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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ONE HIT WONDERS# 2

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Why should boys have all the fun huh? In the one hit wonders girls ain’t lagging behind, there are quite a lot of heroines who hit the bullseye with one big hit and could never repeat the success formulae ever again. Do you even remember a Meera Jogalekar from Ek Kali Muskayee(1967)? Or Naina Sahu from Hare Kaanch Ki Chooriyaan(1967)? In the second segment revisiting five leading ladies who hit bigtime and collapsed thereafter. 


Vimi Aggarwal
Petite, soft and beautiful almost like a Barbie doll, infact even expressionless like the doll that’s how Vimi could be described. Her debut Humraaz(1967) was a sensational musical blockbuster, but her subsequent releases in Bollywood ducked at box office, a tumultuous personal life and terrible choice of movies like Vachan(1974) and others ended her once promising career. 



Kaajal Kiran
Her debut Hum Kisise Kum Nahin(1977) was a box office mega hit replete with melodious music. She could’ve easily filled in for the retiring Neetu Singh, alas! She was unceremoniously relegated to B grade movies, some did decent business but none could replicate her debut movie’s rocking success. She started working in c grade Ramsay flicks like Haveli(1985) and Saaya(1989) and later packed bags and moved to Netherlands to settle in matrimony. 



Salma Agha 
Remembered till date for her distinctly nasal yet melodious vocals this singing star was aspiring to be the next Noorjehan and Suraiyya, she even consolidated her singing star position with the bumper hit Nikaah(1982) but that’s all she’s remembered for. Movies like Salma(1984) or Pati Patni Aur Tawaif(1989) couldn’t resurrect her nosedived career, you hear her name today and you instantly remember her debut movie and that poignant ghazal Dil Ke Armaan aansuon mein beh gaye, her Nikaah with Bollywood was short lived. 



Anu Aggarwal
Dusky, tall and irresistibly sexy, Delhi based Anu swayed into Bollywood with the super successful musical hit Aashiqui(1990), she was projected as the next big thing on the block, she was big no doubt and it’s only her big assets that were cinematically exploited in movies like Gajab Tamasa(1992) and Khalnaaika(1993), earning her a career destructive sex symbol tag. After a near fatal car accident she turned to spirituality. 



Zeba Bakhtiyar 
The titular role in Henna(1991) gave Pakistani heiress Zeba a shortcut ticket to Bollywood but none of her movies like Mohabbat Ki Arzoo(1994) or Stuntman(1994) could recreate the Henna magic. She was an symbol of piously serene classic beauty and is only remembered in Bollywood for her debut success. 

It’s an easy way out to blame failed artists for bad career choices, but one can never really pinpoint what went wrong. In an industry where we’ve some horribly bad actors surviving for decades and some genuinely good actors vanishing into oblivion it’s definitely the ‘luck factor’ that works supreme. 

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