The film stars Salman with debutante Harshaali Malhotra, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and tells the story of Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi, a devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman, who embarks on a journey to take a mute six-year-old Pakistani Muslim girl Shahida, separated in India from her mother, back to her hometown.

[8] Amidst the picturesque hills of Sultanpur, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan lives a six-year-old mute girl named Shahida.

The religious family believes that visiting the holy shrine will bring peace and happiness and most importantly, restore Shahida's speech.

He stayed with his father's friend, Pandey, a strict Hindu who refused to let the followers of any other religion enter his house.

Pandey's daughter Rasika offered Pawan a job at the school she taught and fell in love with his innocent persona.

Pawan rationalises that she is Hindu because of her fair skin color and persuades Pandey to let her stay for a month.

Munni cries every day in memory of her parents even though Pawan and Rasika treat her like their own daughter.

Since the entire family is vegetarian, and Munni is accustomed to eating meat with every meal, she hardly ever finishes her food.

A few miles away from it, they meet a secret agent named Ali who illegally transports people to the other side through a tunnel.

When they reach Pakistan's side of the border, Ali runs away but being a lord Hanuman's devotee, Pawan refuses to go without asking the guards for permission.

After finding out the reason for his travel the head soldier asks him to do whatever he wants in the following ten minutes before they return for the next round.

A religious scholar named Azad also helps them and hides them from the policemen searching the entire city for the alleged spy.

The trio immediately runs away from the holy place and gives the cameraman false information to distract the police.

Nawab then claps back with another video, this time on a bigger platform, asking people to gather at the border and ensure that Pawan reaches home safely.

Prasad also took inspiration from a story he heard about a Pakistani couple coming to India for their daughter's heart surgery.

The lyrics were written by Mayur Puri, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Neelesh Misra, Shabbir Ahmed, and Kausar Munir while Julius Packiam composed the score.

The film includes the qawwali "Bhar Do Jholi Meri Ya Muhammad" originally written by Purnam Allahabadi and composed and sung by the Sabri Brothers.

[36] In November 2017, it was announced that Bajrangi Bhaijaan was set to release in China, following the success of Aamir Khan's Dangal (2016) in the country.

[38] Prior to the announcement, Bajrangi Bhaijaan had a cult following in China,[37] where it has an average rating of 8.6 out of 10 on the popular film site Douban, with over 70,000 votes.

[38][39] In January 2018, it was announced that the film would be getting a wide release, on 8,000 screens in China, building on the Chinese box office success of Aamir Khan's Dangal and Secret Superstar (2017), and Bajrangi Bhaijaan's positive word-of-mouth.

[citation needed] The film released in Japan on 18 January 2019, with the title "バジュランギおじさんと、小さな迷子", which translates as "Uncle Bajrangi and a small lost child" (Bajurangi ojisan to, chīsana maigo).

[50] Srijana Mitra Das of Times of India gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing that "Bajrangi Bhaijaan is Salman Khan's most daring film where Salman presents a beautiful performance - but allows the story to be the real "dabangg" ".Rachit Gupta for Filmfare wrote that "If movies are meant to inspire, then Bajrangi Bhaijaan fulfills its purpose with resounding success", giving the movie 3.5 out of 5 stars.

[51] Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave a 3.5 out of 5 star rating explaining that "Bajrangi Bhaijaan is an overearnest, oversimplified, preposterously sweet and frequently schlocky film, which shouldn't work because of how predictable and soppy it is.

"[52] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave 3 stars out of 5, commenting "Bajrangi Bhaijaan is way too long at 2 hours and 35 minutes, and could have done with some serious pruning, especially in its first half.

Nevertheless, it's more engaging than such typical Salman Khan blockbusters as Bodyguard and Ready, if only because it has a sliver of a story, and its heart in the right place.

"[53] Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times said "Bajrangi Bhaijaan is simplistic, occasionally silly, and tiringly over-stretched.

Director and co-writer Kabir Khan preserves the larger-than-life Salman image but also allows it to evolve so that the star is not just a slick superman.

"[54] Uday Bhatia for Mint wrote: "To say Bajrangi Bhaijaan is geared towards maximum emotional impact is an understatement.

Several critics in China, where it was released as Little Lolita's Monkey Uncle, noted narrative parallels to the 16th century Chinese epic Journey to the West and its monkey-king hero Sun Wukong (which in turn have similarities to the 4th century BC Hindu epic Ramayana and its monkey-god hero Hanuman), making the film relatable to Chinese audiences.

[85] The successful opening weekend of Bajrangi Bhaijaan has been attributed to strong word of mouth, generated by high audience ratings such as 8.6 on Douban and 9.7 on Maoyan.