I had been a die-hard fan of cricket, who had devoted (now it seems wasted) hour after hour of precious time practicing, playing and watching the game. Literally, I ate, drank and slept cricket. Hansie Cronje was a god-like figure for me. But when the God fell from grace, my disenchantment with cricket began to start. Post-IPL, it was complete. Nowadays, I hardly watch cricket. Now, I am a fan of wrestling, to be specific WWE. John Cena is my hero. As a wrestling fan, there was no way I could miss the movie "Sultan", an Indian sports-drama film directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films banner, featuring Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma as the main stars.
First, let me narrate the story in brief. Just when the sponsors of Aakash Oberoi's (Amit Sadh) brainchild Pro Take Down League, similar to the MMA type competition, had been contemplating pulling out because of its continuous business failure, Aakash's father gave him the idea of bringing an Indian face. And who could be better than the Olympic gold-medalist Haryanvi wrestler Sultan Ali Khan? Though disappointed by Sultan's present middle-aged, pot-bellied appearance, a drowning Aakash had no option but to catching at straws. But Sultan, who had been working as a government employee, and collecting funds for establishing a blood bank, was in a no mood to get back to the ring, even if the offer was too lucrative. Frustrated Aakash contacted Sultan's friend to know the reason behind Sultan's stubborn refusal.
Sultan's friend Govind tells him the entire story of making of a world-class wrestler from a simple, down-to-earth, son-of-a-farmer village lad. Aarfa, played by Anushka, was his dream girl. Aarfa, a state champion wrestler herself, was dreaming of becoming a Olympic champion. She spurned Sultan's proposal with disdain. This had shaken Sultan's conscience, and he too decided to become a state champion. After a hard work, he achieved his goal and won his ladylove's heart and married her. Eventually, both of them got Commonwealth and Asian games gold medals. But just before the Olympic games, Aarfa became pregnant, and she chose to sacrifice her dream in favour of her child. Sultan went to Olympic, and won the gold medal. This success went to his head, and he became arrogant. Just when Aarfa was ready for her delivery, Sultan went to the world wrestling championship despite Aarfa's earnest request to stay with her at the crunch time. Sultan won the competition, but Aarfa lost the child because the village medical infrastructure didn't have the rare O negative blood group, which Sultan had and he could have saved the life, had he stayed. Disenchanted and dejected Aarfa left Sultan, and Sultan struggled with himself everyday to find the purpose of his life.
On Govind's advice, Aakash somehow managed to convince Sultan that only wrestling could give him a new lease of life. Sultan decided to join the league. You should see for yourself how he manages to win his self-esteem and his wife.
Except for the meteoric rise part of Sultan from nowhere to champion only in a month, the story is quite realistic. India does have a good sporting infrastructure for wrestling, and has been producing good wrestlers over the years, including Olympic medallions like Sushil Kumar, Yogeswar Dutt etc. When WWE is a world wide success, there is no reason why a similar type of competition cannot be a hit in India. Besides, the story gives some very strong message against male dominated society. Women are shown in a positive light in this movie. Peace and harmony between communities are shown.
Salman Khan is generally not considered as a very talented actor. But let me tell you that he was perfectly suited for this role. He might have used a very bad example to describe the agonies he faced during training, but the good work he has undergone was showing in the movie. So far, I had no special superlatives to speak about Anushka. But after watching the film, I must say that she has done a terrific job as an actress. Also, she looked lovely in the film.
I am totally unimpressed by the music. So many songs, most of which were not pleasant to ear, were not at all required in this type of films.
Overall, I give a thumbs up, and my rating would be 7 out of 10.
Pictures taken from net
