"No one is above the law."
Hello everyone!
And boy, is it a GOOD one.
Of course, if you look at IMDB or any of the movie critics' sites, you'll probably think this stinks to high hell and won't ever touch it.
I've learned not to trust those evaluations, because more often than not my personal taste will diverge WILDLY from what the world says you should or shouldn't like. It always comes down to what YOU personally want.
And this one is beautiful, with a soulful story that made me cry at least three times (but who's counting?!?).
Buckle up, then, grab some tissues, and of course your favourite snacks, because we'll be running into Bollywood at full-speed.
It's time for Sikandar.
Sikandar is Salman Khan's latest movie release, and if you know the Khans of Bollywood, you'll know they always have something in the works.
This movie tells the story of Sanjay, the last true king of the Rajkot dynasty, who still rules despite the fact India abolished the titular monarchy a long while ago. A new police chief pops up on scene after the movie's intro in which Sanjay, traveling by plane, beats up an asshole trying to coerce a woman into sex because of her past, and that asshole turns out to be the son of a minister who's an even BIGGER asshole, and who has anger and violence issues himself.
He sends the chief to deal with Sanjay, but upon arriving at Rajkot, the chief is basically boycotted by the people, who loved Sanjay like nothing else.
As it happens, he gave acres of his own land to them, built them homes, got them jobs, the works, and because he's actually someone high up who cares, the people care right back.
Sanjay's married to young and beautiful Saisri, who also works tirelessly behind the scenes to keep him safe, along with his circus of flying monkeys, ahem, his personal attendants (I call them flying monkeys because they're about as funny as those, though they ARE frighteningly efficient). Their marriage looks picture perfect, but Sanjay's so busy all the time he hardly has time for HER.
He does spoil her with grand gestures when reminded to do so, however, but everything comes to a head when they confront an idiot who sold explosives to a bastard who then led some terrorist attacks, and someone seems to be setting their sights on the community's mine. Sanjay rushes to handle it, is saved by Saisri so he isn't particles across his own land, and then Saisri's rushed to hospital.
She got caught by some flying shrapnel during the explosion, but everyone's kind of easy about it, oh, it's just shrapnel ... until it isn't, and she somehow pulls a Padmé Amidala and dies.
Oh and also, she was pregnant.
Sanjay's world crashes down around his ears and he loses himself in drink, realising that not only did he never pay enough attention to his wife, he hardly even knew her, having married her on a whim to save her after public humiliation would have forced her to extreme lengths. Eventually, however, he picks himself up again after learning her organs had been donated, so he travels to Mumbai to meet the three recipients.
Turns out there's still work Sikandar has to do.
The boy who received her lungs? Lives in a horrible area where pollution is ripe and a real estate mogul keeps dumping and burning waste because he wants to force the residents to move.
The woman who got her eyes? Lives with a strict father-in-law who prohibits her from working, thus making the family poorer by default.
The girl who got her heart? There's a complication with the transplant and she's hanging on by a thread, and the complication arose because the asshole boyfriend of hers told her he was getting married, to someone else.
Sanjay, being the modern-era Robin Hood with personal wealth resources that outmatch the bowman, solves all this easily, and just as he's about to leave Mumbai he gets a call.
From the politician who has that asshole son. This idiot saw Sanjay at his father's rally, followed him and tried to kill him, but managed to dump a Molotov inside his own car and thus killed himself instead (incompetence, thy name be praised). This of course enrages the dad who's already a monster, and he promises Sanjay that he'll have the three recipients killed.
Sanjay turns around without even blinking and walks right into open war with the moron, protecting the trio and bettering their lives as a result.
The most underhanded blow, however, comes from the recipients learning he's supposedly behind multiple terrorist attacks, or in the case of the heartbroken teenager, that he's there to beat up her boyfriend (GIRLIE POP, the man is marrying someone else, he's not yours anymore, be for real right now).
Sanjay doesn't defend himself personally - but his friends, the flying monkeys, do.
His real identity comes to life as they race against the clock to save the boy whose lungs are failing, and so while Sanjay makes sure that all the past problems for these three are sorted, he also walks right into the politicians' home and gives him a couple good whacks for having the top surgeon flown in from Dubai delayed at the airport. He also calls someone higher above the minister - possibly the PM? - to deal with the paperwork.
Then, as the police chief comes to arrest him, though having learned the truth of who's right and who's wrong he's doing so reluctantly, Sanjay tells him to do his job, but the people of Mumbai who've been following the story because the heart transplant's sister's been streaming and blogging it, come out IN FORCE to protest his arrest. Because the police chief is no fool, and this is his perfect excuse, he lets Sanjay go, and the man finally earns his title 'Sikandar' from the very people he's helped and protected.
The movie is a force of nature in storytelling and grabbing your emotions to run them the full gamut through. While I can see why people would be unhappy with it - sometimes, the green screen is slightly obvious, and some of the CGI isn't the best, not to mention I suppose the action scenes are far from realistic - that doesn't, as a whole, take from the fact Sikandar is almost like a fable.
It teaches you a lesson.
It teaches that you have to make time for the people you love, that your actions define your worth more than the word of other people against you, and that, if more wealthy people actually acted like Sanjay Rajkot, then the world would be a MUCH better place.
It's whimsical and brutal and elitist and people-focused and overall, something that I feel is very much a movie to watch. I may rewatch it multiple times for the colour grading alone because it's SO vibrant!
Salman Khan is a force in roles like these where he gets to throw hands and save the day, and I think there's still a lot left of him to give to the world at large - but I do question the whole dance sequences, however. He somehow keeps looking more and more like his body just ... doesn't want to move to the music? This isn't criticism, by the way, but bafflement, as supposedly he's a charismatic dancer with popular hook-steps and a swaggery style, but I'm just ... confused LOL.
However, that aside, Sikandar is absolutely worth the watch. Don't let low scores online convince you otherwise.
xx
*images and video not mine
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