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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FLASHBACK# An Affair To Remember ?

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Asha Bhosle and Dada Kondke? Seriously ? I’ll be dubbed insane to link these two veterans. But it’s one little known, never discussed, lost in clandestine Bollywood history romance (?) which was described in detail by the late actor in his controversial autobiography “Ekata Jeev” which was posthumously published. 



In the biography there is a special chapter titled “Asha Nirasha” wherein Kondke has gone at length discussing about his tumultuous affair with the greatest songstress of all times. Kondke still a rising upcoming film actor at that time (1972) with only one hit to his credit was taken under her wings by the number two playback singer of Bollywood Asha Bhosle. Bhosle was at that time nursing a broken heart freshly wounded after a fourteen year long relationship with music maestro OP Nayyar had bitterly ended. 



It is alleged Bhosle was depressed and found the right anchor in Kondke who in her eyes was the perfect jester to bring joy and happiness in her phase of rebound. Kondke mentions how he found unconditional love and comfort with Bhosle during their brief yet passionate affair in 1972-73. He also mentions how he used to visit Bhosle at her residence (with legendary Lata Mangeshkar living next door) and was enamoured and impressed with Bhosle’s devotion to her mother-in-law (mother of Bhosle’s estranged departed husband Ganpat Rao Bhosle). 



Kondke is quick to add that the affair was short lived as Bhosle found eternal love with music director RD Burman and he moved on to silver jubilee successes in Marathi cinema. While he hasn’t mentioned anything bitter about their relationship he does accept the fact that Bhosle was attracted towards him only because she was on a rebound trip and needed to uplift her depressed spirits due to the infamous breakup with Nayyar. 

The alleged affair between the two legends is as mentioned in Kondke’s autobiography though there is no other reference or mention about this particular relationship anywhere except a rare paragraph in a Bollywood related coffee table book authored by Jerry Pinto. Even when Kondke’s bio was published Bhosle did not raise any objection or denied the contents related to her in the book. 

All images courtesy: Yahoo images and the book “Ekata Jeev”. 

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