Salman Khan and Rashmika Mandanna-helmed Sikandar has just released in theatres, but unfortunately it could not be counted on to bring the audiences back to the cinemas. As per sources, the film has "miserably failed to perform on its opening day", and the reason they said was "because the storyline is dull and lacklustre, more of a repetition of Khan's past films". This is the year that Salman Khan, and his contemporaries, Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan, turn 60 and the pressure to give a mega blockbuster on Eid, which Salman Khan is known to offer year on year, had been immense. However, the film failed to impress and appeal. Industry experts hoped for Sikandar to mark Salman's entry into the “prestigious Rs 500 crore club”, after Shah Rukh Khan's Pathan and Jawan, Sunny Deol's Gadar 2, Ranbir Kapoor's Animal and Vicky Kaushal's recently released Chhava. Recently, trade analyst Taran Adarsh reportedly said that Sikandar will be under pressure to outperform Tiger 3’s ₹43-crore opening. As per sources whom THE WEEK spoke to, opening for Sikandar, until the first half of March 30 has been "dismal", "underwhelming", and "below the opening of any of his previous films."
Here are five reasons why I think Sikandar is completely worth a skip.
A dull and boring patchwork - The film begins with Salman Khan's entry and after that it looks like a haphazardly put-together patchwork which is dry, dull and unimpressive. At one point you're left to wonder at the sequence of events taking place on screen and turn to your phone for escape.
Lectures and speeches don't work - In the film, a traditional grandfather who doesn’t want his daughter-in-law (Kajal Aggarwal) to work changes his stance overnight because Sikandar, who tries hard to convincingly come across as a feminist, lectures the grandpa on women's freedom, except that it has no impact on the audience. Rather, the entire dialogue seems so half-baked and half-hearted that it becomes cringe-worthy.
Overdose of Salman Khan - Because there is nothing else the film has to offer, except repeat frames of a sixty-year-old man who keeps flaunting his blue bracelet and his bulked-up arms and torso every now and then, at times, even using them as replacements for dialogue delivery.
The butchered version of Lata Mangeshkar's Lag Jaa Gale - This moment offers the opportune time to make a quick exit halfway through the movie because after all can we stand our beloved son to be so badly lip-synced by Rashmika’s character as it has been sung by Iulia Vantur?
Waste of talent - Talented actors including the very able Rashmika Mandanna, Sathyaraj, Sharman Joshi, Prateik Babbar end up with hardly any scope to create magic on screen. They become victims of their own choices.
