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 from Kaml
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25 years of DDLJ

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25 years of DDLJ - what worked in its favour ? 

When you think of DDLJ what appeals most is it’s freshness, romance filled with dew drops, typically mills and boon girl meets boy cliche, melodious music and rich production values( where else would you as a viewer get a free Europe tour other than YashRaj banner?)

Twenty five years and the film lives on. Fresh as ever, it became the biggest blockbuster of 1995 and is still amongst the top ten all time blockbusters of Bollywood. And it catered to the privileged nri section as well. Producer Yash Chopra and his debutant son Aditya Chopra relied primarily on freshness, the locations ( London, Punjab) looked fresh and romantic as ever. The idea of filming half the movie abroad and post interval in India also gave it that wonderful fusion feeling that was so appealing for the mid 90’s. 

Casting Shahrukh helped. He had consolidated his number one position by then and was the proverbial heartthrob among college goers, even the older generation loved him. As Raj he just slipped in naturally into the flamboyant hopelessly in love character. The heroine Kajol was yet to break ice with viewers, she was chubby, dusky, had an unibrow, flaunted her Punjabi wrestler arms and thunder thighs and was so unapologetic about it, she looked comfortable in her skin. For Bollywood that was obsessed with hour glass figures and fair and lovely complexions, Kajol’s Simran was a welcome change. Audience loved her, and that was the real Kajol. 

One can’t take away credit from the captain of the ship Aditya Chopra, who hit the bullseye with his beautiful romcom oozing of first love, longing and desperation. Amalgamating modernism with traditional Indian values the final product looked perfect. Can’t miss the soulful romance filled music by upcoming composers Jatin Lalit. The songs were a rage sung by Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, Abhijeet Bhattacharya and 65 year old Lata Mangeshkar sounding awesome young and fresh as a 16 year old. Tujhe Dekha To Yeh, Mehndi Lagake Rakhna, Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko, Mere Khwabo Mein Jo Aaye were all chartbusters, making you wonder why Jatin Lalit did not win the Filmfare or any prestigious award that year? 

The supporting cast was as reliable as ever, veterans Amrish Puri, Anupam Kher, Farida Jalal , Satish Shah were rock solid. Heard of the movie running successfully at Maratha Mandir for many years, maybe ten years or something, now that sounds incredibly suspicious. It was a great movie but certainly not an epic. Nevertheless twenty five years and its fresh and memorable. 

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