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

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