‘Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire’ Movie Review: Prabhas, Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Massy Actioner Is A Swagger Filled Bloodbath You Need To Dip In

‘Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire’: Story

The story of ‘Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire’ revolves around the fictional city of Khansaar. It’s said that people from not just India, but across the world are in awe of this city and are terrorised to the extent that they will not even take the name of the city. Raja Mannar (Jagapathi Babu) is in the process of making his son Vardharaja Mannar (Prithviraj Sukumaran) one of the main senators, but Raja Mannar’s ministers and advisors aren’t happy with this. As Vardharaja Mannar leaves the city to discuss an international deal, the city falls under threat with every minister and advisor going on a coup d'état to get control over the throne held by Raja Mannar. Everyone hires armies from countries like Russia, Serbia, and many others just to take out Vardharaja Mannar from the middle and eventually take over Raja Mannar’s throne. In order to counterattack the various armies Vardharaja Manar gets his childhood friend Deva (Prabhas) who had been sent out of Khansaar in his childhood. Now, Deva takes it upon himself to make sure that Vardharaja Mannar gets to sit on the throne of his father. Deva is a killing machine and people realise this soon enough. The rest of the story is filled with varied revelations about the actual identity of Deva and why he is who he is.

‘Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire’: Performances

Prabhas leads the way with a massive comeback to the massy genre. The storyline is written in a way to pump up his character, and he lives up to the swag in every frame. The way he walks, smokes or even fights with swords and axes makes you feel how much he has invested himself into getting each bit right. While he keeps his look quite generic in the film and has also kept his dialogues to a minimum, but he has definitely put his heart and soul into making sure every slow-motion shot or every punch from his hand gets that uproar from the audience. Giving that high-feeling thrill and swag to the audience is a tough task to achieve.

The moment you’re starting to think as to why such a hugely popular star like Prithviraj Sukumaran agreed to play second fiddle, you’re proven wrong. The way he makes the character twist in the climax makes you realise, ‘Oh, this is why he was holding back up until now.’ While Prabhas gives the perfect swagger to every shot, Prithviraj Sukumaran holds his calm and waits for the climax to show all his cards. The way he switches his attitude makes you feel that his character is definitely going to be super big in the second part.

Shruti Haasan is, without a doubt, a total waste of a character that could have been done by just about any actress. She barely has lines. She barely has scenes. It’s just that she is the starting point of it all, and is the reason why the backstory is being told by the narrator.

Jagapathi Babu too has been given a really little screen time. His character has been defined as the most powerful person in the entire story but hasn’t been given that due credit in the scenes anywhere. It is possible that Prashant Neel is keeping that for the second part, and he will turn out to be the biggest antagonist in the sequel.

‘Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire’: Script, Direction & Technical Aspects

Prashant Neel’s direction is praiseworthy. To envision that such a world can be created is in itself a big task, and he has managed to do that brilliantly. Add to that, he has given the feel of the typical backstory by not revealing things at first and then in the second half opening layers one by one so that everything shown in the first part starts to make sense.

Bhuvan Gowda’s cinematography is brilliant, to say the least. He gives you the perfect heart-thumping feel of being in an actioner like this. From the exotic locales to the way he has given the greyish tinge to the entire film to the way he has shot the action sequences, everything is sheer brilliance. The usage of the slow-motion shots has been perfected with the frequent usage in action sequences which make the entire bloodbath feel oh-so-grand.

If there is one thing in the film that’s not too up to the mark, it’s the writing by Prashanth Neel. As there are numerous characters and numerous things happening all at once, you’ve to keep pace else you’ll be lost and figuring out what’s happening. Especially in an action thriller like this, you don’t want to be questioning yourself as to who is killing whom and for what reason. Prashant Neel’s writing isn’t too closure-worthy and therefore it creates confusion among the audiences. At times it becomes so confusing, that Prashant Neel has to give a breather by getting the character of Shruti Haasan, who is listening to the entire story, question as to what’s happening. So, if the writer himself felt that there could be confusion, audiences too felt it right away.

Also, the writing of the climax is a bit too hurried. It feels as if Prashant Neel was trying to fit in a lot of things in the film considering it’s the first part of the franchise. So, the question of what to keep and what to push for the second part must have been tough, and that’s where the writing sort of loses its appeal. For example, why are the two best friends at loggerheads? That should have been the ‘Katappa ne Bahubali ko kyu mara’ type of question left in the minds of audiences at the end. But sadly, after the first half, that angle is totally forgotten. There are a few more things like this which make you feel that the ending was quite rushed and that it could have been closed in a much better way.

Ravi Basrur’s background score is definitely a high point of the film. While the Hindi dubbed songs are not too great, but when it comes to the BGM score, it is at par with films like ‘Kantara’ and ‘KGF’. It pumps up the energy so high that as an audience you’re feeling energised as if you’re standing right beside Prabhas while things are falling in place.

Ujwal Kulkarni’s editing also could have been crisper. As the writing feels hurried in the end, it feels that the makers were quite adamant about not going past the 3 Hour mark, and therefore a lot of things were crunched in by Ujwal Kulkarni to give the film a semblance of a proper ending. To add to that, a few sequences in the first half could have been chopped shorter as the action sequences were less than expected in the first half. After all, when you promise a Prabhas actioner, you want to jump into the midst of the action right at the start of the first half. Sadly, that is something that the editing misses out on.

‘Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire’: Cast & Crew

Director: Prashant Neel

Cast: Prabhas, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Shruti Haasan, Jagapathi Babu, Tinnu Anand, Shrey Bhargava, Madhu Guruswamy, Jhansi, Bhajarangi Loki, Jackey Mishra, Sriram Reddy Polasane, Ramachandra Raju, Garuda Ram, Easwari Rao, Dayanand Reddy, Shreya Reddy, Sapthagiri, Saran Shakthi, Bobby Simha, John Vijay

Available In: Theatres

Duration: 2 Hours 55 Minutes

‘Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire’: Can Kids Watch It?

Yes

Outlook’s Verdict

‘Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire’ is definitely not a film for everyone. It’s a massy?actioner and not for the high-end elites. The presentation gives you the feel that it’s made for getting whistles and claps at almost every second scene. In fact, at one point, Prithviraj Sukumaran even looks into the camera and questions the audience, ‘Have you forgotten to whistle?’. It’s also for people who’re willing to invest their minds into a complex storyline, which will be left open-ended and you’ll have to watch at least another part of the film to know what’s happening and why it’s happening. Overall, being a commercial potboiler, it’s a Good One-Time Watch. I am going with 3 stars.