Jawan (2023)

Director: Atlee

Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi

A high-octane action thriller which outlines the emotional journey of a man who is set to rectify the wrongs in the society.

If ever there was a clever way to protest against your country’s incompetence, ‘Jawan’ will show you how it’s done: simply disguise it as a big budget action musical. You can get a thought-provoking message across, and entertain at the same time.

The film starts with a near-dead man being rescued from a river. Five months later the village is attacked and the villagers are brutally killed. The very man they saved from the river, comes to their rescue in a God-like manner, and is thereafter viewed as the Messiah.

The film then jumps ahead 30 years and Azad (Shah Rukh Khan) – a prison officer at a women’s prison – hijacks a train. He demands a great sum of money from the Agriculture Minister in exchange for the lives of the passengers, but – as it turns out – there are more here than meets the eye. This opening sequence was captivating and I rooted for this seemingly bad guy.

After this exciting opening, the film takes a dip establishing a romantic interest, with lengthy musical segments. As fate would have it, the very woman Azad falls in love with, happens to be Narmada, who was in charge of the train hijacking case. The events surrounding their meeting and subsequent marriage had me raising an eyebrow. It wasn’t romantic at all and came across as an arranged marriage – by her young daughter, nonetheless!!

Next, Azad targets the Health Minister, and it became all too clear this was pure propaganda and protest against the country’s Government Departments. Apart from that, the film was more sensational than Hollywood superhero movies! It was over-sensational, over-dramatic, and bittersweet. Still, having said that, the film was very entertaining and I guess they succeeded in getting their message across. ‘Jawan’ certainly manages to make a bold statement.

The cinematography, photography and visuals are stunning. Just like ‘RRR’ the action sequences are over the top and unrealistic, but damn, it looks great on screen! The musical segments were well choreographed and staged – much in the vein of ‘Dhoom 3’. In fact, it was so reminiscent to ‘Dhoom 3’ I was expecting the ‘Dhoom 3’ theme at any given moment!

‘Jawan’ is a very good production and well worth the watch. The film broke several box office records upon release.

In Hindi.

Would I watch it again? I somehow don’t think so.