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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A SIMPLE MURDER (2021) Review

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A SIMPLE MURDER (2020) directed by Sachin Pathak 

Cast- Mohammed Z Ayub, Amit Sial, Sushant Singh, Priya Anand, Ayaaz Khan, Gopal Dutt, Vikram Kochhar, Yashpal Sharma and others. 

Warning: In case you cannot comprehend black comedies you need to skip this, this is an out and out black or as they call it nowadays dark comedy. So the proceedings may be undigestible for certain viewers. Streaming on Sonyliv 



The story is infused with comical coincidences including mice that create humorous errors leading to complicated yet entertaining repercussions. A young guy high on debt is erroneously assigned the deadly job of assassinating a politician’s daughter who has eloped with a Muslim boyfriend. He ends up killing the wrong girl, the victim’s partner is a retired contract killer who’s now on a mission to nab the killer, and wait there are some more interesting characters. The young man’s wife is cheating on him with her virile boss who in turn was having a scandalous affair with the murdered woman ! Holy cow ! Too much of coincidences to handle? 



Thankfully the on screen proceedings ain’t confusing , the director has handled the complex concept with consummate ease. Like I mentioned earlier the story may not appeal to many considering its stark black in nature. When murder and torture is glorified via black comedy it might make viewers uncomfortable but then that’s what dark comedies are all about isn’t it ? 



The director does a decent job and the ending also hints at a season two, it’s more performance driven. Mohammed Z Ayub is good in an author backed central role and so are Sushant and Amit Sial who seem to enjoy their roles on screen. Kochhar is outstanding in his colorful role of an investigating officer. Priya stands out like a sore thumb, looks like a bhendi bazaar version of Flora Saini and acts with zero expressions or credibility. 



Wonder why it remained an hidden gem, no doubt there are loopholes but then conceptualising and directing a black comedy isn’t really an easy task and the director does sail through smoothly with very minor turbulence occasionally. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

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