Jawan Movie Review

Synopsis :

Jailer Azad (Shah Rukh Khan) is posted at an all-female jail and when isn’t on his official duty, carries out vigilante justice in the name of ‘Vikram Rathore’ with his gang of girls who are all inmates at that very jail. When they hijack a metro, senior officer Narmada (Nayanthara) enters the battle as a negotiator. After failing to nab Azad in that mission, she takes it upon herself to catch him at any cost. Who is Azad and what is his past? Who is Vikram Rathore? To know all this and more, watch Jawan

Performances :

It is an out-and-out Shah Rukh Khan show from start to finish. He may have made his comeback with Pathaan but Jawan is where SRK brings out the total repertoire as a superstar. Action, emotions and dance, he nails them all. He is dazzling in a surprise role that stays with you even after the film. The character gives him the scope to do a ‘mass’ role like never before but it is easily his best commercial work till date as he literally sets the screen on fire. Vijay Sethupathy is neat though his dialogues initially weren’t convincing for the role he plays. Rest of the cast are all adequate although Deepika Padukone deserves a special mention for her powerful cameo performance that is one of the major highlights of the film.

Technical side and script :

Jawan is technically supreme. The visuals, framing and grandeur is there in every scene and this is Atlee’s strong zone as a film-maker. He aces grandeur like very few can among commercial directors in India and Jawan shows all of that. He is also very good handling emotions and elevating the lead characters. In his Tamil films thus far, Atlee has often managed to give a makeover for Vijay within the mass genre and Shah Rukh Khan easily gets his massiest avatar ever. Ruben’s editing is crisp and the pace is electric while GK Vishnu’s cinematography is on point. By now, it’s an established fact that Anirudh is Numero Uno when it comes to giving scores for big-scale commercial flicks. The music in Jawan is strong and the background music is stronger.

Predictability of the plot is a drawback and the fact that Atlee rehashes a lot of his own films plus some other famous South Indian films. That is one aspect he needs to rethink but Atlee certainly is on the right track. Jawan won’t feel mundane as the north Indian audiences aren’t exposed to this kind of mass films even if you factor in the success of the dubbed south Indian films on OTT platforms. But if Atlee has to progress into the next level, writing has to be bettered. He needs a solid script to transcend his own making expertise. Directing a big-scale star-driven commercial film is a skill very few have, so Atlee will do well to polish his talent.

Final word :

Jawan is an old wine packaged with style and SRK like never before. If you’re a fan of commercial entertainers, this is a smooth fun watch.