Sultan (2016)

The Plot

Aakash Oberoi (Amit Sadh) founder of the Pro Takedown MMA league is desperate to pump some life into his floundering promotion which is on the verge of closing down due to poor viewership. Aakash's father (veteran Parikshit Sahni) cites the lack of homegrown talent as a reason for the league's failure (Valid Point!) and recommends Aakash to bring in Sultan (Salman Khan) a former world champion wrestler, to boost audience interest. (Why not bring in a native MMA fighter instead of a wrestler?)

Aakash traces out Sultan only to find out that Sultan is a shell of his former self and is eking out a meager existence. Sultan summarily turns Aakash's offer down. Not one to give up Aakash approaches Sultan's best friend Govind (Anant Vidhaat Sharma) who lets him know of Sultan's past. (Flashback Begins) Sultan, a carefree bachelor (Super Stars never age!) falls madly in love with Aarfa (Anushka Sharma) an aspiring wrestler. Sultan immediately takes up wrestling to woo her. His dedication wins her over (Naturally!) and they get married. The couple then embark on a series of victories at National and International events (That's it, Indian Olympic Association should open a marriage bureau to get athletes married, that way we have a better chance at winning medals). They even get selected for Olympics when Aarfa realizes that she's pregnant and puts her dreams on hold for the sake of family.

Sultan goes to Olympics, wins and comes backs a vain boastful man (Nobody including the script writer knows as to what caused this change). His new attitude rubs everyone the wrong way including Aarfa. Sultan then embarks on a crusade to win the World Championship against Aarfa's wishes. He wins the Championship but comes back to see the calamity caused by his absence. The guilt kills Sultan's passion and reduces him to a recluse waiting for redemption (Here comes Aakash to give him his chance. Wait! you already knew that).

Will Sultan accept Aakash's offer? Will Sultan be able to redeem himself in his eyes and win back Aarfa? Watch Sultan (only after reading this review) to know the answers to these questions (Oh! you already know the answers? Trust me its not too hard to guess).

Sultan doesn't quite win you over

The Good

The Performances - Everyone acted well but Salman especially wins you over with his preparation and dedication.
The fight sequences with some real-life MMA fighters.
Certain punchlines about India, the new generation and wrestling in general.

The Bad

In order to root for a character, the struggle and the pain the character goes through has to touch you. Sultan's rise and subsequent fall happen at such a breakneck speed that it's impossible to establish a connection with Sultan's character, his value system and his quest for redemption.
The film is filled with logical loopholes. It takes a life time of training and conditioning to become an Olympic Champion, a World Champion and a MMA Champion. Sultan just takes a few years to become a Olympic/World Champion and then takes a few months to transition to MMA and ace it. It takes months to recover from a MMA fight but Sultan who gets beaten up into pulp every other fight miraculously comes back to fight within days. In reality no Athletic Association /Commission would sanction Sultan's fights seeing the extent of his injuries. This lack of realism prevents the movie from being taken seriously.

The Verdict

As a fan of wrestling and MMA in general I expected to see human spirit triumph amidst mouth watering clashes (Read Bibo V/s Kumar). Sultan starts well but quickly tapers off and ultimately ends up as a letdown. If Sultan was a first of its kind underdog sports movie then it might have been considered adequate. Unfortunately for Sultan, it suffers greatly in comparison with Rocky which is a trendsetter in this genre. In fact several scenes in Sultan remind you of the Rocky franchise and you as a viewer wish, you just watched the original instead of spending money on this one.

So there you go folks you can absolutely give Sultan a miss but then if you are a die hard Salman Khan fan, there's nothing I can say or do to help you change your mind. So happy viewing and if you felt the movie was a letdown, remember i already told you so.

Until Next Time,

Your Movie Reviewer/Movie Buff.

J.J. Chaitanya

Comments

Mahabharata by C.Rajagopalachari

There are books which you read and then there are books which make you read them and change your life. Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari's (Rajaji's) Mahabharata belongs to the latter category. Mahabharata introduced me to the joy of reading books as a kid and today I couldn't have picked a better topic for my 25th post. I cannot describe what a pleasure and honor it is to extol the virtues of this classic book during this holy festive season of Makar Sankranti . Mahabharata by C.Rajagopalachari The story of Mahabharata is as old as the mountains and has been retold several times. Mahabharata by Rajaji however stands out in my mind because here is a story which is spiritual yet not religious, is thought provoking yet not preachy, is compelling yet not tedious. The story left an indelible impression upon me for several reasons which are: Rajaji uses extremely simple language to convey some of the finer aspects of the saga. I was 10 years old when I read Mahabharata ...

Zamarrud Theatre Hyderabad

More than two decades ago a 5 year old boy (yours truly) found himself in Abids which was certainly then the microcosm of Hyderabad. Abids in the 80s <Courtesy: OkaTeluguAbbayi > The occasion was a family outing to Zamarrud Cinema. And we are stepping out for not just any movie my friends, my parents decided that nothing less than the Raj Kapoor blockbuster Chori Chori was good enough for us. To be honest I wasn't exactly enthused about watching a black and white film of a bygone era even though the movie had all the credentials of a classic. But that was before I saw Zamarrud, the theatre where the movie was being played. Nested in the heart of Abids, Zamarrud was the perfect amalgamation of Hyderabad's old world charm and new fangled ways. Zamarrud was not just any theatre, it was one of the first air conditioned halls in Hyderabad, a premiere cinema hall which used to host the best of what the film industry had to offer and the place to go for Hyderabad...

The Punisher (2004)

There are very few movies which make for a fun repeat watch. The 2004 version of ' The Punisher ' belongs to this rarefied category. I watched the movie almost 10 years ago and then caught up with it again last month. The plot twists were familiar the second time around but the fun was still the same. That's what probably got me started off on this movie review. Tom Jane as 'The Punisher' The Plot: When the younger son of mafia boss Howard Saint ( John Travolta ) gets killed in an FBI operation headed by Frank Castle ( Tom Jane ), Saint swears revenge and wipes out Castle's entire family. Castle himself barely survives before emerging from his injuries as the crusading 'Punisher'. 'The Punisher' resolves to extract payback from Saint and proceeds to punish everyone on the wrong side of law with his brand of justice. Will 'The Punisher' succeed (Of course he does)? Watch this lesser talked about installment from the Marvel Cinematic Un...

KBR National Park

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the fifth largest city in India - Hyderabad lies KBR (Kasu Brahmananda Reddy) National Park . It's difficult to imagine a natural habitat in the center of a concrete jungle but that's exactly what KBR park is - an oasis in middle of an urban desert . One of Hyderabad's prized tourist attractions which in my opinion doesn't get the attention it deserves. The Entrance <Courtesy: Andhra Aroma > I don't remember when I first noticed the park but it soon became a sight which I couldn't miss during the course of my everyday commute to work. I always wondered what lay beyond the entrance but never found the time to check it out for myself until last year. But let me back up a bit, there's a back story to my first visit to the park. In my ' Count Your Blessings ' post, I talked about how a walk around my office building started a positive change in my life. That incident made ' walking ' ...

Dunkirk (2017)

Background: The Second World War and my family go a long way back, members of my family took part in the war on behalf of the British. My grandfather himself had a fortuitous escape when the Japanese bombed Vizag harbour and Vizag thermal power plant on April 6th, 1942 . The war and its stories have ever since then, been a source of discussion in my family. Being inquisitive about history, I spent a lot of time trying to know about various facets of the war including watching whatever movies or documentaries I could lay my hands on. However, I have never read or watched anything about Dunkirk until I saw the movie. This was fresh territory for me and I wanted to approach the movie with a clean slate to know more about history ( which I confess wasn't a very bright idea considering how well history is manipulated in movies ). Plot Setting: It's May 1940, Netherlands , Belgium and Luxembourg have all fallen to the German Offensive. France is on its wa...

Life Etc Etc

Search This Blog