Sikandar

There’s something pitiable, even desperate, about Sikandar’s attempts to glorify its titular hero. He is Sanjay (Salman Khan), a beloved raja, whose people worship him because of his philanthropic (read ‘being human’) ways. Writer-director A.R. Murugadoss sticks to a bland, predictable template for the narrative. An action sequence, followed by a romantic sequence with wife (Rashmika Mandanna); throw in a song, stir up some random conflict that necessitates an action sequence again where Sikandar, the eternal saviour, rises. The rallying call? “Raja sahab, mujhe bachalo!”. If there’s one flaw in the infallible hero, it’s that he’s got little time for his Mrs. It’s another thing that scenes featuring the Mr and Mrs are entirely devoid of romance or chemistry, making it perhaps one of the most sterile jodis of cinema. Preference for praja over wife comes at a heavy price for the protagonist. Where Murugadoss hopes to make Sikandar stand out in the Bhai genre of films is by showcasing him as a grieving husband and also a Gujarati with a ginormous heart. It’s a load that the stone-faced star struggles with.

Following the releases of Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Sultan in 2015 and 2016, respectively, Salman Khan’s career has faced a downward trajectory marked by a series of unsuccessful films. His popularity has waned, and the arrival of Sikander has been met with little excitement, suggesting it may also depart the same way. Despite the involvement of A.R. Murgadoss, you would expect some kind of anticipation to build up but maybe the filmmakers knew it was a lost cause.. The only positive aspect is that Sikander is not as bad as Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (2023) Radhe (2021) or Tubelight (2017), but then that is not saying much. The standards have fallen so low in recent years that they have reached rock bottom.

‘Welcome to hell,’ says Salman Khan somewhere at the beginning of Sikandar. It doesn’t take you long to realise he was warning you about his own film. Salman, set to turn 60 this December, was never much of an actor (I use ‘much’ with much politeness). Except, perhaps, for few and far between flashes of some sort of emoting — and emotion — in films like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Tere Naam, and a fistful of others. The last film he truly ‘acted’ in was Kabir Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan, and that was 10 years ago. In the last couple of outings (see box), the indifference has been evident, with directors employing everything from miraculous computer graphics to superhuman editing skills to simply ensure that Salman is a living presence on screen. In Sikandar, Salman’s disinterest has peaked, and in a directly proportional manner, so has our disillusionment.

Over the last few years, we have been dished out quite a few films (except Tiger 3) that are made just to showcase Salman Khan’s herogiri through fight scenes, dialogue baazi, songs and dances and, above all, his noble on screen nature. This has now become a new genre of filmmaking called ‘Bhai films’. Filmmaker AR Murugadoss’ Sikandar is yet another film in this genre. The story starts off in Rajkot where Sanjay Rajkot (Salman) enjoys the life of an unofficial king of the city. He lives in a palatial bungalow. We don’t know whether he inherited it from his ancestors or earned money himself to build his empire. He has a wife Saisri (Rashmika Mandanna), who is much younger to him. She is married to him since quite a few years but is still unaware how he has so many nicknames. And it is after quite a few years of their marriage that she says she prefers to address him as only ‘Sanjay’. During a flight, Sanjay beats up Arjun (Prateik Smita Patil) who was trying to forcefully get physical with a woman on flight after blackmailing her just before take-off despite the presence of her little son. Arjun turns out to be the son of a powerful minister (Sathyaraj) from Maharashtra. The senior politician and his son, obviously, are seething with anger and eager to take revenge from Sanjay.

Logic has never been the strength of Salman Khan’s ‘suspension of credulity’ variant of films. But at least massy entertainment high on actiona and drama with right tadka of comedy has been his and his kind of cinema’s forte. Alas, the superstar’s Eidi, Sikandar, falls flat on this front too. Some films look good on paper and are lost in execution. Only Sikandar that starts off with the usual bad guy getting bashed up by our superhero is probably a project that should have remained on paper. Till the first half, the Raja saheb aka Sanjay Rajkot (Salman Khan) and Rani sahiba’s (Rashmika Mandanna) cute love story in the backdrop of action is still bearable. By the second half, the narrative simply spirals out of context and control. Biting into innumerable concerns, from land grabbing to environmental pollution and even patriarchy, much of it is meant to be a bleeding heart’s cause celebre. Only the churn of events is yawn inducing with boredom writ all over it. Good news, unlike zillion Bollywood films, the villain is not gunning after the heroine and using her to get even with the hero. But even worse than bad news is, he goes after persons who have benefitted from her philanthropic act. Actually, momentarily our expectations rise what with the heroine portrayed as a saviour. She saves our superhero couple of times till she herself is caught in the crossfire. Her wish for organ donation is honoured by the grieving hero.

Sikandar is the latest action-packed gift by Salman Khan to his fans on Eid. But unlike most movies starring the Bhai of Bollywood, this one is a lot more emotional than you would expect. It has a pretty hefty runtime, but moves at a blistering pace, and you hardly notice the length. Directed by A. R. Murugadoss, known mainly for his Tamil films, Sikandar also features several twists along the way. Here is all you need to know about the Sikandar movie, its plot and ending, which are all explained here, as well as its release date, budget, director, trailer and a brief review. It appears with age, Bhai is mellowing down a little. In this Bollywood action thriller, the fans can expect the usual, such as the hero taking on dozens of goons on his lonesome, but there is also a beating heart at the centre of the movie. Salman Khan is firing on all cylinders in the Sikandar movie. And he’d better, for he was paid 60 per cent of the entire budget of the movie if we look at the movie’s cast salaries. He portrays the role of the king of Rajkot, Gujarat, who earns the ire of a powerful ruling party politician in Mumbai after he beats up his son. And then, a tragedy in his life causes him to lose his sense of purpose for a while. It all ends in an explosive showdown in the end. Let’s dive deep into the plot and ending of the movie.

Subversion is not something we expect from a Salman Khan film. Kabir Khan channelled the child in him in a political environment in Bajrangi Bhaijaan. In Sikandar, writer-director AR Murugadoss seeks to repurpose the star to out-punch his detractors but fails to find layers in Salman’s what-you-see-is-what-you-get persona on screen. Perhaps taking a cue from Shah Rukh Khan’s recent spectacular success with self-referencing in Pathaanand Jawan, the star has headlined the Eid gift for his fans. However, the present has not been packaged well, as it reads like a PR riposte to the recent events, in and around his personal life. Salman plays Sanjay Rajkot, a.k.a Sikandar, a Gujarati royal with a heart of gold. A do-gooder, we don’t get to know his business, but his doting wife (Rashmika Mandanna) feels a tad ignored. One day, he beats up a lascivious boy in a moving plane to protect a woman. The boy turns out to be the son of the home minister, resulting in a war of attrition. A personal loss triggers a wave of emotions that pushes Sikandar into violence.