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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THE ASPIRANTS (2021) review

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Streaming on: YouTube 

Directed by: Apoorva Singh Karki 

Cast: Naveen Kasturia, Shivankit Singh Parihar, Abhilash Thapliyal, Namita Dubey, Sunny Hinduja, Kuljeet Singh, Nupur Nagpal, and others. 

In my case TVF seems to be having an 100% entertainment success rate, never disappoints. If you liked the Kota factory series then this is a must watch , from stereotyping ‘coming of age’ as visiting Goan shores (Dil Chahta Hai) or an expensive kidney sale overseas adventure (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara) we get to watch what it actually means to come of age in this series. Friendship, betrayal, companionship, puppy love, ambition, motivation, you’ve got it all rolled into this five episodic ‘intellectually’ satisfying series. 


Set in old Rajinder Nager, Delhi the series time travels between the present and the past wherein we get acquainted with three young men ‘well settled’ in their respective jobs of an IAS officer, a business man and a professor. We get flash backed recurrently into their past wherein they were preparing for upsc competitive examination. How they formed a strong bond, their tribulations, friendly banters, the entry of a beautiful girl igniting romance and later breakup, it’s all there. 


It’s not your typical educative or preaching series, it’s customary for people to associate boredom and monotony with something as intellectual as an upsc exam and when you’ve an entire Series centered around it then it gotta be boring isn’t it ? But that’s not the case here. It’s got generous entertainment with jokes you can relate to. That ‘déjà vu’ feeling of having said that, been there with your friends would be surely experienced by many viewers. 


The director certainly and definitely has his focus in the right direction. With ‘lengthy’ episodes none of the sequences look stretched. The casting is a major plus point with tvf veteran Kasturia playing his lead role with great aplomb. The supporting cast is equally good with Parihar as Guri and Thapliyal as SK both giving their best. But one character that stood out for me is Hinduja’s quintessential next door Sandeep Bhaiyya, you feel like reaching out to him. 


Well made, has that straight from the heart ‘Dil Se’ feeling to it. Wonder why we can’t associate friendships and bondings with gullies of Delhi rather than exotic Goan beaches or Europe adventures. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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