Thursday, February 01, 2024
Salaar Review:
Ugramm x KGF = Salaar.
Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire Movie Review
Introduction:
After a series of flop films, the 'Bahubali' actor Prabhas is back with an action-thriller film titled Salaar. Will this film give Prabhas the much-needed success and find favour with the audience at the box office? Only time can tell. The film's trailer suggested the usual Prashanth Neel kind of film and gave a lot of vibes of his previous films, but does it offer any novelty from the perspective of the audience and can it live up to its humongous expectations? Let's find out.
Salaar Movie Expert Review: In Detail
Salaar Review - Plot:
The plot is bare-basic, nothing you haven't seen before, infact it can be called the 'Prashanth Neel plot', but the way the storyline is weaved on this bare-basic yet sturdy plot is what makes Salaar an interesting watch. The narration keeps you hooked to the screen for most of the time in this nearly 3-hour long movie along with the action sequences.
If you have watched director Prashanth Neel's Ugramm or even KGF Chapter-1, the plot should feel very familiar. Salaar's plot very closely follows that of Ugramm, which is director Prashanth Neel's first film. You might have already realized the similarity to Ugramm after watching Salaar's trailer. Prashanth Neel has said before in an interview that he always wanted to make Ugramm on a larger and a grander scale with a bigger star; Salaar looks like Prashanth has realised his dream of remaking Ugramm. Except for a few points in the storyline and some of the sequences, the base or the foundation of the story of Salaar is very similar to Ugramm, even some of the scenes and dialogues are exactly the same as Ugramm. Salaar is Ugramm remade at the sets of KGF with KGF colour pallete. In short, Salaar = Ugramm x KGF. Salaar is the same old 'Prashanth Neel Vine' in a new bottle with a different label. Here are a few among many similarities between Ugramm and Salaar.
| Ugramm | Salaar |
|---|---|
| Agastya (Sri Murali) is a mechanic. | Deva (Prabhas) is a mechanic. |
| Agastya always keeps his left forearm covered to hide his tattoo connected to his past. | Deva always keeps his left forearm covered to hide his tattoo connected to his past. |
| Agastya and Bala (Tilak) are childhood close friends. | Devavrata and Varadha (Prithviraj) are childhood close friends. |
| Mughor | Khaansar |
| Mughor is inhabited by blood-thirsty, scary-looking hairy creatures in human form. | Khaansar is inhabited by blood-thirsty, scary-looking hairy creatures in human form. |
| Bala is the successor to his father but is unable to maintain his hold over Mughor. | Varadha is the successor to his father but is unable to maintain his hold over Khaansar. |
| Agastya is bound by his promise to help Bala. | Deva is bound by his promise to help Varadha. |
| Bala takes Agastya's help to regain controll over Mughor. | Varadha takes Deva's help to regain controll over Khansaar. |
| Bala's brother dislikes Agastya. | Varadha's brother dislikes Deva. |
| Agastya is a one man army. | Deva is a one man army. |
| Agastya and Bala eventually develop enmity. | Deva and Varadha eventually develop enmity. |
Prashanth Neel has now made 3 versions (Ugramm, KGF Chapter-1 and Salaar) of the same movie, and yet Salaar has all the necessary ingredients to keep the audience engaged. But, after a certain point it should start to become unstimulating and boring, and Prashanth should come-up with a completely different setting in his next films, otherwise the audience may give him a pass, after all who wants to watch the same thing over and over again.
Salaar Review: Cast and Performances:
Both the lead actors, Prabhas and Prithviraj, have done a good job portraying their respective characters, which adds to the film's overall feel. But this film being a Prashanth Neel directorial, the comparisons are inevitable with KGF. Among the many things that are better in Salaar when compared to KGF, is a better attempt at story-telling and narration. But, Salaar pales in comparison to KGF when it comes to heroism and goosebump moments which were plenty in KGF particularly in KGF-2. The character of Deva in Salaar pales in comparison to KGF's large-canvas character of Rocky, which is partly because of the treatment given to the Deva character script-wise, and largely, I believe, because somewhere Prabhas lacks the huge majestic swag that Yash brought to the Rocky character. Once you have fallen for the swag of Rocky, Deva appears less impressive. But, make no mistake Prabhas' portrayal of Deva is admirable.
Shruthi Haasan, the female lead of the film, has performed well in whatever adjuvant role of 'damsel in distress' that was given to her. Other cast in the film have performed quite well, and there are no weak links in the film when it comes to acting performances.
The action-sequences are executed very well, and they certainly elevate the film, and they are too violent compared to Prashanth's previous films. Blood has been generously spilled, and some of the violent scenes can be unsettling, so be prepared if you are planning to watch Salaar. The violence, the action-sequences are the crux of this movie, it is what you will be paying for when you watch Salaar. The plot, more often, feels like just a groundwork for all the violence that takes place on the screen.
Salaar Review: Production:
Salaar marks the return of the dark colour palette, the so-called "koyla khadan" colour palette, which has become a regular thing in most of the films produced by Hombale. While the colour scheme looks good, it has started to become repetitive and unstimulating. In a recent interview, Prashanth Neel has, reportedly, claimed to be suffering from OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), which is why he claimed that he doesn't like too many colours and chooses a dark colour template for his movies. But I don't remember Ugramm having a dark colour theme, and the film is being made for the audience, not for the OCD sufferers, and a new colour template would've felt refreshing.
The production scale is definitely grander when compared to Ugramm, and may not be there at the KGF-2 level. The design, make-up, props, costumes and the sets, they all look impressive, but they look like they've been borrowed from KGF. Deva's Khansaar look very similar to Rocky's KGF including the Lalit Mahal Palace used in both the films.
Salaar Review: Music:
Ravi Basrur is once again the musician for this Hombale production. Ravi has done a good job providing hair-raising backgroud score to Salaar which sets the mood and tone, and adds to the intensity of the film. Background score feels recycled, and some of the BGM is straight-up what was used in Ugramm. Nonetheless, the music is very good.
Salaar Review: What to Expect?
Violence, violence, violence, if you like it you shouldn't miss this. The movie, even with its repetitive feel, is quite engaging and evokes the audience interest, and should be satisfying to almost everyone who watches this in the theatres, particularly Prabhas' fans, they simply shouldn't miss this film. Salaar is meant to be watched in the theatres, and not on small screens like mobile or laptops. Nothing should come closer to Salaar's theatre experience, and if the audience is lively, it should make the experience even better with all the cheering, whistles, claps and howls.
Salaar Review: Conclusion:
Salaar is quite an intense satisfying film, and an absolute feast for Prabhas fans.
Rating - 4/5
- Review by Aditya.
ALSO READ - KGF Movie Review | Salaar Movie Dialogues Complete List | Khansaar History
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