Sultan: The Saviour review — This is a celebration of Jeet as an action hero

Raja Chanda’s Sultan: The Saviour, based on Tamil film Vedalam (2015) celebrates Jeet as a hero more than an actor and his enigmatic screen presence. The action flick is a sheer entertainer bereft of logic but is not entirely nonsensical.

As a hero-worshipping film, Sultan: The Saviour’s storyline is quite predictable, suggesting the hero’s presence at the right moments of crisis. However, the twists lie in the execution that is undoubtedly over-the-top, yet gels well with the intention of the film.

Also, the male dominated film doesn’t portray the female characters as the ‘weaker sex’. In a few cases, the female protagonist is also portrayed as similarly dauntless and with agency as the hero.

The film opens with a group of notorious criminals of Kolkata discussing their heinous plans ahead. Raja (Jeet) along with his only sister Disha (Priyanka Sarkar) arrives in Kolkata, where he bumps into one of the local thugs unknowingly and makes enquiry about the address of his destination. He dupes the thug with his apparent innocence, stroking his ego. While he gets his sister, who is good at sketching portraits, admitted into an art college; he himself gets employed as a taxi driver under Apatya (Kanchan Mullick).

Raja’s first passenger happens to be a lawyer (Bidya Sinha Saha Mim), who, in a hurry to reach the court, forgets to pay the fare. She later makes him stand in as a false witness in court.

In a close meeting with the taxi drivers, the police commissioner of Kolkata reveals the photographs of some of the most notorious criminals and asks the drivers to keep an eye out for them. Quite predictably, Raja turns on his heels to help them trace and soon finds himself in the target list of the criminals.

It is the first encounter between the criminals and Raja that sows the seed of suspicion about Raja’s simplicity. One wonders, why is he so hell bent on hunting them down?

At the same time, as the escapades of Raja go on, a search for the character of Sultan begins too. If Raja is the protagonist then who is Sultan?

Thus, the film weaves a clichéd plot of a thriller quite well. There are numerous subplots as well. Some of them connect well as the story gradually unfolds; some of them are there just to infuse mere comic elements without any proper closure. However, it is the emotional bond between a brother and his sister instead of a romantic couple that runs through the entire plot and contains the potential to hit the right cords with the audience.

One of the two dialogues which have already become quite popular from the trailer, "Phatbe Phutbe Bariwala Bujhbe" makes no sense at all. However, here the director seems to have adopted the method of repeating a seemingly dumb statement too many times so it automatically starts making a mark.

The two most important aspects that is are sure to lead the film to its commercial success are its pace and execution. The film is a proof that Chanda and Jeet (who also happens to be the producer of the film), are well aware of the craft of packaging and have delivered it living up to the expectations of the film’s target audience — the masses.

Actor Jeet woos audience with 'Eid Mubarak' song at Sultan: The Saviour music launch

The sleek look, the appropriate cinematography and Md Kamal’s fantastical yet smooth editing cover up most of the loopholes in the film, as well as deliver an impression that can easily engross the minds of the not-so-cynical audience. The action sequences are larger than life, as Kamal’s finesse turns them into visual treats.

The makers have cleverly etched out the characters in a way that the audience doesn’t feel the need to invest their grey cells in analysing them. The different shades of Raja’s character are integral to the twists of the film. The sense of morals in the rowdy hero is so high that the audience loses track of the fact that he is no less a criminal in his acts than his enemies.

Honestly, Jeet doesn’t need to act much; he only shows off his persona in the most suitable way in all the sequences. He is simple when he needs to be and angry like a beast when he is otherwise. Priyanka Sarkar delivers an energetic act according to the demand of the script.

Bidya Sinha Saha Mim is both natural and over dramatic as well. Taskin Rahman puts all his efforts into his expressions to turn into a despicable criminal in his brief appearance. Subhasish Mukherjee is convincing as Disha’s blind father and Kanchan Mullick shines as usual, leaving the audience expecting more scenes of him.

The song sequences in the film play important roles as they add more to the entertainment quotient of the film. Composed by Savvy Gupta and Suddho Roy, songs 'Masha Allah' and 'Eid Mubarak' fit well in the film. The background score enhances the different moods as well.

Sultan: The Saviour song 'Aamar Mon' is a rather stale romantic number

Sutan The Saviour is full of crime and action, yet it is not grim for a single moment. The film is made for Jeet fans and is presented in a compact package with a little bit of everything, including action, revenge, romance, comedy and a lot of high morals and emotions.