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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CHHALANG[2020]: an “offbeat” leap !

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Director: Hansal Mehta 
Cast: Rajkumar Rao, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub, Nushrat Bharucha, Satish Kaushik, Saurabh Shukla, Ila Arun, Naman Jain, Jatin Sarna, & others. 

This offbeat ‘coming of age’ movie belongs to those Bollywood fares where as a viewer you know what’s going to happen in the end, that it’s the hero who’ll triumph victorious, and yet you flow with the tide notwithstanding the predictability. 


Set in Haryana, it’s a simple story about a young PT teacher in a govt aided school played by Rao (brilliant), who’s laidback, callous and has a ‘chalta hai’ attitude towards his work. Things take a major u-turn when a rival PT teacher joins the school and is determined to displace Rao from his position. Realising how he’s been taking his life, work and the students for granted, Rao undergoes an attitude transformation to consolidate his position and prove his capabilities. 


We’ve seen such stuff earlier in Hollywood as well as Indian movies, there have been some lovely sports based movies like Hip Hip Hurray(1984), Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander (1992), Chak De India(2007) and so many more, just like those even Chhalang relies on good winning over evil or the hero succeeding in proving his heroism in the end, but Mehta’s treatment of the subject looks fresh and enjoyable. The location, dialogues, simplicity, relatability, everything touches the right chords. Mehta who’s earlier worked with Rao (his favourite hero) in movies like Aligarh, Shahid, City-lights etc proves they make an amazing creative pair. 


Rao is a delight to watch, getting into the skin of the child-man he’s playing, very ably supported by Shukla, Kaushik and Bharucha(her smile can run a current in your body). Mohd Ayub is perfectly cast, an under-utilised talent in Bollywood. Veteran singing star Ila Arun is full of grace and energy as the school principal. What we realise is the casting is so apt, they all end up looking the characters they’re portraying. 


This movie can be categorised in the feel good factor genre that includes Ayushman Khurrana’s domain of movies, it’s got that ‘Dil Ko Chhoo Lene wali’ feeling about it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

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