Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and Salman Khan Films’ Sikandar (UA) is the story of a do-gooder, Sanjay Rajkot alias Sikandar (Salman Khan).
Sanjay Rajkot is a raja of Rajkot who is so dear to his people that they can lay down their lives for him. He is upright and principled. He lives with his wife, Saisri (Rashmika Mandana). One day, he gets into a fight with Arjun Pradhan (Prateik Babbar), son of influential politician Pradhan (Sathyaraj). Obviously, Pradhan swears revenge and asks his stooge, police inspector Prakash (Kishore Kumar G.), to arrest him. But Prakash’s seniors are aware of the respect Sanjay commands and, therefore, his arrest is thwarted. However, the enmity doesn’t end. Soon, Saisri is injured in a battle of bullets, and she ultimately breathes her last. Having pledged her organs for donation after her demise, Saisri’s eyes are donated to Vaidehi (Kajal Aggarwal), her heart is donated to Nisha (Anjini Dhawan) and her lungs come in handy to save the life of little Qamar (Ayan Khan). Fearing that Pradhan would now try to eliminate the organ recipients, Sanjay Rajkot takes it upon himself to save all the three of them and also to ensure that they lead happy lives.
A.R. Murugadoss’ story and screenplay are full of holes. Although the drama begins on the right note with a terrific introduction of Salman Khan, it deteriorates terribly after the demise of Saisri. Also, there is not much novelty in the story. Actually, the story and screenplay look like an assemblage of scenes one has seen in umpteen earlier films. Not just that, the very premise of the second half is flawed: Sanjay Rajkot assumes that Pradhan would try to kill the recipients of Saisri’s organs, but this assumption just doesn’t ring true. And so, even though Pradhan thirsts for the blood of the three organ recipients, the viewers are simply not convinced that an influential politician like Pradhan would even be bothered about the recipients. That Sanjay Rajkot has lost his wife should be enough solace to Pradhan.
Sanjay Rajkot trying to settle the organ recipients in life also looks forced. It seems to the audience that the writer didn’t know how to further the drama and hence went haywire in prolonging the drama. The entire track of Vaidehi and her business appears contrived and seems to have been included only to add the point of women empowerment. Really? In a related scene, the change of heart of Vaidehi’s father-in-law is so hurried that it looks like he was dying to oblige Sanjay Rajkot. There’s a sequence in which Sanjay Rajkot does not want Pradhan (addressing a political rally) or his son to know that he (Sanjay Rajkot) is in Bombay. Sanjay fears that if the Pradhans would get to know that he was in Bombay, they would conclude that the organ recipients were around and would then set out to kill them. Why? How on earth would the Pradhans dream of organ donation and of the recipients being in Bombay? Doesn’t anyone — and we are talking of the Rajkot raja here — go to Bombay for any other work? As if that were not bad enough, when the Pradhans do get to know about Sanjay’s presence in Bombay, why do Sanjay and his men run away from Arjun Pradhan who is chasing them? Why don’t they give him a tough fight, like they always do? There’s a track of a mall being planned on a huge plot of land. This track looks forced just so that Sanjay Rajkot’s Robinhood image could get a boost. The important scene of confrontation between Sanjay Rajkot and police inspector Prakash is tame. The climax is quite abrupt. The film lacks in light moments and has very limited emotional appeal.
A.R. Murugadoss, Rajat Arora, Abbas Dalal and Hussain Dalal’s dialogues are excellent at places but not consistently so.
Salman Khan does a fine job as Sanjay Rajkot/Sikandar/Raja Saab. He looks dashing and acts well. While his dance in the Zohrajabeen song is lovely, the same cannot be said about his dances in the Holi and Sikandar naache numbers, where he seems to be struggling to appear agile. Rashmika Mandana looks regal and acts wonderfully as Saisri Rajkot. Sathyaraj is brilliantly menacing in the role of politician Pradhan. He spells terror. Prateik Babbar makes his mark as Arjun Pradhan. Kishore Kumar G. leaves a nice impression in the role of police inspector Prakash. Kajal Aggarwal is quite nice as Vaidehi. Anjini Dhawan is adequate as Nisha. Ayan Khan is confident as little Qamar. Sharman Joshi is wasted in an almost inconsequential role (as Amar, right-hand man of Sanjay Rajkot). Jatin Sarna adds his bit as the taxi driver. Sanjay Kapoor hardly contributes anything in a special appearance; there’s a constant frown on his face, which is inexplicable. Nawab Shah (as Virat Bakshi), Vijaykant Kohli (as Sudarshan), Rajesh Jhaveri (as Vaidehi’s father-in-law), Sulbha Arya (as Vaidehi’s mother-in-law), Adiba Hussain (as Nisha’s sister, Asha), Vishal Vashishtha (as Rangachari), Kishori Shahane Vij (as Pradhan’s wife), Neha Iyer (as the lady in the aeroplane whose modesty is saved by Sanjay Rajkot), Dhanya Balakrishna (as Saisri’s handmaiden), Prakash Sudarshan, Abhilash Chaudhary, Vaibhav Singh, Navdeep Tomar, Vikas Verma, Gurjant Singh (all six as bodyguards), Meghna Pandey (as the airhostess), Amitabh Ghanekar (as Pradhan’s PA), Ashnoor Kaur Kuckreja (as Vaidehi’s daughter), Vidaan (as Vaidehi’s son), Hitesh Sejpaal (as police inspector Prakash’s senior), Mamta Kanwar (as the Dharavi doctor), and the others provide the desired support.
A.R. Murugadoss’ direction is technically good but the narration doesn’t keep the audience engrossed. The drama dips many times. Pritam’s music is reasonably nice while Sameer Anjaan’s lyrics are quite good. The Zohrajabeen song is the best, the other songs being fair. The Holi song doesn’t quite appeal. Song pictuirisations (Farah Khan, Ahmed Khan, Dinesh Master, Brinda) are a mixed bag. While the picturisation of the Zohrajabeen song is eye-filling, the other song picturisations are ordinary. Santhosh Narayanan’s background music is good but could’ve been better. S. Thiru’s cinematography is extraordinary. Kevin Kumar’s action and stunt scenes are supremely thrilling and will be loved by the masses and by Salman Khan’s fans. Production designing (by Amit Ray and Subrata Chakraborty) and art direction (by Pratik Chaudhari) are of a high standard. Vivek Harshan’s editing should’ve been sharper.
On the whole, Sikandar is a dull fare as it has gaping holes in its script. It will not find favour with the audience. For its budget, it will do business that’s far lower than warranted.
Released on 30-3-’25 at Inox (daily 18 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PEN Marudhar Cine Entertainment. Publicity: excellent. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over. Opening was quite good at most of the places but not excellent (adversely affected due to it being the last day of Ramzan). Collections will take a big jump tomorrow (Monday, March 31) owing to Eid holiday.
