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 ...

THE TATTOO MURDERS(2021): review



Directed by: Shrawan Kumar Tiwary 

Streaming on: Disney Hotstar 

Cast: Meera Chopra, Tanuj Virwani, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Anang Desai, Anupam Shyam, Varun Joshi, Chirag Trivedi, Falguni Rajni, Priyanka Khatri, Virender Panday, Mehool Desai, Aman Singh Vohra, Vimmi Bhatt and others. 



A series of murders startle the city that never sleeps, the victims are prostitutes from the infamous and hugely popular kamathipura area. A young officer (Chopra) who is battling psychological issues is assigned the duty to nab the cold blooded serial killer. The only clue available is a scorpion tattoo affixed on each victim. Helped by a supportive subordinate and a local flesh trader, the officer pursues this difficult mission that has its roots in Kolkata finally leading to a bloody climax in Mumbai. 



Decent storyline, no overcrowding of events, well placed flashbacks (though recurrent) are few factors that make this suspense series watchable and tolerable as well. The low points are some of the cast members, some juniors cast as pimps and prostitutes are so bad that they act like those wannabe tiktok artists, are they even called artists? 

Apparently the show was initially titled and publicised as “Kamathipura” and later renamed after a new OTT censorship policy. The new policy is quite evident considering it’s very obvious that the sexual scenes have been toned down, since the series is entirely revolving around the serial killings of call girls and shot majorly in dingy brothel areas(or reconstructed sets) its surprising there’s minimal sex on screen. 



The director has his focus in place, and can do much better next time, in this case it’s the finale that looked a little rushed. While the whole series moves at a considerably decent pace, the final episode has events happening in a jiffy, more like the makers wanted to end it at any cost. A little more detailed study of the killer and the psychological aftermath was needed in the finale. 

Thankfully Meera Chopra in the central role does a fine job. She’ll be criticised for not playing the stereotyped female cop. We are so used to viewing female cops in movies made to walk, talk, act like man! Why ? Recently Lara Dutta played a manly cop in a web-series, Chopra in comparison plays her part authentically without resorting to bollywoodish stereotypes, good job. 



Rest of the cast is so so. Virwani who was so amazing as Vayu in the Inside Edge series somehow disappoints here. He’s not bad but the role isn’t that well developed. Anang Desai plays the DCP like he’s been doing the job for a million years, looking so comfortable in that role. 

If graphic violence or suggestive sexual torture isn’t your cup of tea for visual viewing then you must avoid this, it’s rated 18+ and has a mature subject majorly revolving around sex and violence. 



Underrated, poorly marketed and not much talked about, but it’s a decent one time watch. Both the director and the leading lady deserve another better chance as they’ve a lot of untapped capabilities. Meera for instance is so under-utilised in the industry, she may not be as good as Priyanka but she’s much better than Parineeti, trust me. ⭐️⭐️ 

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