Review: Sultan proves that if Shahrukh is the Badshah, Salman is the Sultan of of Bollywood!

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Sultan, a sports-drama film directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and produced by Yash Raj films opened amongst great fanfare and expectations on July 6, 2016. According to sources, the opening day saw collections of 35 crores and analysts predict that the film will make more than 300 crores in total revenue.

The film begins with a conversation between Akash Oberoi (Amit Sadh) and his father Gyaan regarding Akash’s dooming business. Akash owns a franchise in the Mixed Martial Arts competition Protek India. It’s the third season after two failed attempts and Akash wants to bring in his own contestant who can help his business from dooming. His father suggests Sultan Ali Khan (Salman Khan), an Olympic gold medalist from Rewari, Haryana.  Flashback takes us to Sultan’s days as the best Kite chaser when he falls head over heels for wrestler Aarfa (Anushka Sharma). Aarfa is an English medium educated, Delhi return, state wrestling champion who is the daughter of ‘aakhada’ (wrestling training institute) owner Barkat bhai. 

Sultan tries to woo her with his English (in Haryanvi accent) and his wit. She calls him a “sit guy” (shit guy) and later snaps at him for being a “loojer” (loser) with no goal in life. With shear determination to gain her respect, he turns to becoming a state level wrestling under the guidance of her father. They get married and he soon becomes a world wrestling champion. His achievements bring pride and later arrogance. In his arrogance, he loses Arfa and more. Will he find himself again? This forms the next half of the movie.

The first half of the movie is witty, funny and entertaining with good screenplay depicting by-lanes of Rewari, the ‘aakhadas’ and the life of Haryana. The second half is lengthy with stretched scenes of Sultan’s training, the fights and the emotional saga about his fight with life.  However, there are some notable scenes in the second half as well e.g. the scene where Sultan fights his young self in the ring and the conversation between a wrestler and Aarfa about the wrestler’s five year old son. 

Salman yet again proves he is the ultimate Sultan (king) of Bollywood. With her stern and feisty demeanor and accent, Anushka looks and behaves like a Haryanvi wrestler. Amit Shah impresses with his performance as Govind, the best friend of Sultan. Amit Sadh and Randeep Hooda (as Sultan’s MMA coach) give ample support to the lead cast.   

The music by Vishal Shekhar is good and lyrics by Irshad Kamil go with the theme of the film. “Sultan”, “Baby ko Bass pasand hai” and “Jag ghumiya tere jaisa” are all chartbuster songs and will continue to be for a long time. 

My biggest disappointment with the film is the similarities it draws from the movie Brothers. ‘Brothers’ (2015), starring Sidharth Malhotra and Akshay Kumar is the closest Bollywood film that comes to your mind when you look at the Protek fights in the second half. In fact, some of the fights were better in Brothers. Another disappointment is with the dialogues. Even though there are funny moments and laughs, there is no single most memorable dialogue, a characteristic of Salman’s films.

For me, Sultan is a mixed bag which could have been better. It is still a good family entertainer. If you want to have more fun, watch it in a theatre where you can hear ‘sittis’(whistles) on Salman’s entry, his anecdotes (“Don’t teach fathers how to make babies”) and his winning punches. Still better, watch for the movie with a Haryanvi Jatt!

-Reviewed by Dolly Bolly