A Laborious Effort – Socially Keeda

Movie: Sulthan
Rating: 2.25 / 5

Banner: Dream Warrior Pictures
Cast: Karthi, Rashmika Mandanna, Napoleon, Lal, Yogi Babu and others
Music: Vivek Mervin
Cinematography: Sathyan Sooryan
Editor: Ruben
Producers: SR Prakash Babu, SR Prabhu
Direction: Bakkiyaraj Kannan
Publication date: April 2, 2021

The successes of “Khaki” and “Khaidi” have made Telugu audiences look forward to Karthi’s latest release.

The trailer of “Sulthan” did not excite anyone, but the presence of Rashmika Mandanna as the heroine has caught the eye. Let’s analyze.

Story:

Sulthan (Karthi) works as a robotics engineer in Mumbai and leads a peaceful life, unlike his father (Napoleon), who is a gangster in Vizag. Sulthan was raised by Mansoor (Lal) and 100 rowdies.

After his father’s death, Sulthan decides to reform his boisterous brothers and also decides to save the land of a village from being conquered by a company.

What obstacles would he face?

Performances by artists:

Karthi played for the gallery. It’s a typical mass role and a cakewalk to him. Rashmika Mandanna has been completely thrown out in the movie.

Napolean as Karthi’s father and Lal as foster father effectively played their part. The two villains – Nawab Shah and KGF Ramachandra Raju have to play weak roles. Yogi Babu’s comedy is okay.

Technical excellence:

The film has been extensively shot, but does not offer top-class technical output. Vivek Mervin’s songs are boring. None leaves any impression.

Cinematographer Sathyan Suryan (Khaki and Khaidi) seems to have developed a fondness for filming action and chase scenes with vehicles in the night effect.

The film is long, needs a lot of trimming, especially the parts in the second half. Dialogues are okay.

Highlights:
The basic idea
Interval bang
First sequences

Downside:
Weak villains
Boring romantic song
The agricultural sequences after the interval

Analysis:

Karthi’s ‘Sulthan’ is like watching two films on one ticket. The first half of the movie and the post-interval deal with two different conflicts and points. It starts out as putting a new spin on mythology, which sounds quite interesting.

The hero was born and raised in a gangster family. His father has 100 henchmen who live by the sword. They raise Sulthan as their brother.

The first half then establishes it as an alternative theme story from Mahabharat. That’s about what if Krishna stands with the 100 Kouravas and tries to reform them. The 100 Kouravas and Krishna they are reforming sound exciting.

No wonder that despite the mainstream commercial format, the first half of the film is of interest. The masala moments in the first half, especially the pre-interval episode, are quite satisfying.

But in the second half the gears are switched. It then becomes a battle of a hero who saves the land of a village from a business villain who plans to conquer the land to set up an iron ore factory. And suddenly the hero comes up with the idea of ​​turning the rowdies into farmers to save the land.

Soon the story turns into open masala khichdi – a struggle for land, the importance of agriculture, reshaping the rowdies and winning love. Too many formula scenes are mixed in the second half.

In addition, the bad guys, be it a corporate man (Nawab Shah), or a village villain (Ramachandra Raju), or one of the rowdies consumed with jealousy, are one-dimensional characters. After so much hullaballoo, the movie’s resolution is too simplistic.

For the Telugu audience, it is quite boring as we have recently seen such themes – the importance of farming, business guys conquering land and hero fights on behalf of villagers, etc.

Overall, “Sulthan” starts off with an interesting note, suggests some good mythological references, but turns into a regular masala movie. It is ultimately an uninteresting watch.