pakistan or a specific sect. However, it is wholly untrue. In fact, the sect that holds the view that Pakistan is an enemy of Islam, as evidenced by dialogues like "Pakistan hi islam ka sabse bada dushman hai jisne 30 Lakh Bengali muslims ki hatya ki" is the group that includes our greatest spies who were stationed in Pakistan and gave their lives in defence of their homeland. A brief history of the east Pakistan problems and India's humanitarian assistance to Pakistan demonstrates that India was never a territorial nation."
• "The Pride of India, Bhuj The execution of the plan was successful, as seen by the sign that was included in the film. However, the reality fell short. The movie "Bhuj the Pride of India" is only watchable once on average. The plot of this movie fails to leave an impression despite the fact that it zoomed straight out of airfields and past quite well."
  
• "All of us appreciate troops and wish to see films about their bravery. I had been anticipating Bhuj ever since it was revealed since it was one of the most incredible stories of village women restoring a damaged runway and overnight bringing the base back to its feet. I was really hoping to bring that incident back to life."
• "In order to quickly reconstruct the airstrip at Bhuj after it was destroyed by Pakistani air forces during the 1971 war and prevent the enemy from seizing control of Western India, the airport's in charge, Squadron Leader Vijay Karnik, enlisted the assistance of 300 local women from the village nearby. There is no doubt that this unique and noble act merited a filmic depiction. Bhuj, however, doesn't do it justice."
• "Ajay Devgan occasionally interrupts his discourse to speak in Marathi; in every scene, he is surrounded by two to three commandos or deputies who are simply following him. Despite being surrounded by bombardment on the airstrip, our typical hero never sustains any damage. With only a few scenes and little dialogue, the character of his spouse is an avoidable one. The song commemorating the anniversary is a silly addition to the film."