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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BARD OF BLOOD (2019) : A review

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Directed by: Ribhu Dasgupta 
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Vineet Kumar, Jaideep Ahlawat, Sobhita Dhulipala, Danish Aslam, Kirti Kulhari, Rajit Kapur, Shishir Sharma, Shruti Marathe, Soham Shah and others. 

Excellent! If it’s just one word that I need to describe this espionage thriller then it’s excellent. And so bloody underrated and thrashed mercilessly by critics and IMDb users. Wonder why? 



Based on the novel by the young author Bilal Siddiqui this hard hitting fast paced thriller series (seven episodes each averaging around 40 mins) follows the revengeful journey of an Indian agent/ spy Kabir (Hashmi) who revisits Baluchistan to free some Indian agents who’ve been held captive by Talibani terrorists, he also has to settle some old scores. 



Dasgupta’s direction is first rate, focussed on one track throughout the best part is there are no unnecessary side plots, even the flashbacks don’t seem to deviate from the centre plot, no complicated or elongated sequences which makes the entire series as cool as the breeze, it just flows like a lovely spring uninterrupted and chiselled. 



Performance wise there’s no sore thumb out here. Hashmi is fantastic in his portrayal of the protagonist, completely in control. Ahlawat shines in a negative role and Vineet Kumar nails it hard as the punjabi spy in Afghanistan. Dhulipala has that mystique attraction about her, a delicious concoction of Deepika and Bipasha she is. Kulhari reminded me of Tabu with her sensitive and underplayed character. 



So just why is this series rated so low and badly reviewed by many? Maybe because of Shah Rukh Khan’s production? Since he’s attracted hatred from many viewers due to some anti national comments , is it so? But then he and his production house deserve accolades for the rich, expensive and highly impressive production values invested in this series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️



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