Eid aa gayi hai aur dekho who apni Eidi dene aa gaya….Isn’t that the best thing about a Salman Khan film? It always calls for a celebration! And, if the film turns out to be a Bajrangi Bhaijaan, the revelry quadruples. So no matter how much the 2 hours 51 minutes’ runtime tires you, the superstar makes Sultan worth a watch. His scorching star presence gives the film a unique charm. Director Ali Abbas Zafar takes his leading man through an array of emotions. He is seen evolving - from an aimless prankster to a man who falls irrevocably in love to being a fallen star. But there is a major flaw in Sultan. Wrestling is never his true love and hence, he can never make you buy into it. Sultan falls in love with Aarfa – a local wrestler and to win her respect and love, he learns wrestling. “Doctor ki biwi doctor toh pehelwan ki biwipehelwan...” is his logic. Zafar’s treatment is shaky. He tries to make it a bit of everything – a love story, a sports film, a redemption drama. In trying to find a middle ground between creating 2016’s Chak De India and appeasing Bhai fans with a masala film on Eid, Zafar loses grip over his plot. Neither does his writing have Jaideep Sahni’s (writer of Chak De India) finesse nor does his vision have Shimit Amin’s clarity. It is Zafar’s inadequacies that makes Sultan a slog in parts.
