With the unusual developments between the characters played by Salman Khan and Rashmika Mandanna, the film should been an emotional powerhouse. But it is content to remain an ultra-generic Bhai outing. The rest of this review may contain spoilers.
Why does modern-day Hindi cinema keep going back to the 1960s to give us songs that inspire romance? Maybe it’s because of the lyrics. In Sikandar, we get a throwback to ‘Lag jaa gale’… that timeless song that says there’s no such thing as timelessness. There is only the present time. In the song, the woman asks the man to look at her, to hold her right there and then – because this moment may never arrive again. In the movie, a wife conveys these exact emotions to her husband. Her name is Saisri, and she’s played by Rashmika Mandanna. His name is Sanjay. He’s the king of Rajkot, and he’s played by Salman Khan. She loves him deeply, but every time she wants to share something – a painting she’s made, the result of a pregnancy test – he just doesn’t have the time. His citizens come first. She understands. But at least some times, she wishes he’d be there for her. Hence this classic song. She’s saying, “Give me some time now – for who knows if there will be a tomorrow!”
Just when you think every single masala premise has been used, AR Murugadoss comes up with a beauty of a one-line. What if – like in a myth – the things in the person you love come to reside in three different people? What if protecting these three people is the way to protect your loved one? The answers could have developed this solid one-line into a solid, emotionally resonant masala movie – but Sikandar is emotionally distant. Both the hero and the villain (Sathyaraj) suffer very painful personal losses, but their response seems to suggest nothing more serious than being bugged by a persistent mosquito. Where are the roars of revenge? Where are the deep cries of anguish? Instead we get unremarkable fights, unremarkable songs, unremarkable dances, an unremarkable second villain in the form of Kishore… The film feels like going to a restuarant with a growling stomach and being shown photographs of food.
Sikandar feels jumpy and strangely half-done, as though everyone in every single department was in a rush to complete the film and get it into theatres for the Eid holidays. Right from the opening scene, the writing is utterly generic. Sanjay is seen flying first class, but later, he’s seen taking a second-class compartment to Mumbai. This, in itself, is not a problem. All we need is an answer to the “why”. Why do we see a reuse of the Bigil supblot of a married woman in a conservative household that forbids her from working? Why cast Sathyaraj, who (perhaps due to language issues) plays one of the most underwhelming bad guys in recent memory? Why give us nothing about the backstory of how Sanjay and Saisri met? She mentions that the circumstances were unusual, but why not make some room for a bigger romantic track? Why are the dramatic confrontations (like the one between the hero and the Kishore character) so tired and predictable?
In other words, why not take the outlandish premise and really run with it? I think this is what happened. I think the emotional masala premise got diluted (and diluted, and diluted) when they decided to keep throwing in mass elements to get whistles from Salman Khan fans. Look at Bhai talk about a woman’s right to forget the past she considers shameful! Look at Bhai eliminate the problems of Dharavi residents! Look at Bhai shake a leg in an out-of-nowhere Holi song! Look at Bhai instantly change the mind of a girl in love with a toxic boy! The thing about a wonderfully outlandish premise is that you need madly passionate writing and madly committed filmmaking to match. Sikandar is so generic that you feel they could have made the same film even without this premise. After all, if you just want Salman Khan to sing and dance and do action and delight his fans, you can get by with the thinnest of plots, no? Besides, how can you expect the audience to stay invested when the hero himself looks so bored?
