Summaries

Synopsis

Sultan Ali Khan (Salman Khan) is a middle-aged ex-wrestling champion, who is living a mediocre and lonely life in the small town of Rewari, in Haryana. Aakash Oberoi (Amit Sadh), the founder of a private mixed martial arts league Pro Takedown, which has not taken off in India. The stadiums are empty, and the league is losing money.In a board meeting with investors, Aakash says that globally professional wrestling is a top 5 money spinner in the world of sports entertainment. Lead investor Mr Patel (Ivan Sylvester Rodrigues) argues that there is something fundamentally wrong with their model. Aakash asks for 6 months to turn things around.

Aakash is encouraged by his father Gyan Singh (Parikshit Sahni) to hire an Indian wrestler to salvage the league's popularity. Gyan argues that an Indian wrestler beating a foreigner is the one thing that would fill up the stadium and make the league profitable. Aakash is not convinced that an Indian wrestler can stand in front of the foreign professionals, but Gyan asks him to meet Sultan. Gyan says that he has seen Sultan fight, and he has what it takes to succeed in the league.

Aakash travels to Haryana to make an offer to Sultan. Sultan has a fat belly now, but Aakash watches him as Sultan effortlessly lifts a tractor out of a ditch. Aakash approaches Sultan, who bluntly refuses and says that he has completely retired from wrestling.Sultan visits the local mosque daily and watches a woman named Aarfa come out of it. The woman completely ignores Sultan and continues on her way. And the whole sequence repeats the following day.In search of the reason behind his retirement, Aakash confronts Sultan's close friend Govind (Anant Sharma), who narrates how Sultan's career began.

Eight years ago, Sultan is a middle-aged man, who has a business of installing satellite dishes for cable TV in Rewari. He lives with his father Sharief (Naveen Kumar) and Grandmother (Farrukh Jaffar).Sultan falls in love at the sight of Aarfa Hussain (Anushka Sharma), a state-level wrestler and the daughter of a local wrestling coach Barkat Hussain (Kumud Mishra). Grandmother tells Sultan to approach Aarfa directly and declare his love for her. Sultan cannot speak English fluently yet tries to impress Aarfa.

Although she was initially cold towards him, Aarfa accepts Sultan as a friend when he joins Barkat's to train to be a wrestler. Sultan declares that he will win a Gold for India at the next Olympic Games. Aarfa believes that love makes a person weak, and she is determined to follow her dream of a medal in wrestling. Hence, she offers to be friends with Sultan. They start spending time together and gradually Aarfa gets to know Sultan. Aarfa tells Sultan that she decided to become a wrestler to change the patriarchal mindset of people in their society.

When he began to proclaim that she was his girlfriend, she rejected him by stating that she wishes to marry an accomplished wrestler like herself. Aarfa says that she is a state champion and Sultan is a nobody. Aarfa says that she will only love a man that she respects.Determined to win her respect, Sultan dedicated himself to intense training and ultimately won a state-level wrestling tournament, as well as Aarfa's love.

The two were married and became recognized wrestlers, representing India in various international tournaments like the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. When the two were announced as finalists for the Olympic Games, Aarfa discovered that she was pregnant. Aarfa sees how happy Sultan and decides to keep the baby.She gave up her childhood dream of winning an Olympic gold medal for India, which was then fulfilled by Sultan. To her surprise, Sultan's fame causes him to be arrogant. He refuses to fight in local tournaments, and he then slaps a reporter at an event when the reporter suggests that success has gone to his head.

Even though Aarfa informed him that she was nearing her due date, Sultan left to win another international wrestling championship in Turkey. Upon his return, he learns that his newborn son had died due to severe anemia. His son had a rare O-blood type, identical to Sultan's (which only 1% of people have), depriving the child of a donor. Angered, Aarfa leaves Sultan to live with her father. Devastated, Sultan decides to raise funds to open a blood bank in his son's name.

In the present day, Aakash asks Sultan to join his league and promises that the tournament's prize money will fulfill his dream of opening a blood bank. Sultan agrees despite having become unfit and tired, and travels to Delhi, where Aakash introduces him to freestyle mixed martial arts coach Fateh Singh (Randeep Hooda). After two months of training with Fateh, who is a former international champion, Sultan manages to regain his physique and learns how to wrestle freestyle. Although he initially struggles in his first fight, Sultan defeats the opponent using his own iconic wrestling style. Sultan will always respect his opponents with a Namaste, after defeating them in the ring. He gains the love and adulation of the crowd.

He soon becomes a nationwide sensation once again by winning a series of matches. Sultan is approached for advertisement deals for local utensil brands, and soon hoarding of his pictures are all over Rewari. Sultan gains Aarfa's support in the process

During the semi-final round, Sultan wins the fight but is severely injured and must be hospitalized. The doctor informs Aakash that Sultan should not fight again lest his injuries become fatal.

Aarfa arrives at the ward and reconciles with Sultan, motivating him to continue fighting. She says that while she never spoke to Sultan at the mosque, but she also came daily to see him.During the final match, Sultan overcomes his pain to defeat his opponent and ultimately wins the tournament.Reunited with his wife, Sultan opens a blood bank using the prize money and Aarfa resumes wrestling. A few years later, she gives birth to a baby girl, whom Sultan begins to train as a wrestler.