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EXCLUSIVE: Ali Abbas Zafar on Sultan, a sequel to it and a possible reunion with Salman Khan
As Sultan completes 5 years of it's release, we spoke to the director, Ali Abbas Zafar, who opened up about the process of making this sport drama and informs that he will definitely make another film with Salman Khan.
It has been five years since the release of Sultan, and the film continues to be discussed on social media even today. The Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma fronted sport drama, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, is the only Hindi film to have raked in Rs 30 crore or more for five consecutive days. It has been over 260 weeks since it’s release and it still holds the opening week record in Bollywood, among the longest ever for a Hindi feature film. As the film completed five years, we asked Ali, if he remembers the first narration of the film to producer, Aditya Chopra and the leading man, Salman Khan.
“Both of them were sold on the first narration,” Ali smiles, adding further, “The only question was how do we pull off this film because it was grounded, at the same time challenging, and very emotional at heart. The craft of it lied in execution. If you look at it, it’s a simple underdog story, there is no gimmick, no action set pieces. It’s running on a simple line of a man fighting the battles within himself.” Ali believes that Sultan had a fine balance of something commercial and credible at the same time. “Sometimes, too commercial can fall flat and sometimes credible things can be too dry. I want to do commercial cinema with a certain amount of class and credibility,” he insists.
Be it Bharat or Tiger, there are very strong characters around him. I look at Salman Khan more as an actor, who is a superstar, but a lot of people look at him as a superstar, who is also an actor
Ali Abbas Zafar
Both Ali and Adi were clear that Sultan can’t be made without Salman Khan. “We were very clear that this film can work only with a superstar like Salman Khan and I was clear that I will only make it with him.” Another force to reckon with in the sport drama was Anushka Sharma, who played Aarfa. Ali informs that she came on board the film, after it went on floors. “We wanted a fresh cast around Salman. He was never paired with Anushka, so we went to her and luckily, she reacted very positively to the script. I had started the film without a leading lady. Then, we went to Anushka and in two days, she said I want to do it. She jumped into the prep, and that’s how the casting happened.”
After Sultan, Salman and Ali worked together on successful films like Tiger Zinda Hai and Bharat. It has been a combo, which evokes ample excitement among the fans. Talk about the experience of working with Salman, and he responds, “Salman Khan is such a big superstar and whenever I work with him, my idea is not to just hinge on his shoulders. The film should hinge on the script, characters and also his shoulders. Be it Bharat or Tiger, there are very strong characters around him. I look at Salman Khan more as an actor, who is a superstar, but a lot of people look at him as a superstar, who is also an actor. Every time I go back to him, I do two to three things which really challenge him as an actor.” He further adds, “I honestly feel, there is a beautiful actor in him, which very few people exploit. Look at him in Bajrangi (Bhaijaan), Tere Naam, Karan Arjun, Hum Dil De.. (Chuke Sanam). The way he handles emotions, a lot of actors can’t. He is phenomenal in transferring the emotions on screens. That’s his strength and because of that, he has a massive fan following.”
Definitely. One can look at it like that. I will have to speak to Adi and then go back to Salman with the story and see if we can do a spin off. Same is the process of Aarfa
Ali Abbas Zafar
Sultan and Aarfa are strong characters, which have the potential of multiple spin offs. Ask him if he would want to bring Sultan or Aarfa back on the screen again, and Ali shares, “Definitely. One can look at it like that. I will have to speak to Adi and then go back to Salman with the story and see if we can do a spin off. Same is the process of Aarfa.” Salman and Ali last worked in the Eid 2019 release, Bharat. Is another collaboration on cards? “Definitely, I always want to work with him and I will work with him again very soon. We will come together once we are both happy with the material on the script. I love him.” Ali signs off informing that he is writing multiple scripts at the moment. “Right now, no one can do anything more (due to the pandemic). We can just write and we have been writing a lot of things. I want to do something with him very soon,” he concludes.
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