A wrestler’s success story and the fight with his soul to win the battles within.
“Wrestling is not a sport, Wrestling is about fighting what lies within” – a quote from the film. Well, this could be true for any profession not limited to wrestling alone.
Story: Mixed Martial Arts(MMA) is introduced to India by Aakash Oberoi(Amit Sadh) but three years hence, his brand ‘Pro Take-Down’ lacks popularity and the Board decides to wind up. Aakash is determined to pursue and is advised by his father Gyansaab(Parikshit Sahani) that no Indian wants to see a foreign fighter get glory on Indian soil coz MMA is an imported sport. It will only appeal to Indians if an Indian defeats the foreign fighters. His father advises to rope in ‘Sultan Ali Khan’(Salman), a wrestler from Haryana who was once a World Champion and also an Olympic Gold medalist. Aakash then approaches Sultan but has an uphill task coz Sultan has given up the sport for personal reasons.
Mixed Martial Arts: MMA is dominated by young blood averaging 24 years, who are established champions in judo, taekwondo & other form of martial arts and requires agility, strength and stamina. One would wonder why a 40+ year old would be approached when you could easily identify any other young promising Indian champion within the respective sporting arena. The answer is clear – the character was scripted to suit the profile of the 50+ year old’Salman Khan’.
Pros: Strong cast. The name ‘Salman’ is always bigger than his film so whatever the outcome at the box-office, he continues to reign supreme. The film touches the core realities of life – rejections, failures, relationships, pride, perseverance, determination, and the like which keeps the viewer engaged. Anushka Sharma’s performance was impressive with impeccable dialogue delivery. Randeep Hooda delivered with his performance as Sultan’s coach preparing him for MMA. The live commentary during MMA encounters was impressive.
Cons: Unconvincing script. It shows a Cable TV operator take up wrestling only to win the heart of his ladylove, who is also a wrestler and becomes a professional wrestler within weeks armed only with the so called Determination and Zeal to succeed. Which means you, me and the rest of India, especially the sports champions have deprived India of Gold medals when it could have been so easily accomplished. Salman looked too old and did not suit his younger character played by him. To watch him chase kites and carry out the stunts was really a sore. Anushka Sharma also did not match up as a wrestler though she gave a fine performance.
Songs: ‘Baby ko bass pasand hai’, ‘Jag ghoomiya’ and ‘440 vollts’ were enjoyable with decent choreography. The title song would have been more impactful had it not been addressed to ‘Sultan’. Due to his bulky body, Salman struggled with dancing steps that seemed to be inspired by Sunny Deol.
Direction: Ali Abbas Zafar’s previous attempts as writer-cum-director were passable with ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ and ‘Gunday’ doing average business at the box office. He has done a fair job on the screenplay of Sultan but the script lacked sincerity and pace. The emotional scenes had great impact but there was lack of skill to effectively show the transformation of the character of Sultan from a common man into a hero. Had the character of’Sultan’ been played by someone else, the film would have been a disaster.
Point to note: The character ‘Sultan’ is a fan of Shah Rukh Khan. Not sure if this was deliberate.
Conclusion: Do not expect a ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ coz ‘Sultan’ misses by a mile but yet delivers. You will find better films on sports action drama that are more inspiring than ‘Sultan’. Like all his earlier films released during Eid, Sultan will do well at the box office cashing in on the celebrations. This big banner Yash Raj Film is 3 hours too long and appears to be a drag at several places. Though the movie inspires in bits and effectively delivers on the emotional content to bring about personal maturity and that in relationships, the overall drama is entertaining but unconvincing. More so, because the onscreen Salman oozing out maturity in his character contrasts his real life maturity which sees him getting entangled into controversies.
The movie succeeds in delivering the following:
• You have to write your own destiny
• To succeed and earn respect, one may have to go through struggles and humiliating experiences
• The real success of a person is determined by his victory on battles waging inside and not on the outside
• One has to understand the difference between arrogance and confidence which determines the attitude
• Never give up
• No one can defeat you unless you defeat yourself
If you have mastery on the above and do not feel the need for a refresher, then you should watch ‘Sultan’ only if you are a Salman fan or have nothing else to do. Recommended for your family strictly as a one-time watch only.