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 ...
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सरकारनामा (1998) revisited

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SARKARNAMA (1998) Revisited 

Director : Shrabani Deodhar 

Cast: Yeshwant Dutt, Dileep Prabhawalkar, Ajinkya Deo, Ashwini Bhave, Jagdish Patankar, Milind Gunaji, Nandu Madhav, Upendra Limaye, Makarand Anaspure, Shrikant Moghe, Prateeksha Lonkar, Makarand Anaspure, Yatin Karyekar, Sachin Pandit & Sukanya Kulkarni. 

Today, this movie would appear so relevant, when we are in the midst of political nexus, corruption at its peak and opportunistic political mafia milking money at the cost of innocent public lives. In the 90s it would’ve appeared like a typical fiction based political drama, but today it’s a realistic depiction of what dirty politics is all about. 

Deodhar’s socio political thriller can be a reference point for beginners wanting to explore this genre in Indian cinema. For a woman filmmaker to make this bold movie in 1998 is quite an achievement. The story exposes the dual faced stigma that engulfs the political scenario in Maharashtra in the late 90s, a common man tries to unmask influential political honchos, does he succeed? The climax is unconventional and leaves you with mixed feelings, but the harsh realities of Indian politics hits you hard. 

Technically it’s a brilliant movie with excellent contribution from the editor (Zaffar Sultan), cinematographer (The late Debu Deodhar) and writer(Ajay Jhankar). The casting is perfect, the recurrent face-off between Dutt and Prabhawalkar is well scripted and even better enacted on screen. Deo as the protagonist and Bhave as a feisty journalist are impressive. Being an ensemble cast it must’ve been an Herculean task for the director to ensure justifiable footage for all the artists, she excels in justifying it well. Though it’s Dutt in his final cinematic appearance who shines the brightest as the dominating and equally domineering Chief Minister. 

Very deservingly the movie won the best film award at Screen Awards, Maharashtra State Awards and Filmfare Awards(Marathi section). Sukanya Kulkarni won the Best Actress Filmfare Award(Marathi section). 

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