Devaratha (Prabhas) and Varadha Raja Mannar (Prithviraj Sukumaran) are best friends in Khansaar. Circumstances lead to Deva and his mother leaving Khansaar and living in exile, moving from city to city. Aadhya (Shruti Haasan) comes to India without informing her father and her life is at stake. Deva is assigned to safeguard her but he has to do it without his mother's knowledge as she disspproves his violent side. Protecting Aadhya pitches Deva right against Varadha and things aren't the same among the two friends turned foes. What happened to them in the world of Khansaar is something one is expected to watch in part 2, instead this part is about showing glimpses of where Deva had been and not what he did. Adding to that there are a bunch of baddies in Khansaar and the place's bloodied history connected to Deva.
Prashant Neel has reworked his script of Ugramm in a much grand way, going all out in building a new world called Khansaar, just like he did with Narachi in KGF. That justifies him resorting to KGF narrative style for Salaar as well with his trademark quick cut aways and non-linear narrative with constant hero elevations. There are actually four of those in this film. The entire first half is dedicated to introducing and re-introducing Prabhas's Deva. Bigger canvas meant the mother - son segment taking a bigger hit and Neel has not been able to effectively crack it this time around. This is made up for by the terrific pre-interval action block and Prabhas's towering screen presence is put to good use even though his performance remained one toned. It is the entry scene of Prithviraj Sukumaran which had an impact.
The second half is exclusive to establishing the world of Khansaar and it's several provinces as right from the King to the several lords are introduced along with the constitution of their own. This is where Salaar takes the bigger deviation from it's source material. The pace does get slow but the ones acquainted with KGF films, know exactly what to expect. The high moments are few but when they arrive, they explode. Asusual the final 15mins leads to an action segment giving both male leads equal opportunity to shine. Neel has kept majority of the story to be reserved for the sequel and this slightly disappoints. The final reveal is good enough to keep the intrigue for the sequel but barring those couple of scenes, the film's narrative is rather flat.
Overall, it is not an exceptional intro though it succeeds in generating interest for the sequel. I am going with lenient rating due to the efforts put in to create this world and giving deserving Kannada actors a bigger film to showcase their acting skills.
Prashant Neel has reworked his script of Ugramm in a much grand way, going all out in building a new world called Khansaar, just like he did with Narachi in KGF. That justifies him resorting to KGF narrative style for Salaar as well with his trademark quick cut aways and non-linear narrative with constant hero elevations. There are actually four of those in this film. The entire first half is dedicated to introducing and re-introducing Prabhas's Deva. Bigger canvas meant the mother - son segment taking a bigger hit and Neel has not been able to effectively crack it this time around. This is made up for by the terrific pre-interval action block and Prabhas's towering screen presence is put to good use even though his performance remained one toned. It is the entry scene of Prithviraj Sukumaran which had an impact.
The second half is exclusive to establishing the world of Khansaar and it's several provinces as right from the King to the several lords are introduced along with the constitution of their own. This is where Salaar takes the bigger deviation from it's source material. The pace does get slow but the ones acquainted with KGF films, know exactly what to expect. The high moments are few but when they arrive, they explode. Asusual the final 15mins leads to an action segment giving both male leads equal opportunity to shine. Neel has kept majority of the story to be reserved for the sequel and this slightly disappoints. The final reveal is good enough to keep the intrigue for the sequel but barring those couple of scenes, the film's narrative is rather flat.
Overall, it is not an exceptional intro though it succeeds in generating interest for the sequel. I am going with lenient rating due to the efforts put in to create this world and giving deserving Kannada actors a bigger film to showcase their acting skills.