Glint Stars *****

Box office experts had declared Sultan a hit even before it hit the theatres, keeping in mind the advance booking rush for the Eid release. The fans have given it a thumbs up. Even the star critics, who are always ready with their sharpened knives before any of Salman’s releases, have given it their approval.

Yes the movie ticks many right boxes. Sultan is a fast paced action drama, where the hero (Salman) is not a superhero. Salman is believable as Sultan; he has his failures and frailties. He doesn’t win all the fights he enters…or maybe he does…eventually. Unlike many of Salman’s earlier films, the supporting cast has a significant role to play and many come up with stellar performances.

Director Ali Abbas Zafar has written a crisp script full of action, romance and drama and stuck to the storyline through the shoot and the edit. This is what you logically expect from anyone when they venture out to make a ‘commercial film’ and not hide behind commercial cinema to produce a shoddy film.

That said please stop calling this a sports drama. For an ex sports journalist and producer the kind of stuff we let pass as sports is quite funny. As far as I’ve seen, even state level athletes in any sport pull off what can be best described as sheer magic. And you can’t just create magic with a month’s training. A wrestler can’t put out a challenge match against a higher weight category wrestler in a state championship, even if he has to prove a point to his ladylove. And there’s nothing as ‘dhobi pacchad knock out’ in wrestling as was the norm shown in the movie. I can just go on and on, but I’ll stop if you stop calling it a sports drama!

Coming off the sporting arena, Salman’s restrained acting as Sultan and the effort he has put in to play a wrestler is commendable. Anushka Sharma as the female wrestler looks even more convincing and looks ravishing in the couple of songs in which she features.

Now I must take a bow to the lyricist Irshad Kamil. Again he has proved that when it comes to marrying film lyrics with poetry, jag ghoomeya…thare jaisa na koi (I wandered all over but I have not met anyone like you yet).

That’s one of the lines of the songs penned by Irshad for the movie. But the best composition comes after this line:

Baarishon ke mausam mein bheegi hariyali tu
Sardiyon mein gaalon pe jo aati hai wo lali tu
Raaton ka sukoon bhi hai
Subah ki azaan hai
Chaahaton ki chaadaron mein
Maine hai sambhali tu

(You are wet greenery of rainy seasons
You are that blushing, which appears on the cheeks in winters
You are the rest of nights
You are the prayer of morning too
In the sheets of affections
I hold you)

Wanted to end on that poetic note but can’t help mentioning this. One big complaint against Yash Raj Films – if you have a Salman Khan in your corner, what is the need for product placement at all and that too such blatant brand promotion. One particular Direct to Home brand’s on-your-face placement across the movie, is a big put off.

By Rajesh Sahu

The much awaited Salman Khan starer Sultan has got a big thumbs up from his fans. According to the audience, the movie released on a Wednesday to take advantage of the Eid holidays has hit all the right chords. Actors Salman Khan, Anushka Sharma and Randeep Hooda have come in for special praise.