Salaar: Cease Fire - Part 1 Review

First, I have a confession to make: I hated KGF. Passionately, violently, madly hated it. I thought it was an all-out assault on the senses. It took me two days to muster the patience to finish the first part. And as for the second part? I don't think I have the stamina to press play on that one. Sorry to be so dramatic, but if you can't sit through my hyperbole, forget about sitting through a Prashanth Neel movie. Because Neel's aesthetic is, in a word: extra.

Salaar is all kinds of extra, too, but unlike the schizophrenic KGF, it is a far more classically-told saga. An electrifying scene introduces the protagonist - he is a one-man army, a live wire, a mad cap. Salaar (Prabhaas), aka Deva, is inseparable from his childhood friend Varada (Prithviraj). But these two part ways when Deva's feisty mother (Easwari Rao) realizes that their hometown is a dangerous place for somebody as hot-headed as Deva. They hide away in a remote village in Assam, until trouble comes calling to their doorstep in the form of Aadya (Shruti Hassan), who dredges up his past.

Then, the name Khansaar drops, and the story takes off like a rocket, reminding me of KGF's breakneck pace. Khansaar is the fictional world of Salaar - Neel's brainchild. It is a walled-off city ruled by a gang of tribalistic leaders who thrive on fear-mongering and bloody politics. Not every Khansaari dora is happy about a ceasefire decreed by Radha Rama (Sriya Reddy), the daughter of their leader Raja Mannar (Jagapathi Babu). The film explores this delicate period of peace as doras prepare armies for a showdown. Varada, who is a prominent Khansaari himself, comes with a one-man army: Deva.

There is a hauntingly shot sequence where Deva saves a young girl from a lecherous dora (minister) while a sea of red-cloaked village women look on with gratitude. This scene is emblematic of Neel's directorial eye: high-contrast shots make everything appear grimy, rugged, raw; and a background score builds and builds and builds. And in the midst of it all is the rippling frame of the protagonist doing some impossible-looking stunt on the villain.

Neel has the knack for creating elevations, but he often overuses that skill to the point of fatigue. Once he gets the wheels of his drama spinning, he only ever spins it faster. Every element is relentless in its assault. Characters talk through gritted teeth as though spitting the words out in disgust. Deva's mother is always angry or aghast. Radha Rama played by a feisty Sriya Reddy and her servant Omkari Ma (Jhansi) speak like ghosts in a horror movie. Conversation is almost entirely missing, replaced instead by a fast-talking narrator who throws out names of people and places faster than you can commit them to memory. The result is confusion - a feeling that you are one step behind on the story and that all you can hold on to and enjoy are the fights and elevations.

Of course, Deva's the star of the show when it comes to those elevations. There's this misty shot of him climbing a plank with fires burning around him, a helicopter whirring in the background - it's the interval card scene. There are numerous shots of Deva's beefy body and tall frame. But it is the small glimpses of humanity that Deva shows that make the movie watchable. Like how he hangs with school kids and gets heckled by them at a game of cricket. Or his friendly banter with Varada in the middle of a fight with a horde of zombified men.

Ironically, though, Prabhas feels underused in the film. His role is relegated to dust-raising fights, slow-motion walk ups and innumerable build-ups, all while keeping us emotionally at arm's length. He has precious few lines to say and wears the lonely look of a man that's been elevated to the point of inaccessibility. On the flip side, Prithviraj brings the charisma, making for a great sidekick to Prabhas's towering persona. He's as magnetic and authoritative as Varada. The hammiest performances, though, come from the ladies of Khansaar - Eeshwari Rao is intolerably dramatic, and Jhansi and Sriya Reddy are ridiculously over-the-top.

Salaar: Ceasefire Part 1 is an intriguing start to the story of Khansaar. One wants to know who wins this game of thrones, who grabs the crown and at what cost. But the Salaar saga will be made far better if Neel invests in writing dialogue and conversations that last more than a few seconds. It will give a meaty mass movie and not just a fight fest.