JAWAAN (2023) : review

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And finally the much hyped, much awaited Jawaan saw light of the day ! Big stars, big budget( humongous budget actually), big music composer, everything super large. But does it meet the expectations of the average viewer? No it goes not. Read on.  A decorated jawan locks horns with a criminal called Kaali, this is in 1986 ( the year movies like Aakhri Raasta released, just for reference). Kaali gets him eliminated and send the pregnant wife to jail. The baby born in jail grows up to become the hero (look alike of the father) and decides to avenge the misdeeds done to his innocent patriotic parents. Well, isn’t it a masaaledaar full on Bollywood- Tollywood drama subject ?  And then the director Atlee also borrows ideas and references from various retro movies, some idea from Sholay (1975) as the hero assembled a gang of jailed Qaidis in order to form a team to nab the villain, then there’s an entire episode borrowed from Dhartiputra (1993), and the basic theme is copy pasted ...

Bucket list - review

BUCKET LIST (2018) 

Directed by : Tejas Deoskar 

Now this over hyped movie is being talked about for just one specific reason- the big debut of yesteryears Bollywood superstar Madhuri Dixit in Marathi cinema ! Trust me there is much more to this movie than just that. 

This 130 minutes roller coaster ride is about a middle aged maharashtrian housewife who takes the initiative to complete the “bucket list” of her deceased young heart donor. So far so good, the only issue with this movie is it’s weak technical department as its high on the acting and direction ground. 

Deoskar’s direction is first rate, he doesn’t try to unnecessarily glorify Dixit or project her in a superstar league, in his capacity he delivers good enough. Abhijit Deshpande’s editing is a major letdown, it actually appears like he was dozing off at the editing table. Arjun Sorte’s cinematography is a delight. Technically the movie is weighed down and a reputed production house like Dharma productions could’ve invested much more in making it a technically superior film. 

Dixit as expected carries the movie on her slender shoulders, at 50 she looks beautiful and inspite of her 90’s glamorous image she perfectly slips into the middle class maharashtrian housewife mould, with age her acting chops have only bettered and when she dances in the climax song it’s like a graceful swan in her best glory. Comparatively her co star Sumeet Raghvan playing her hubby who is a corporate honcho gets a raw deal and is seen sleepwalking due to a half baked characterisation. They don’t have much on screen chemistry and look discomforted in a romantic song filmed on them. 

Pradeep Velankar and Dileep Prabhavalkar get limited screen time and are unduly wasted. Renuka Shahane, Ila Bhate, Shishir Sharma, Milind Phatak, Krutikka Deo and Shalv Kinjawadekar appear listless. Sumedh Mudgalkar as the donor’s brother who rebuffs Dixit’s initiative looks sincere and shows a lot of promise. 

Even though Dixit dominates the onscreen proceedings there are few supporting artistes who manage to make a distinctive mark including 82 year old Shubha Khote as the supportive great grandmother who encourages Dixit in her mission, Vandana Gupte as Dixit’s dominating and disciplined mother in law adds comic relief and Resham Tipnis as Dixit’s bohemian friend is fantastic. 

A soul stirring beautiful subject with a brilliant protagonist who has essayed her role with uninimatable grace and unmatcheable emoting talent and well supported by an even and noble direction is unfortunately weakened by imbalanced technical flaws. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️

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