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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HIGH (2020) review

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HIGH (2020) 

Directed by: Nikhil Rao 

Cast: Akshay Oberoi, Ranvir Shorey, Mrinmayee Godbole, Prakash Belwadi, Kunal Naik, Shweta Basu Prasad, Padmavati Rao, Mantramugdh, Nakul Bhalla, Veerendra Saxena, and others 

Brilliant ! If this thrilling web series has to be described in one word it’s brilliant. Totally high on ‘substance’ quite literally though, it tends to intoxicate you with its freshness and innovative conceptualisation. 

A group of doctors discover a drug which they aptly name ‘magic’, a former junkie assists them in marketing it amongst the targeted audience, now there’s more to this drug than just being a ‘drug’, so there are Two Drug Mafias hunting for it, a grey haired CEO of a pharma company sends her henchman to hunt, and an ambitious journalist also gets intrigued by its ‘magic’. 

It’s more about the unique and evenly paced treatment by the director that makes ‘High’ stand out from rest of the web series these days. There’s thrill, there are some twists, action and just enough entertainment as well. Surprisingly no place for melodrama or over the top shenanigans here. Oberoi is Bollywood’s loss and OTT’s gain, delivering a well restrained mature performance, Shorey plays his part with a ‘killer instinct’. Belwadi, Bhalla, Naik are all impressive in their respective parts. 

Two cameos by unknown actors that impress are the guy playing ‘Pakya’ and the actress playing the younger version of Rao in the 70’s flashbacks. She has imitated Rao’s mannerisms and body language perfectly. 

Say NO to Drugs but it’s pleasurable to get ‘High’ on such cinematic brilliance, the Director draws inspiration from Ram Gopal Varma to Anurag Kashyap to Shriram Raghavan. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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