Indian cinema's official window to the world of movies, IFFI hosts the most varied and qualitative collection of interesting films for the international film fraternity and press in the Indian panorama section. This is Sultan's second outing at an international film festival after Busan International Film Festival earlier this year.
A powerful story set in the heartland of rural India; Sultan has a unique touch of optimism and equal opportunity for the male and female protagonists, revising norms of narrating mainstream cinema in India. Director Ali Abbas Zafar said, `Sultan is the story of introspection, of the 'fight within'. As director this aspect of the story excited me. I also found it thrilling that love, a universal emotion plays a pivotal role in it. That it picks a homegrown Indian sport of wrestling, and leads it to the evolution to mixed martial arts (MMA), Sultan integrates the concept of 'mitti'- son of the soil- in it's soul. It's the running metaphor between life and sultan's character. To have basket full of emotion like love, happiness, pride, fall, resurrection, redemption and finally glory was difficult but what was more difficult was to keep the story simple. Simple stories are always the most difficult to tell. That we succeeded in achieving this with Sultan is gratifying.`
At Busan, Sultan got a warm reception and standing ovation at the Open Cinema Section. With the film being presented at IFFI 2016, Sultan has scored another ace for popular, mainstream cinema.
