There are two kinds of Salman Khan – one that plays a character in a movie and the other that is a character in one. For the worst part of his career, Sallu played characters and his films flopped but once he…
SAMAA | Omair Alavi – Posted: Jun 25, 2018 |
There are two kinds of Salman Khan – one that plays a character in a movie and the other that is a character in one. For the worst part of his career, Sallu played characters and his films flopped but once he realized that people come to watch his films because of him, he came into the Wanted mode and there has been no looking back for him since. Except for Bajrangi Bhaijan and Sultan, he has been playing himself in other films and they all have been doing well at the box office. Add Race 3 to the list too which is to be watched only if you like to leave your brains at home and enjoy a film the way it should be.
The Plot
Sikandar Singh (Salman Khan) is the stepson of Shamsher Singh (Anil Kapoor) who is one of the biggest arms dealers in the world. Shamsher’s other two kids Sanjana and Suraj (Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem) hate him for being a better father to Sikku and decide to remove him from the equation. They take Sikku’s Man Friday Yash (Bobby Deol) into confidence and then hire a con-artist Jessica (Jacqueline Fernadez) to take down Sikandar whom Shamsher Singh trusts the most. Add a bank robbery, family drama and a revenge angle and you get a film where ‘you can’t trust the devil inside people.’
The Good
The film has high production values and many one-liners that you will take back home. Whenever Salman Khan comes on the screen, you know that things will become all the more interesting and the bar of stupidity will be raised. He is there in every scene of the film (he gets mentioned when not around) and that’s all a Salman Khan fan wants. The action sequences are borrowed heavily from Hollywood flicks but when Salman bhai does something, it becomes his trademark. He may be Vin Diesel and The Rock rolled into one but that’s because he can be anything he wants. His name might be Sikandar here but he plays with the film’s muqaddar in style!
The Bad
Whoever said that everything happens for a reason didn’t know Salman Khan because, in the Sallu Universe, everything happens just the way he wants. He can escape a Cambodian Concentration Camp without getting injured, he can jump from a tall building to land exactly where he wants to inside the city, he can fire two rockets from a rocket launcher without sweating, he can miraculously get cured in minutes, dodge bullets and return from near-death situations, making Race 3 his new Wanted. Sadly, in Wanted, he did it for the first time after a few lean years however here he is just broadening the audience’s horizon who feel Fast and Furious is as real as real could be.
The only person who gives a tough time to Salman Khan is Anil Kapoor who has aged gracefully as one of the fittest actors around. He is also the only actor to have worked in all Race films so far and it was refreshing to see him in the lead despite the presence of Sallu bhai. What bothers the audience was their accent that resembled modern-day people one moment and backward dehatis the next. As for the rest of the cast, they were as bad as the director Remo d’Souza. Had the film been directed by Abbas – Mastan, it might have appealed to more people but then Salman Khan wouldn’t have been part of the project. Neither would there have been a Daisy Shah or Saqib Saleem who are an insult to the talented youngsters in Bollywood. They play twins when they should have been relegated to insignificant side roles because of their talent. Bobby Deol’s return to mainstream cinema is a good thing but he needs to improve his acting otherwise he will be gone in no time.
The Verdict 2.5/5
Race 3 is not one of the worst Salman Khan flicks of all times; in fact, it can be one of the most entertaining ones if you switch the common-sense meter in your brain. Had scientists like Galileo, Newton been alive, they would have committed suicide on the many stunts undertaken by the cast; had poets like Sahir Ludhianvi been around, they would have left songwriting after listening to Selfish and other songs; had Jatin – Lalit been active, they would have left music for good after listening to the soundtrack; had Salim Khan paid a little interest to this son of his, Salman Khan might have worked in much better films. But since none of that happened, we get Race 3 where humans can fly, where good cars can outrun better ones, where you must trust no one and where coincidence happen all the time. There will be another Race in coming years and if you can survive this one, you will know who will be the Sikandar of that!
