At one point while doing interviews for the Indian release of the Bollywood film “Sultan, ” its lead actor, Salman Khan, compared the exhaustion of his physical training to a raped woman. He was skewered by the media and the public for about half a minute. That’s about average for Khan: This is the man who, last May, was finally convicted of his 2002 hit and run of a homeless man, only to be let out on a$500 bail two days later so that he could resume filming. Thanks to a 25-year career featuring some of the biggest hits in Hindi cinema history — including “Maine Pyar Kiya, ” and “Hum Aapke Hain Kaun” — he now pulls in a steady$40 million paycheck for his gigs along with a continent-spanning following that surpasses most American stars.
Khan’s flawed image is mollified somewhat by his lifetime of charitable efforts, which have endowed him with a larger-than-life, Robin Hood-like appeal. Fans across India refer to him simply as “Bhai”(brother).
Needless to say, Khan’s got a firm grip on his fans. With “Sultan, ” the latest offering from producing/distributing juggernaut Yash Raj Films, director Ali Abbas Zafar seems to want to tighten that hold still further. The story of a once-decorated wrestler, whose glory days come to a screeching halt when personal tragedy strips his will to fight, “Sultan” presents Khan(in the title role) in that classic underdog sports movie that should charm just about all of us. But as the film inches along its bloated 170-minute runtime, Zafar, Sultan, and Khan’s grasps each begin to slip.