'Sultan', the new flick from the young team of Vinoo Mohan and co, has decent performances and good camerawork. But the movie fails to hit big time because of its pace and the way it ends. The movie could have worked out well if it had a better pitched climax and moved out of predictable lines.
The story revolves around Shiva Rajan, a medico who is in love and is already engaged with Nishitha, studying in the same college. Life takes a new turn as Shivarajan rediscovers his old four friends - Vivek , Sujith, Sunny and Naufal, studying in a nearby engineering college. They had a life of fun together as a ''Five men Army'' when studying for their plus two .Sivan, who was their leader used to be known as `sultan' as he had a big popularity with girls.
But this time, their reunion and its associated celebrations lands Shivan into unexpected troubles as he is convicted for a murder on the same day he is announced as the rank holder in the M B B S exams. The rest of the movie revolves around the hardships that Sivan and Nishi and their parents has to face following the new developments in their life, where all the available clues points to Shivan as the only culprit.
Vinoo Mohan tries to play his strengths as Sivan and ease through the role though he has not much to do on a wafer thin script. New face Varada gets her expressions right and is apt for the role of Nishitha. Every other in cast are impressive though none are exceptional
In the technical front also, the movie is better with good cinematography by P Sukumar and editing by Renjan Abraham. The couple of songs in the movie including `Mazha, Mazha' by M Jayachandran are hummable and are well shot.
The director Sreeprakash has handled the emotional sequences quite well, but seems to be in a doubt whether to create a love story, a thriller or a family drama out of 'Sultan'. The major flaw of the movie is that it has not much to say apart from a promising premise of already engaged lovers who are still students in the same college. But the debutante scriptwriters couldn't use the chances for something better, focused and creative. After the initial establishments, the film takes a long time to move forward, far from keeping the audience engrossed with tight narratives. And after interval, the movie is very much predictable, offering little surprises.
Overall, `Sultan' is strictly for those who have got some time to kill.
