For the last few years South Indian film industry is taken notice of by #Bollywood as it’s dubbed versions in Hindi have done immensely fantastic business at #boxoffice. A lot of South films are remade in Hindi to encash the success of the original and lately, as a business strategy, Hindi filmmakers are casting southern stars in their movies so that their movies do good business down south too. #ShahrukhKhan has gone a step ahead and for #Jawan he deployed services of a successful director from South, Atlee. In fact not only that most of the cast is from southern film industry and even the plot and the ‘taking’ has southern flavour. It’s like a North Indian savouring his Parathas with #SouthIndianRasam. In South films everything is larger than life, including fights, action, emotions and acting. Jawan is no exception. But Shahrukh Khan endears everyone with his double role and has dished out an enjoyable masala entertainer. He has played safe by incorporating everything that general audience or masses prefer to watch their hero do on a large screen. In a way SRK has brought back the heroism to the big screen with Pathaan and now Jawan. One need not apply logic to the proceedings on screen and you have a perfect entertainer at your hand. Jawan is full of Shahrukh’s stardom and he doesn’t disappoint.
Vikram Rathod (Shahrukh Khan), an Indian army officer is killed by a global arms dealer Kali Gaikwad (Vijay Sethupathi). 30 years later Azad (Shahrukh Khan), who is a jailer at a women’s prison, hijacks a Mumbai Metro train with the help of six inmates named Lakshmi, Eelam, Ishkra, Kalki, Helena and Janhvi (Sanya Malhotra, Priya Mani, Sangeeta Bhattacharya, Priyadarshini, Leher Khan and Girija Osaka, though not in that order) and demands a ransom of ₹40000 cr in exchange of passengers which includes Kali’s daughter Alia. The money is distributed to 7 lakh farmers to liquidate their loans. A police officer Narmada (Nayanthara) is after him but her daughter Suchi selects Azad as her mother’s dulha. Azad carries out another mission to initiate better infrastructure in Government hospitals by abducting health minister. Later through a flashback one understands that Azad’s mother is Aishwarya (Deepika Padukone) who had given birth to him in the jail. One of the jailers (Ridhi Dogra) raises Azad after Aishwarya is hanged for killing Kali’s people. After a monologue on Indian politicians and political system a film ends with a remake of an olden era song Ramaniya Vastavaiyya.
The screenplay reminds of many films in bit and pieces. But the pace of the films makes up for it. Atlee successfully keeps audience engrossed in the proceedings with equal amount of action, emotion, humour and song and dance sequences with a social message thrown in. The production values are super high and the film is made on a high scale. The action is world class, fantastic and enjoyable. Music is okay because none of the songs stick to you while leaving the theatre. Cinematography is excellent and editing too is crisp. It’s an out and out Shahrukh Khan film and he has done a marvellous job. He is not scared to be seen as a bald man shows the courageous steak in star Shahrukh. He uses his magnetism to woo viewers with his histrionics, dance moves and action scenes. In fact it’s a double bonanza for his fans as he plays a father and a son who share the same screen space too. Nayanthara looks beautiful and does a fine job alongside Shahrukh. Sanya Malhotra, Priya Mani, Sangeeta Bhattacharya, Priyadarshini, Leher Khan and Girija Oak who plays SRK’s accomplices have given good performance. Sunil Grover, Riddhi Dogra, Ashwin Kaushal etc lend good support.
Jawan is an out and out Masala entertainer and a good family watch.
Rating : ***1/2
