Banner: Yash Raj Films
Producer: Aditya Chopra
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar
Star Cast: Salman Khan, Anushka Sharma, Amit Sadh, Randeep Hooda, Kumud Mishra, Parikshat Sahni, Anant Vidhaat Sharma, Sumeet Samnani, Abhishek Duhan, Farrukh Jaffer, Naveen Kumar, Monica Verma, Satish Sharma, Parvez Mullan, Meiyang Chang, Kubraa Sait, Shibani Dandekar, Suzie et al
Music: Vishal – Shekhar
Salman Khan’s Sultan is strongly backed by none other than producer Aditya Chopra of Yash Raj Films & director Abbas Ali Jafar and the duo needs no special introduction. Needless to add that they have reposed their complete faith in the Starry Power of Salman Khan and his extreme dedication to his work especially as far as his role of Sultan is concerned. So this time around Salman Khan too has not let them down and literally got into the fleshy skin of the character of the wrestler Sultan Ali Khan. Hats off to the trio of Salman Khan, Aditya Chopra & Abbas Ali Johar. In fact Salman Khan has painstakingly enacted the entire gamut of Sultan Ali Khan besides adding his own nuances & intonations to bring the character of Sutan Ali Khan alive. So much so that one can’t even imagine any other star to take his place as Sultan Ali Khan. Once again 3 cheers to the trio of Salman Khan, Aditya Chopra & Abbas Ali Jafar. But of course maybe not necessarily in that particular order.
The carefully as well as sensitively woven scripted scenario of Sultan, which is indeed a touching tale of the rise and fall and rise of a wrestler Sultan Ali Khan and his quest to win back his true love, kick starts with Aakash Oberoi (Amit Sadh) trying to save his failing business of Pro – Take Down, a sort of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), freestyle wrestling tournament with a player who can change the fate of his business. His father Mr. Oberoi (Parikshit Sahni) recommends him to go and meet Sultan Ali Khan, who was once upon time a world champion wrestler, in order to save his disastrous business. Aakash Oberoi sets out to convince Sultan Ali Khan to enter the wrestling ring again. Further on Sultan Ali Khan’s attitude inspires Aakash Oberoi to further investigate the story of this once upon a time champion wrestler. Sultan Ali Khan, who was once an aimless man dabbling with cable TV business, finds his passion for wrestling when he falls head over heels in love with the fierce & the independent wrestler Aarfa (Anushka Sharma), daughter of a famous wrestling coach (Kumud Mishra) who teaches the sport in an authentic & rustic Indian akhada. Their love story turns into marriage after Sultan Ali Khan turns into a passionate wrestler who gears up to take down the world with his unique moves & punches at the right places of his opponent in the ring and starts winning championships left, right & centre. As pride takes over the mind of a talented Sultan Ali Khan, a loss of his loved one reduces his fame to ashes. And after a couple of years an attempt to regain his lost love & respect in the eyes of Aarfa, Sultan Ali Khan once again takes up a challenge. He joins Aakash Oberoi to fight against the world champions of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and now he is ready to go to any lengths to regain everything he has lost. And all through the movie his life’s best friend Gobind (Anant Vidhaat Sharma) becomes Sultan’s support system.
The premise of the story of Sultan interestingly hooks the cine goers right from the “The Start” till “The End” and full marks for the entire proceedings to the director Abbas Ali Jafar. No doubt Abbas Ali Zafar’s directorial skills have remarkably improved since his previous films. That apart he has extracted a full on performances from his stars as well as his technical team which includes music composers duo of Vishal – Shekhar (Some of the foot tapping & soulful number comprises of my personal favourites like “Baby Ko Bass Pasand Hai”, “Jag Ghoomeya”, “Bulleya”, “Tuk Tuk”, 440 Volt sung by Salman Khan himself & above all the title track of “Sultan”), cinematographer Artur Zurawski, action choreographer Larnell Stovall & above all editor Rameshwar S. Bhagat.
Performance wise Salman Khan offers a mixed bag of delight comprising of emotion, action, sadness, anger, comical banters, romanticism, energy, exhaustion (result of excessive training & real fights both in the indian akhada & western styled Mixed Martial Arts ring) added & abetted by his perfect body language topped with his excellent Haryanvi accent. No doubt Salman Khan has delivered a marvellous act, the best of his career till this date, by adding his own touch of finesse. And last but not the least Salman Khan has also worked very hard on his physique and the action scenes looks just superb. Anushka Sharma, the Bangalorean girl has finally proved that she is not a flash in the pan actress to be taken for granted. She has proved her extreme potential with NH10 and now with Sultan she has endorsed the fact that she is an extremely gifted actress by enacting a power packed performance of Arafa the woman wrestler and then as a saddened wife who has lost her love besides her newly born baby boy. She also matches upto Salman Khan’s Sultan act. Randeep Hooda, after Sarbjit is picture perfect as a martial arts expert. Amit Sadh as a business tycoon trying to establish his business too, has given a noteworthy performance. That apart all the other actors like Kumud Mishra, Parikshat Sahni, Sumeet Samnani, Abhishek Duhan, Farrukh Jaffer, Naveen Kumar, Monica Verma, Satish Sharma, Parvez Mullan, Meiyang Chang, Kubraa Sait, Shibani Dandekar, Suzie et al have literally lived their individual roles which were such an integral part of Sultan. And last but not the least I must make a well – deserved mention of Anant Vidhaat Sharma’s excellent portrayal of Salman Khan’s best friend Gobind who becomes Sultan’s support system through out the movie.
Tail Piece: Salman Khan, with his last release Bajrangi Bhaijan and now with Sultan, has carried forward his Super Stardom and with his supertainment act he has once again given the “Best Eid Gift” to his global fans. No doubt he has also proved beyond doubt that he is the real Sultan of Bollywood amongst all the Khan actors put together.
