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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MISMATCHED(2020): Review

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Directed by: Akarsh Khurana
Cast: Rohit Saraf, Prajakta Koli, Taaruk Raina, Muskaan Jaffri, Vidya Malvade, Ranvijay Singha, Aditi Govitrikar, Suhasini Mulay, Kshiti Jog, Jatin Sial & others. 

It’s raining romcoms on the OTT platform, if you lapped up cheesy flicks like ‘Emily in Paris’ and MASABA MASABA then you may fall in love with ‘Mismatched’ which is an confused adaptation of Sandhya Menon’s novel ‘When Dimple met Rishi’. 



Set in picturesque Rajasthan(and you get a lovely tour of the beautiful locations) the story is about a young teenage girl who joins a short term course in gaming/apps/coding in an institute where she meets all kind of people from her generation, a friendly roomie, a physically disabled bully, an American born desi project partner and the quintessential lover boy ! It’s her journey that’s it. 



Not sure what more the director could’ve added to glamourise or enhance the storyline, it’s infused with unlimited saccharine that after a point you feel like throwing up, seriously. Thoda to Namak Mirch Daal dete. What we see in this was already attempted in the 90s tv shows like Banegi Apni Baat and Hip Hip Hurray, remember them?  



Koli as the geeky bespectacled nerd is in great form, looks earnest and talented, and Raina is outstanding, wish he was cast in the lead role as he has so much untapped talent. Singha as the friendly professor is a major letdown it’s like he’s still got the roadies hangover. Malvade makes her presence felt as the 41 year old Muslim widow. 



Maybe the timing is all wrong, we are already fed on an overdose of sweets during diwali hence one can’t digest the overload of sweetness dumped by this series. And wait, why the hell has Netflix rated it 18+? Reason provided is sex, language, substance. Dearie’s, this is far too clean and decent and meant to target the teens aged 13-19, netflix seems to have got their planned audience ‘mismatched’! ⭐️⭐️



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