Salaar Part-1: The Ceasefire- Movie Review- Telugu (2023)

Movie: Salaar Part-1: The Ceasefire (2023)

Director: Neel Prashanth

Production: Hombale Films

Cast: Prabhas, Prithviraj, Jagapathi Babu, Shruthi Hassan, Sriya Reddy & Others

Music: Ravi Basur

Editing: Ujwal Kulkarni

Cinematography: Bhuwan Gowda

Language: Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam & Kannada

Release Date: 22/12/2023

Rating: A (Adult Content & Violence)

3.25/5

Enthralling High Voltage Action Drama

01. All about Salaar.

The latest much anticipated action film of Prabhas directed by the sensational Prashanth Neel is doing wonders off late, no doubt. And here's my review.

Salaar is all about two great friends Deva aka Salaar (Prabhas) & Varadharaja Mannar (Pruthviraj) who eventually turned into enemies. Cut right there, Deva is living in exile for many years along with his mother (Eshwari) somewhere in a village of Assam. Aadhya(Shruthi Hassan) daughter of a tycoon Krishnakanth is abducted & Deva is asked for help. Entire first half is of all these  proceedings which keep hinting about Deva's shadowy past in all means. Later in second half the actual story about a place called Khaansaar which has turned against the British law itself & has emerged as an independent & a very strong power is brought into light & the political scenario of that state is updated. To know who is whom, what is what you all have to watch the film.

02. In what all aspects is Salaar entertaining?

In many! Yeah, Salaar is not just the normal action hyper drama with unnecessary extravaganza like all commercial films, however that is how it appears till the entire first half. Salaar has a very strong plot written with brilliant screenplay. 

It is an out & out action drama & nothing much. But, as told has a strong storyline which gells well with the screenplay. Salaar has a seperate world & story, and only if you are ready to bear the story of it's own fascination & fantasy, you'll love this film otherwise it's just a commercial tale with numerous elements just creating confusions. 

03. Performances & technicalities.

Prabhas is truly the Pra'boss' ! He gets his kind of role after many many trails from Baahubali. Prabhas is seen in that Thor kind character with wonderful physique, body & action. His character has less dialogues, but his screen presence is an important thing in the film. He just rocked as Deva aka Salaar. 

Pruthviraj Sukumaran as Varadharaja Mannar & Shiva Mannar just nailed his performance. His typical Telugu yet perfect dialect is very interesting. Rest others have also performed well.

Editing could have been better. To understand first half we need to watch second half otherwise it's a waste watching this film, so director always has his intellectual things in his films to groove audience to their seats. Music & cinematography were fine. 

04. Minus points.

Originality! Movie is good no doubt, but the traces of many films like Uggram, RRR, Baahubali, KGF- Keep on adding up which is an artificial & irritating aspect. Movie is completely black like coal, which director has choosen intentionally, but such dark frames aren't needed. Music lies flat, not even one song or BGM appeals. The pace is a problem, it is too dull. The story - yeah! It's a bigger problem, as it has complexities that not everyone are ready to understand. Violence, the film is heavily dependent on violence which is again not everyone's cup of tea. 

05. Finally!

Salaar is definitely a great film but only works on few. Fans can just celebrate, but to rest others it's an above average film & to very few others it's almost a nonsense. 

I find this story very nearer to the tale of Sakuni's vengeance on the Kuru clan. The Mahabharata has a tale where Gandhara's were assassinated for no bigger fault of their own by the then warrior of Kuru clan- Bhishmaacharya for hiding a truth about Gandhari's marriage to a goat. Then all the 100 surviving Gandhara's were starved till death by giving them 1 grain of rice to each - every day, but without the king's notice Gandhara's have fed that one grain of rice to one man- Sakuni. And Sakuni born out of such vengeance plotted the Kurukshetra directly or indirectly. Similarly, I find this Khansar & Shourangnya's story.

Everything apart, this is such a good action drama entertainer. Go watch it in all your nearest theatres.