Sultan of Delhi review: An over-the-top and heavily cliche gangster drama that barely says anything!

Sultan of Delhi review: It looks like two and a half hours of a film have been stretched into nine episodes that unfortunately have no pizzazz, content, or even life, just grand style! 

Sultan of Delhi review: Recently, Bambai Meri Jaan on Prime Video proved that long-format storytelling is often the best recourse to build a pumping drama with a hero-centric rise of a gangster and his empire. Based on the lives of gangsters and their rise in the first few years after partition, Milan Luthria's Sultan of Delhi is nothing like it! Given Luthria's previous work like The Dirty Picture or the Once Upon a Time series, this current nine-episode series is rather disappointing because it's not just a weak script, acting, or the direction that doesn't work, it's the exhaustion of nothing hitting the mark!

It seems like the story was made for a three-hour film which has been forcefully stretched to almost seven hours of weaving nothing but a stereotyped, cliche gangster drama that isn't even dramatic by an inch. There's tons of violence, gun fights, power struggles, romance, bromance, mind games, betrayal, and heartbreak but nothing is exciting enough to hook you to the series. 

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We have a hustler of a hero born out of the tragedy of partition, Arjun Bhatia (Tahir Raj Bhasin) who navigates this world of hypocrisies, and treachery after joining Jagan Seth (Vinay Pathak), an established gangster of the area with political ambitions, and ends up meeting his loyal companion cum best buddy Nilendu alias Bangali (Anjum Sharma). Now, of course, their villain is this rich spoilt brat, Rajinder Pratap Singh (Nishant Dahiya) who is just a puppeteer run by the mercy of Shankari (Anupriya Goenka). 

Each character is stereotyped to the T and has no depth. Arjun looks like a forceful hero who is a diamond struggling in rough conditions, constantly betrayed by everyone except his best friend Bangali, whose only job seems to be a loyal best friend to Arjun. For a street-smart gangster, Jagan Seth is quite dumb-wittied and for a cunning dangerous villain, Shankari as this sex worker who wants to avenge herself is highly irritatable just like her background score! And Rajinder is nothing but a privileged spoilt brat who wants what he wants. 

However, the story and characters bringing nothing new to the table aren't the only problem; it's also about the way this series is told. The script is as weak as the dialogues and the only standpoint of the series is its grandeur which also feels like beating an empty drum given that there's no point to it. With all the glamour, talent, and nothing to say, this series seems like a waste of an opportunity. 

Sultan of Delhi is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar! 

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