SULTAN.
The crescent shaped moon and a Salman Khan film are the two most vital aspects for Eid in India. The man with the Midas touch, I wouldn't be wrong in quoting him as the only actor in the film industry except Rajnikant, who can make a film successful with their mere presence and not performance. Im not comparing him with the legendary Amitabh Bachhan, but even though he is the King of Bollywood, in his prime, whenever he did a bad film, it flopped but does anyone remember the last Salman flop?
Sultan has all the cliché s of a sports film, the rise and fall of a champion, his comeback, the underdog, a champion who is evil. But like all other films of this genre, the audience despite knowing what is going to happen in the end, sits on the edge of the seat looking in an awe, waiting for their champion to beat the hell out of the other guy. We never get bored of of it because somewhere we see ourselves in the Champion. We derive inspiration and energy from them, and if it's a sports film thatfeatures The Sultan of Bollywood, then it is a sure shot success formula.
Director Ali Abbas Zafar brings us the story of yet another superhero who tastes success then failure followed by success again. But this tale has a slight difference, the man gets inspired from the woman, and he changes his sport according to the situation .
The film has many flaws as expected, the first half adrifts from the storyline, lacks pace, has an unnecessary song to worsen it and the one hour twenty five minutes seem like two hours, Salman tries hard but fails miserably with the Haryanvi accent, the director's amateurish storytelling is the weakest link, Salman Khan looks odd and funny as a lover boy. But full marks to Salman for giving a rocking second half, back to his own ways, well etched and well characterised Salman Khan takes control of the film and takes the audience in an overdrive mode. He shows his attitude, anger, action, his 3A s and win's the audience's heart, the crowd went hysterical in all the fight scenes, this was much more than what they had asked for. Unfortunately, Salman Khan seldom gets a good director who just doesn't use Salman's persona as the bait to pull in the crowd, but handles him well. Something like what Satish Kaushik did in'Tere Naam'.
The film has a good title track that is an adrenaline booster, a few good songs, Jag dhoonda seems inspired from Salman's Veer, Surili ankhiyon wale.
It is very evident that if there is one person who has actually worked hard in the film is Salman Khan, the director has just exploited his on screen persona, he fails to give Sultan the Haryanvi Jaat look and attitude.
Critics say Salman Khan is highly overrated, but this is where his star power proves his worth, just like Rajnikant and McDonalds, you might not like their films and the taste, but they are extremely popular, you end up visiting them every now and then, be it a city or interiors, they are natural crowd pullers.
The film that could have been much better if it would have been handled by a seasoned or a talented director, but nevertheless, it has a good script, a different Salman Khan, good thrills and overall definitely watchable.
My rating- 3.5/5
A bit generous, but a Salman Khan movie with a good story, deserves that.
