𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗮𝗿(𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯)

Salaar has been watched. Prashant Neel presents another absorbing movie in the KGF setting that mostly works.

KGF is magic. Watching KGF is like watching magic, I'll be in awe of it no matter the count. While the promo materials have been tepid, Prashant Neel was the biggest motivation for watching Salaar and he didn't fail, at least for me.

The biggest positive as well as the negative of Salaar is its world. Set in the fictitious land of Khansaar, Salaar has umpteen characters and intense drama between them that makes for an engaging watch that requires utmost concentration. Salaar doesn't offer anything new that we haven't seen in Hollywood movies or TV shows but the presentation is rooted and believable that I was sold into the world very soon.

Screenplay has been structured in a way that the first half gives a mystery thriller vibe while the second half is an action drama. Prashant Neel succeeds in both the halves, it would have been bland if it wasn't structured in this way. KGF has become a cult in TN and the main reason was it's dialogues, unfortunately the tamil dialogues were subpar.

Coming to the cast, I am not a fan of Prabhas. If anything, I find him to be an exaggerated star. But, Prabhas as a restrained man waiting to be unleashed was a perfect casting. The screen presence is towering and the physique of Prabhas is incredible. You wouldn't question him hitting 100s of goon in the movie. Prithviraj as the second hero was a confused portrayal for me. While the actor did justice to the character, the character and it's motives remain unclear. Sriya Reddy was the next notable character who was excellent in the provided role.

There are plenty of other characters. While I was glad to see Mime Gopi in an important character, John Vijay and Shruti Haasan were just annoying casting. Bobby Simha was a weakling to the story due to which the character's arc at the end didn't hit me as it should have.

Technically, the movie is mixed. While the cinematography and artwork is stupendous, the music was a big downer. Ravi Basrur failed to give one memorable BGM to the movie and more often than not, the BGM was too loud and the mixing was improper that the dialogues were lost in it.

Other shortcomings are the amount of information that we are fed in the second half. I certainly didn't get it all. It should have been done better. While going overboard is a known trait in Telugu and Neel cinema, it sure does irk at certain places. There are certain overstretched sequences in the second half that could have been trimmed for better impact.

~𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹, 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘄𝘀.