Produced by Aditya Chopra and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, latest released film ‘Sultan’ starring Salman Khan in title role , is not a biopic on any sports star, but is a love story between two wrestlers, on the background of sports.
Sultan Ali is a small time electrician, who installs antennas of satellite service providers. He is a good athlete and can race any distance quickly to catch hold of a kite . One day he comes across a girl Aarfa( Anushka Sharma) riding on a scooter and it’s love at first sight for him. Anushka is a state level wrestler, being trained by her father, who is a reputed coach. To win the heart of Aarfa, Sultan undergoes tough training under Arafa’s father and later becomes a champion, winning bouts one after the other, representing India at various international level. Arafa however sacrifices her ambition to become a champ and after marrying Sultan she becomes pregnant. And, while Sultan is away, she delivers a baby boy, who doesn’t survive , after birth.
When Sultan returns, he is upset with this news and due to confrontation with his wife, they separate. Sultan who wants to offer best medical treatment for children born with complications, starts raising money, to make his dream come true. One day, he receives an offer from an event manager to participate in a Mixed martial arts competition , held for the first time in India and which is usually dominated by overseas participants. Sultan is provided training under an expert coach( Randeep Hooda) for this sport and he prepares himself for this deadly sport. Needless to mention that he becomes a champion. All is well at the end.
The film does have a sports background; but it fails to inspire the audience, as there is very less of wrestling, but more of mixed martial arts, the game where there are no rules followed and is more like a cruelty filled sport. But, the film is certainly filled with lots of action, with the relevant recipe required to entertain the action film lovers. There is very little time given for the love story, on which this film is based; but whatever little time the lead pair have to their share, they have done well, through those scenes. So, some people may like to call it a romantic sports –drama based film.
Salman Khan is at his best, playing a 30 year old youngster, to a 45 year old middle aged man in this film. Anushka Sharma doesn’t find much scope in this male dominated film, but whatever scenes she has to her share, she has performed like a versatile actress. Randeep Hooda is good as a coach. It was nice to see Parikshit Sahani, in a small role. Music by Vishal Shekhar is just fine but not appealing. However, cinematography by Arthur Zurawski is simply superb. By the way, there was a film ‘Brothers’ on Mixed martial arts released last year, starring Akshay Kumar & Siddharth Malhotra, which didn’t do well. But, this one has Salman Khan, who has big fan following. Moreover, it is based on a love story. All in all ‘Sultan’ offers entertainment through Mixed martial arts.
Rating (***)