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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City of Dreams (2019) Review

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CITY OF DREAMS (2019) 

Directed by: Nagesh Kukunoor 

Cast: Atul Kulkarni, Eijaz Khan, Priya Bapat, Siddharth Chandekar, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Sandeep Kulkarni, Vishwas Kini, Uday Tikekar, Flora Saini, Shilpa Tulaskar, Amrita Bagchi, Saurabh Goyal, Rishi Deshpande, Devas Dixit & others. 

Watched only because it was recommended strongly by a friend, have mixed feelings about this socio political thriller webseries streaming on hotstar. Dealing with a dynastic political saga in Maharashtra it’s a fictional account of cutthroat rivalry between political competitors. 

Set in Mumbai, it centres around a political family wherein patriarchy rules, when the daughter of the family rebels with her ambitions of ruling their family political party she gets no help from the men in her life, a chauvinistic father, temperamental brother and a disinterested husband. With her intellectual and grit she sets on a determined mission to prove her power, even if that involves eradicating the hindrances in her way. 

Kukunoor once upon a time directed some memorable coming of age movies like Hyderabad Blues(1998), Rockford (1999) right upto Iqbal(2005) and the underrated Dor(2007), his style of direction has gone a huge transformation, makes you feel he’s catering to the masses. The overload of sex, expletives and some unnecessary side plots make you cringe, wish he had made it crisp with around 5-6 episodes rather than dragging to 10 long episodes. 

Eijaz Khan is the star here, playing the hot headed cop “Encounter Wasim” he overshadows the entire star cast including seniors. Petite and cute as a Pomeranian puppy Bapat gets the central role and she plays it well. Pilgaonkar looks uncomfortable as a corrupt chief minister, wish Kukunoor had tried injecting some authentic realism into this, the scenes shot at apparent red light areas or slums look stylised and polished, as a viewer you don’t feel the “stink” or disgust that should’ve been the norm. ⭐️⭐️

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