Sultan - Not just the name, but truly the "king". Review on Sultan

Did anyone miss the trailer of Sultan? I know no one did. So you must be remembering the cheering “sultan.sultan.sultan” and your heart just sets into the pace for the movie. While watching the movie, this lone cheering sets the tone needed for you to grab your seat and gawk at the screen. Director and Writer Ali Abbas Zafar has shown how a movie can make you roll in many emotions and still run the sports-induced blood in oneself to a level where you can actually start believing that it is all real.

Wrestling is not a sport, Wrestling is about fighting what lies within” – Sultan

This is how the movie begins.

Under Yash Raj banner, this movie is about a wrestler Sultan Ali Khan( Salman Khan), who is joyful and hearty-filled person, living his life as it comes. But when his path crosses across a vibrant, ambitious and “Haryana ki shaan” Aarfa( Anushka Sharma), he falls in love with her at first sight. Aarfa is a state wrestling champion and aims for Gold Medal at Olympics, so when Sultan confesses her love for her she denies saying there can be no distraction and she wants to marry a wrestler. Sultan sets his first step into wrestling world and earns everything that he and Aarfa hopes for. Happily married and just a step away from being parents, the world comes crashing down. Sultan is left to dread and grief by his Aarfa and everything seems crumbling down. Leaves wrestling, all that he loved and becomes a commoner.

Aakash( Amit Sadh) tries to bring Sultan back into wrestling world, because he needs him and somewhere Sultan needs him more. Sultan starts training with Fateh Singh( Randeep Hooda), after leaving wrestling world for 10 years, the game is up by many notches.

We do not expect the movie to end on a sad note, ( YRF banner after all) when the story plays out, all I can think of hailing at Ali Abbas Zafar. He knew what he wanted from the movie, in the movie and how to bring it all out, perfectly! There are many emotions running through the movie as you go from frame to frame. If one moment you are happy, the next moment is just downright emotional. But none of this gets tangled with each other as the flick keeps running.

The movie has many tiny life lessons that you may see, but definitely runs out to have a big effect on your mind. Like in the start during introductions, you can see a banner that says “ladki bachaaoge, tabhi toh bahu laaoge” and then a Muslim lady walking by with her son dressed as Lord Krishna. Also, like in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Sultan joins his hands in Namaste-form and gives respect to his opponents after every fight. Maybe small details, but everything has been looked into perfectly.

The first half of the movie has a slow pace, as the movie goes into flash back laying “bass” for all that has happened with Sultan. The working regimes shown in the movie looks like amalgamation of Rocky 4 and Rocky Balboa, but still makes you draw breathe in hitches. I was, definitely, in for some thrashing fighting sequences in the movie but all the great things come after due patience and by this I mean, second half is completely loaded with action and drama, feast for the eyes.

Oh wait! The entry of Sultan, that we expect to happen( like in all his last movies), is simply heart pounding, enthralling and grandeur. Just the cheering of his name is in the air and Dolby sound makes it even better.

Talking about performances, this is, hands down, Salman Khan’s the best performance, maybe we never saw it coming or just the fact that his hard work is seen in every single frame, right from his work on his physique or his minute expressions. The Haryanvi accent is flawless when he starts to speak, maybe stumble once or twice, but who cares. The man has really worked his arse-off to achieve this perfection. Anushka totally carries of the character of smug-faced and ambitious girl with all the glory. She does it without a finch and comes out with flying results. Randeep Hooda, as Sultan’s coach, tells everything on face and nothing lies within him. He is just remarkable in his role and does much justice( so if there is a Bollywood God, give him more such roles) . Amit Sadh has definitely matured with age and his acting, like over the years, will only tend to get better. The melodrama queen( watch the movie to understand why I said this) .

All in all, the movie is a family entertainer, having all that you can expect and nothing less than what you think. Filled with giggles, laughter, sarcasm, love, drama, sports-enthu, life lessons and gasps.

Sultan, not just the name but can truly the “king” of all the movies.