Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 5, 2019)

In an interview to Mirror (April 24), Ali Abbas Zafar had revealed that while brainstorming on the title of his Eid release which opens today, the name Bharat had suddenly popped up in his mind early one morning. “I was tossing in bed at 5 am when the title came to me hours later, when I met SK (Salman Khan) and Atul (Agnihotri, producer). I told them I had a title, Bharat. They froze for two seconds, then Salman said, ‘Yes.’ Since this man symbolises the nation, what better name than Bharat,” Ali had pointed out. The title since has been a major talking point showcasing the journey of its protagonist and the country through six decades.

Mirror has now learnt that the title was actually registered with Salman’s producer-friend, Sajid Nadiadwala, who was planning a film by the same name. When they learnt that it has already been blocked by Sajid, Atul called him with a request. “Without a second thought Sajid bhai gave us the title, it’s really nice of him to do this,” said Nikhil Namit, the co-producer of Bharat. Sources reveal that Sajid intends to make the script he had registered as Bharat with a new title soon and his team is already brainstorming on it.

Salman and Sajid’s friendship goes back a long way. The duo had first collaborated on the 1996 film Jeet following it up with the comic caper, Judwaa (1997), which saw the former in a double role for the first time. Since then, they have worked together on films like the Raj Kanwar-directed 2000 love story Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega, Shirish Kunder’s directorial debut, Jaan-EMann (2006), which had co-starred Akshay Kumar.

In 2014, Sajid made his directorial debut with the action-packed Kick, which was fronted by Salman and featured Jacqueline Fernandez as his leading lady. It had Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the antagonist. Salman and Sajid are now gearing up for the sequel of the hit film, which is expected to go on floors sometime next year.