The trailer for 'Salaar' is two minutes longer than it should have been. Practically, the first two minutes serve only one purpose: establishing the epic mass actioner as the rich man's 'Kabzaa'. There, Kannada superstar Upendra revelled in a 'KGF'-style universe full of half-baked aesthetics and a borrowed screenplay style. In the trailer for 'Salaar', Prabhas' macho looks uplift the final minute (although his dialogue delivery is far from satisfactory).
Director Prashanth Neel is a master at heightened set-ups. Yet, the fictional Khansaar kingdom seems undone by a lack of writing novelty.
Prithviraj Sukumaran plays the son of an ambitious, loving father (Jagapathi Babu) who wants to see him coronated. The son gets betrayed and the throne eludes him, prompting him to take the help of the strongman of mythical proportions, played by Prabhas. This game-changer turning against his friend is expected to be the defining plot turn of the pan-Indian film. The second part of 'Salaar' will complete the story of the friend-turned-foes (and foes-turned-friends, perhaps).
Shruthi Haasan (with a single song), Tinu Anand, Eshwari Rao, Sriya Reddy, and Garuda Ram play different roles in this Hombale Films production. Slated to hit the cinemas on December 22, the film's production design by TL Venkatachalapathi appears bland (dust, soot and all). Ravi Basrur's background score must make a lot of difference. Keeping our fingers crossed!
