- Date of Release: 30 March 2025
- Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
- Language: Hindi
- Watch On: Theatres Only
Sikandar
Introduction
There are two scenes in the Hindi film Sikandar (not a spin-off of the character from the atrocious film Race 3 (2018)) that are enough to tell you the state of events of a Salman Khan starrer today. In one scene, you see Sanjay (Salman Khan), a king having the most lavish lifestyle travel in a Kaali-Peeli Fiat Cab. The model of the cab is something that is out of circulation today and it is almost reflective of the outdated script and the choices of an actor who had once ruled the Box Office. In another scene, you literally see a character in the ICU while being on a death bed – that is essentially the audience of a Salman Khan film that are at such a tipping point today that they may disconnect any moment. And that quite honestly sums up Salman Khan’s latest tryst with a mass masala entertainer too. I mean how would you be able to take a drama seriously when it randomly opens on a plane featuring a politician’s son who is (rightfully) beaten up by the protagonist (after introducing his iconic bracelet first), who randomly appears to be in the same flight. Even if I were to put logic aside, Sikandar is such an emotional mess that even some form of a story is buried deep within a thick layer of incompetent filmmaking.
Story & Screenplay
The biggest gripe that I had with the film Sikandar was the writer’s reluctance on pausing and developing its characters and the world, while being in a mad mad mad rush. It almost reminded me of my Engineering days wherein our common practice was to absolutely rush with our syllabus days before the exam while the full year remained rather untapped. Sikandar falls in the same bracket too – it randomly develops plot-points that have no connection with one another. In a scene, you get to know that Sikandar (why Sikandar? Because he’s named after Alexander The Great) aka Sanjay Rajkot (why Rajkot? Because he is the king of Rajkot, and Sanjay because….ummm Sanjay Dutt, I am not making this up) is a member of the royal family whose arrest is stalled by his ‘commoners’ because he is known for his philanthropic way of life. Elsewhere, you are introduced to a Minister Pradhan (Sathyaraj) who is celebrating the birthday of his son Arjun (Prateik Smita Pail; same guy being assaulted by the protagonist on a plane), even as the latter remarks, ‘Dekho Papa, Happy Birthday Arjun trending ho raha hai’ (Look Dad, Happy Birthday Arjun is trending), only for the next moment to include a random video becoming viral (which is signalled by multiple phone beeps, all at once…lol), only for the minister to say, ‘Delete Karo Isse’ (Delete this son), and for his son to reply ‘Aise Nahi Kar Sakte’ (this cannot be done). Oh well….if this sh*t isn’t random, tell me what is.
The character of Sikandar is almost like a spiritual continuation to the character of Ranvijay Singh (Ranbir Kapoor) in Animal (2023). He is still remains a pseudo-powerful human being walking around with his gym buddies everywhere that he goes (Arjun Vailly Oye) while being saved from the police (oh this film does have the cops unlike Animal) by his ‘men’. But because this is a Khan film, the toxicity towards his wife is not physical but more cerebral. Saisri (Rashmika Mandanna) plays an offshoot of her character from Animal too, except that she is content for being loved from a distance, as opposed to being beaten up by her husband. Her only complaint remains on how Sanjay doesn’t give her time, even as Sanjay continues to take her (and the audience) for granted until tragedy strikes!
One of the few glimmers of hope in the narrative included the character of Sanjay travelling to Mumbai (not sure why he did in a train given his riches) and bumping into people that are not unintentionally yet unconventionally associated to his life. In that sequence, a heartfelt sequence includes him interacting with a little bhoi (I mean boy) while getting acquainted with the surrounding area around him. At its heart, the story had the best chance to peep through the debris while associating itself with a social issue that was touched upon. But the mad rush that the writers were catering to, never allowed emotions to settle into the moment, before quickly moving forward in the narrative. And after two more random pit-stops and convenient plot-points, the writers suddenly remember to reintroduced Pradhan and his son in the narrative, in a random street scene that reeked of a cliche. But seldom did I know that this entire first half of the drama would remain the ‘golden period’ of the drama that goes in full self-inflicting mode in the second hour.
The issue in the second half remained on how low-key and overstuffed the events were. It is almost revolving around a set of problems that never seem threatening, yet is designed for the protagonist to literally play God. Again, the underlying emotions are sincere, earnest and harmless, and if the writing had conviction, this could have bern pulled off! But alas, it was such a low-hanging fruit that the writers were catering to, that the emotional core of the drama was hollow to the core. After a point, it didn’t matter to me on how the protagonist after suffering from a person loss began his philanthropic journey, helping some random characters who are used as fillers, being labelled as a terrorist, but ultimately finding redemption in catering to the lowest common denominator. At a point, even Sanjay’s biggest obstacle in the form of Minister Pradhan (suffering from a personal loss too) went missing! So did his goons and the cops, that reminded me of the cop-less universe of Animal. And while, there are random social messages on women empowerment and the definition of an alpha male, I could imagine the goons sitting in a corner and hoping to get to the action soon (just like the viewers). But when that eventually transpires, it remains more a case of the protagonist posing for the camera more than anything else amidst some slow-mos. The earnestness of having a strong emotional core was the only way out of this mess for the writers, but that remained the sole imgredient missing in this ‘vanilla’ edition of Jai Ho (2014). Needless to say, the screenplay is an utter mess while seemingly being a decade old discarded script!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are outright lame that gave me an impression on how there was an attempt made to convert Tamil lines into Hindi, while losing the original essence. Some ‘catchy’ one-liners act as tongue twisters that only complicate the dialogue delivery, something that made me reminisce the times when the simplest of lines of Salman Khan turned out to be cult classics for more than two decades (and counting). The music has to be the most low brow effort by Pritam in his filmography because not a single song stands out. To further complicate the mess, the songs appear at the most random junctures in the screenplay while having no real significance to the situations in the drama. In fact, even the end credit song made no sense, given the story of the protagonist up until that point. The BGM is weak and never quite in sync with the mood of the drama. It doesn’t elevate the drama at any juncture while further ruining the impact of various scenes. The cinematography comprises of frames that don’t add any sort of depth to the proceedings. Even the action set-pieces didn’t carry the same impact as a motocam would usually do. It was kind of a cruel exposé given that the protagonist is no longer an agile version of himself, like it was even a decade ago. The editing resembled an instagram-reel that felt choppy while having no emotional connect from one scene to another. Director AR Murugadoss may well have delivered the worst film of his career. In fact, viewing a few scenes made me realise on how incompetent the filmmaking is, while never willing to indulge in any sort of emotions at any given point in the narrative. The scenes supposedly involving an emotional quotient include Saisri singing one of my favourite songs ‘Lag Jaa Gale’, but it felt so plastic that I wasn’t sure on how it was approved. Was it a case of a star superseding the director or a director past his prime for years now? Only time will tell, but the impact of the direction remains zero.
Performances
The performances are generally weak in the drama while none of the characters have an arc to play with. In fact, I was perplexed on how actors like Kajal Aggarwal, Anjini Dhawan, Vishal Vashishtha, Kishore and Jatin Sarna (still pretty good) were reduced to fillers. Prateik Smita Patil as Arjun hams and hams and hams to a point that it was painful to witness a talented actor who has now had a steep decline in hus career. Sathyaraj as Minister Pradhan will go down as one of the worst and ineffective villains ever on celluloid, because of how over-the-top his performance actually is. There is zero impact with zero intimidation that made him and his performance a complete washout.
Rashmika Mandanna and her love affair with incompetent parts and performances continues here. As Saisri, you can make out how uncomfortable she is with the Hindi language fluency, even as you see her clenching her jaws to utter the simplest of lines. The emotional connect with respect to her character is zero while having a chemistry of an uncle and niece with the character of Sanjay. The impact remained non-existential. Sharman Joshi as Amar remained the sole bright light with a sincere act despite been provided with elementary lines.
This brings me to the curious case of Salman Khan who has been brilliant in films like Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Sultan and the Tiger franchise. A switched on Salman Khan is a whole new beast altogether as opposed to an actor sleep-walking through his role. Here, you see genuine glimpses of his brilliance in scenes involving him crying or interacting with kids. But every other scene has him sleepwalk through his character in a seemingly disinterested manner (and it seemed he was almost asleep in so many scenes, literally speaking). It is really time for Salman to wake up now, and even his most staunch fans would be glancing at their watches, hoping for this ‘Tiger’ to not only return soon but roar in his full glory!
Conclusion
Sikandar boasts of a rather disinterested Salman Khan shouldering a decade old discarded stalemate, and some incompetent filmmaking that results in such a disappointing watch. Oh ‘Bhoi’, it was so poor! Available in a theatre near you.
