Actually, I found a common chord between Animal and Salaar. While the former is about an obsessed son who'd go to any extent and kill anybody who tries to harm his father, Salaar has friendship at its core. Deva (Prabhas) will not spare a single soul who tries to touch his childhood friend Vardha (Prithviraj Sukumaran). How tables turn and the besties turn arch rivals is what Salaar is all about. But take this warning: It's a bloody watch, quite literally. I can't remember the last time I watched so much blood smeared all over the screen. So, if you can't stand too much gore and blood, think before you book your tickets.

The 3-hour-long saga starts in 1985 where Deva and Vardha are inseparable and have got each other's back in good and the bad times. Deva fights a seasoned wrestler as a challenge to get Vardha his nathooni (nose ring that the clan wears) back from his stepbrother. Vardha soon returns the favour and saves Deva's mother (Easwari Rao) from his father's men, and in return, he sacrifices a major part of the territory his clan owns. And on this night, Deva, along with his mother, leaves that villages and vanishes.

Switch to 2017, Deva and his mother are living in a remote village in Assam and he's working in coal mines. Through some hazy flashbacks, the film throws hints that something major had happened a few years ago, after which Deva's mother had sworn him to never touch a weapon — she creates panic even when he holds a plastic knife to cut a birthday cake. Meanwhile, Aadhya Krishnakanth (Shruti Hassan) comes to India and her life is in danger for reasons still unclear to me. To save her from the baddies, Deva's mother frees him from the promise, and there he goes — beating up some 50-odd men and breaking their bones like a pro. What follows are multiple action sequences, and each gets better than the earlier one.

The second half runs in flashback where we are told Deva and Vardha's story after 25 years and how they turned against each other. I liked how Neel ingests such subtle humour in a deadly scene where his leading men are fighting 100 blood-thirsty drugged men. Or in another scene, just before Deva chops off a senior leader's head, he tells the men around - 'Please, I kindly request'. This clever writing from Sandeep Reddy Bandla, Hanumaan Choudary and Dr. Suri adds some breathing space in the otherwise fast-paced screenplay. As for Neel's story, it has way too many twists and turns for you to even blink peacefully. Salaar calls for your full attention. While the first half effortlessly builds momentum and keeps you hooked, the second half does go slightly downhill, appears a tad stretched with some complex scenes, which could have been easily edited to bring down the runtime by at least 20 minutes.