Sultan (2016 film)

Plot

Sultan Ali Khan (Salman Khan) is a middle-aged ex-wrestling champion, who is living a mediocre and lonely life in a small town in Haryana. Aakash Oberoi (Amit Sadh), the founder of a private mixed martial arts league, is encouraged by his father to hire an indian wrestler to salvage the league's popularity. He travels to India to make an offer to Sultan, who bluntly refuses and says that he has completely retired from wrestling. In search of the reason behind his retirement, Aakash confronts Sultan's close friend Govind (Anant Sharma), who narrates how Sultan's career began.

Ten years ago, Sultan fell in love at the sight of Aarfa Hussain (Anushka Sharma), a state-level wrestler and the daughter of a local wrestling coach. Although she was initially cold towards him, Aarfa accepted Sultan as a friend. When he began to proclaim that she was his girlfriend, she rejected him by stating that she wishes to marry an accomplished wrestler like herself. Determined to win her respect, Sultan dedicated himself to intense training and ultimately won a state-level wrestling tournament, as well as Aarfa's love. The two were married and became recognized wrestlers, representing India in various international tournaments like the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. When the two were announced as finalists for the Olympic Games, Aarfa discovered that she was pregnant. She gave up her childhood dream of winning an Olympic gold medal for India, which was then fulfilled by Sultan. To her surprise, Sultan's accomplishment made him arrogant, and he acted conceitedly during a press conference. Even though Aarfa informed him that she was nearing her due date, Sultan left to win the world wrestling championship in Qatar.Upon returning, he was shocked to know that his newborn son had died due to severe anaemia . The baby had a rare O negative blood type, identical to Sultan's, whose absence deprived the child of a donor. Angered, Aarfa decided to leave Sultan and reside with her father. Depressed from losing his wife and child, Sultan begins raising funds to open a blood bank in India in his son's name.

In the present day, Aakash asks Sultan to join his league and promises that the tournament's prize money will fulfill his dream of opening a blood bank. Sultan agrees despite having become unfit and tired, and travels to Edinburgh, where Aakash introduces him to freestyle mixed martial arts coach Fateh Singh (Randeep Hooda)initially refused him,but after seeing his determination agrees.After two months of training with Fateh, who is a former international champion, Sultan manages to regain his physique and learns how to wrestle freestyle. Although he initially struggles in his first fight, Sultan defeats the opponent using his own iconic wrestling style. He soon becomes a nationwide sensation once again by winning a series of matches and gains Aarfa's support in the process. During the semi-final round, Sultan wins the fight but is severely injured and has to be hospitalized. The doctor informs Aakash that Sultan should not fight again lest his injuries become fatal. Aarfa arrives at the ward and reconciles with Sultan, motivating him to continue fighting. During the final match, Sultan overcomes his pain to defeat his opponent and ultimately wins the tournament. Reunited with his wife, Sultan opens a blood bank using the prize money and Aarfa resumes wrestling. A few years later, she gives birth to a baby girl (Premlata Khan), whom Sultan begins to train as a Monarch.

Cast

Casting and development

The project was earlier announced in June 2015 with a teaser released on YouTube. Khan will be seen portraying Haryana-based wrestler in the film. Khan underwent wrestling training under the guidance of Larnell Stovall.

In October 2015, there were reports of American actor Sylvester Stallone being cast in the film as Khan's on-screen coach. However, Raja Mukerji, the Executive Producer of the film cleared that Stallone would not be starring in the film. Later, Sanjay Dutt was then rumored to play the role of coach according to Khan's insistence. However, Khan later reported that he never insisted Aditya Chopra for Dutt's role.

In December 2015, Randeep Hooda was later signed to play the role of Khan's coach in the film. Amit Sadh, of Kai Po Che fame was reportedly signed for the role of young Sultan. However, in March 2016, he confirmed that he is playing the role of Khan's younger brother. MMA fighter Tyron Woodley has been signed opposite Khan with other fighters in the film.

In January 2016, Anushka Sharma was signed to play the female lead role opposite Khan. For her role as a wrestler, Sharma took wrestling lessons for the film. In February 2016, Bosco-Caesar were signed as the choreographers of the film, replacing Vaibhavi Merchant who left the film due to personal commitments.

Filming

Pre-production of the film started in October 2015 where Khan posted a photo of his character in the film on Facebook. Principal photography of the film started in December 2015 at N.D Studios, Karjat and JW Marriott Mumbai, where the film's first schedule was filmed. Filming of the first schedule had been completed in late December 2015. Filming of the second schedule was started in January 2016 where Khan filmed for action sequences. A song was filmed in early March 2016, choreographed by Farah. An action sequence between Khan and Sharma was reportedly filmed. The Some of the sequence of the movie will feature 360 year old Jama Masjid of Delhi. In late April 2016 the lead actor Salman Khan was seen riding a scooter as a part of shooting in Muzaffarnagar.

Music

The music for Sultan is composed by Vishal–Shekhar while the lyrics are penned by Irshad Kamil and Amitabh Bhattacharya . The soundtrack album was released on 31 May 2016. The album consists of 9 songs.Four songs sung by Salman Khan were released after the release of the original soundtrack. The song Raula Paye Gaya sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was released on 30th June 2016. There are a total of 14 songs in the soundtrack.

Online piracy issue

On 6 July 2016, the film's digital copy was reported to be available in the darknet. Confirming that the copy was created from the sample sent by the producers to the CBFC board for review, cyber crime experts investigating the leak said, "The leak is confirmed. The copy of the movie is available on the darknet and soon it will be available on torrent." However, Yash Raj Films, the film's producer, denied such development. Kislay Chaudhary, a private investigator, claimed that the links of the 2 hour, 36 minute-long movie were available, and shared the screenshot of the same with Mail Today. "Many websites have been blocked since Tuesday evening and links were removed immediately," he added.

Worldwide

The film grossed approx ₹206 crore (US$31 million) from its first weekend, becoming the first Indian film to do so. It grossed around ₹345 crore (US$51 million) from its extended first weekend.As of 3 August 2016, the movie has grossed ₹416 crore (US$62 million) in India and $24M overseas to take its worldwide total to ₹589 crore (US$88 million) and became the fourth highest grossing Indian film of all time. According to Box Office Mojo, the film earned $87,280,000 worldwide.

India

Sultan created new record for Advance Bookings. On its day of release, Sultan received an average of 70% audience occupancy and grossed approximately ₹36.54 crore (US$5.4 million). By the end of its second week, the film had grossed an estimated ₹278 crore (US$41 million).

Overseas

As of 24 July 2016, the film has collected an estimated ₹39.69 crore (US$5.9 million) in the United States and Canada, ₹52.94 crore (US$7.9 million) in United Arab Emirates and Gulf Cooperation Council, ₹14.07 crore (US$2.1 million) in United Kingdom, ₹6.65 crore (US$990,000) in Australia, ₹18.81 crore (US$2.8 million) in Pakistan and ₹11.58 crore (US$1.7 million) from the rest of the world. As of 17 July 2016, the film had collected ₹2.93 crore (US$440,000) in New Zealand and ₹1.09 crore (US$160,000) in Malaysia. As of 10 July 2016, the film had earned ₹33 lakh (US$49,000) in Germany. Sultan's total overseas gross at end of third weekend stands at approx. 22.57 mil. USD [151.2 cr]. Sultan made $24.2 million overseas gross 161 Crore which makes it the sixth highest grossing-Indian film in overseas markets.