There's a good side to Sultan, and there's a bad one too. While the story is just a retelling of many tales told before on celluloid, there is an honesty with which this movie drives its emotions and its intensity. Once the filmmaking formula does its job, the subtle moments of truthfulness and some decent dialogue hit a sweeping slam. In terms of ingenuity and freshness, Sultan is average fare, but when it comes down to the strength of certain ideas at work, it does manage to keep a tight hold on its audience.

A wrestler tries to win over the woman he loves, and her respect, but he misses a step when he lets arrogance get the better of him. Then, middle-aged, he makes a dramatic comeback like only true sportspersons can. Salman is not Salman, but Sultan, in this film. And that's a rare feat. Think Shah Rukh in 'Chak De!'. He is controlled in his acting, but plays the charming Romeo when he needs to, before transforming into a stoic man on a mission. He's an actor and not a star in this one.

It is, for instance, that uncommon Hindi film in which the hero offers an unqualified apology to the heroine. Rub your eyes in disbelief all you wish, but it is true: from an industry that usually derides women who do not unblinkingly forgive every manner of male transgression because after all it is "ek hi bhool" (just one mistake; read: not a big deal), this too has now happened.

Salman Khan films have forever been remembered for just that. This effortless stardom allowed the actor to wallow in his mediocrity. And while the three-digit crores piled up at the box office, Khan got so absorbed in his larger-than-big-screen image that he began mimicking the 'bhai' his fans worshiped. His critics weren't amused but his followers couldn't get enough - even when most of his films resembled each other and were essentially extending a platform for Khan to shed his shirt, bash up the bad guys, and break into a jig or two by fiddling with his belt or inside his pocket.

Sultan (Salman Khan) is a local wrestler of Rewari district and is in love with Aarfa (Anushka Sharma) who is a state champion in wrestling and runs a haunt with her father. Aarfa wishes to marry a wrestler and in order to win her over, Sultan joins her haunt. In a typical Bollywood style, Sultan steals Aarfa's heart and the couple soon tie the knot. Meanwhile, Sultan and Aarfa become world champions and their life seems to be a picture perfect fairly tale until one incident changes their lives forever.

There's a moment somewhere in the beginning of the film when Salman Khan's character comes to a halt at a rail crossing, and waits, just like the rest of us do, for the train to pass. In that instant we know that Sultan is about to push twin boundaries. Of a star's scope, and of mainstream Bollywood. That this will not be the super-human, super-hero Bhai who has been shown crossing the tracks just a whisker ahead of a rushing locomotive from one of his several forgettable flicks.

So, this is the first movie where Salman Khan takes off his shirt and everyone - including Khan - shudders. Portraying Sultan, who goes from being fit and lean to a gloomy, middle-aged, paunch-burdened man, Khan performs with elan and unhappiness, his acting giving Sultan a nice, rounded punch.

Ali Abbas Zafar, director of Mere Brother Ki Dulhan and Gunday, got a chance to work with Salman Khan, one of the biggest Bollywood superstars, in Sultan. And, the result is amazing. A film that opened to packed houses through advance booking is ready to create history at the box office. Going by the loud cheers and whistling it received throughout its 170 minutes, the response has been phenomenal. Yes, the film is that long.

The writer of Sultan repeatedly evokes a beast of burden by way of an analogy for the film's simple-minded but irrepressible protagonist. This guy, Sultan Ali Khan of Rewari district's Buroli village, is indeed a cussed customer who soldiers on against all odds to prove his worth to himself, his girlfriend/wife and the whole wide world. So, what's new?

Aakash Oberoi (Amit Sadh) is the brains behind the staggering, dying Pro Take-Down League. Sponsors want to pull out of the championship, and no one is eager to give the league another chance to survive. Faced with adversaries such as these, Aakash's father advises him to get Sultan Ali Khan (Salman Khan), the man who can save the game. Aakash goes to Rewari to get Sultan back in the ring. A middle-aged, pot-bellied, half-sweater clad man is the Sultan of today. Just as Aakash gets ready to walk away, he spots Sultan single-handedly pulling a tractor out of a pothole.

Sultan is what every Salman Khan film aims to be. It is a showcase of the superstardom of the actor, yet it manages to weave a plot and tell a story that will resonate with audience across age groups and social strata. Cause that is the magic that Salman brings to the cinema. Sultan uses Salman's stardom by taking the glamour and larger than life persona out and instead bringing out the child-like human quality that is often captured when the actor is off camera. Director Ali Abbas Zafar's Sultan is more than just a tale of an underdog, it has nuances and references to the human spirit that have an universal appeal.

Sultan Khan is slightly immatured for his age and so while he is running a cable business, a love at first sight moment for him changes his life. After a chance meeting with Aarfa, Haryana's famous female wrestler, Sultan falls for her and tries every trick in the book to woo her. He soon learns that she will only marry a wrestler who has competed beyond the state level and that becomes the motto of his life. Sultan trains himself to be worthy of her and to stand tall in his own eyes.

Only his mere presence sets the cash registers ringing and when it's Eid, the stardom of Salman Khan just grows by leaps and bounds. Last year, the actor saw immense success worldwide with the blockbuster film BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN. And this time around, coming from the house of one of the most renowned production house Yash Raj Films is SULTAN - a touching tale of the rise and fall and rise of a wrestler and his quest to win back his true love.