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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KHILADI (1992)

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KHILADI (1992) ~~~~rewatched 

Directed by: Abbas-Mustan 

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Ayesha Jhulka, Shakti Kapoor, Deepak Tijori, Johnny Lever, Dinyar Contractor, Anant Mahadevan, Harpal Singh, Sanjeev Chitre, Sabeeha, Beena Banerjee, Kunika, Guddi Maruti, Tinnu Anand, Sharat Saxena, Amrutlal Patel & Prem Chopra.  

This enjoyable suspense thriller was playing on tv yesterday and it just doesn’t get old, it’s so 90s. So what worked in its favour? It had a stale storyline, an unknown lead hero, the director duo and music composer duo were non entities, so what worked? The “freshness” is what u believe. 

Four young college going fun loving friends play a prank that goes awfully and fatally wrong! A murder that needs to be investigated and the real killer should be nabbed before the innocent youngsters get caught in a web of mystery. A similar storyline was used earlier, but the dynamic brothers Abbas-Mustan presented the old wine in a delightfully decorated new bottle that was savoured by public at large making the movie a box office superhit. 

Akshay Kumar danced, romanced and got ample opportunity to display his martial art skills here, veterans like Shakti Kapoor, Tinnu Anand and Anant Mahadevan had well etched roles while good old Prem Chopra hammed in his typecast corrupt politician act. It’s hard to ignore Johnny Lever’s hilarious comic act with “Mere Chhote Chhote Bachche Hain” and other mind blowing comical skits. 

Jatin-Lalit’s romantic, youthful and breezy music also played an important “role” in the movie’s surprise success. Songs like ‘Wada Raha Sanam’ ‘Hum Yaar Hain’ ‘Dekha Teri Mast Nigahon’ ‘College Mein Nayi Nayi’ ‘Kya Khabar Thi’ ‘Hoke Mann Aaj Magan’ are so 90s melodies to rejoice with. 

So you don’t need to always be an original, if your inspirations are infused with freshness and youthful energy then you’ve a clear winner in your hand ! 

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