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 FAMILY MAN S2(2021) review

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Streaming on : Amazon prime video (9 episodes) 

Directed by: Raj-DK and Suparn Varma 

Cast: Manoj Bajpaye, Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi, Shahab Ali, Samantha Akkineni, Ashlesha Thakur, Vedant Sinha, Sharad Kelkar, Dalip Tahil, Darshan Kumar, Aritro R Banerjee, Anand Sami, Ravindra Vijay, Rajesh Balachandiran, Devadarshini, Udayabhanu Maheshwaran, Sunny Hinduja and Seema Biswas. 

And just when you feel the level of Indian web series is stooping low, arrives the second season of Family Man, it was good in 2019, it’s much much better this time. Wonder how the director trio made a series so full of excitement and intrigue without a single “dull” moment. There are so many things happening, everything at fast speed, so many characters involved, yet there’s not an iota of confusion or mismanagement here, kudos to the team for a clear winner. 


While the first season dealt with Pakistani cum Kerala based terrorist activities , this time the focus shifts to Sri Lankan terrorists who are hailed as rebels or crusaders in their community. Out to get justice and avenge the death of their loved ones, a group of terrorists from Sri Lanka are planning to assassinate the prime minister of India (no it’s not a Modi inspired pm here, on the contrary it’s a Mamta Banerjeesque Bengali pm). 

Shrikant (Bajpaye) who’d quit the special task force to join an IT company (and deal with an over enthusiastic boss) rejoins the STF when assigned the Herculean task of nabbing the aforementioned terrorists who are supposedly stationed at Chennai. As expected he has to simultaneously deal with domestic upheavals which soon get connected with his professional task this season. 


Trust me, not a single dull moment, you can’t even blink and miss the jet speed proceedings online. With nine fabulously directed episodes I would rate episodes six to eight as the best. The finale may disappoint a bit, that’s it a bit only, but the directors do get credit for the innovative filming technology used during the racing against speed and time climax sequence. Technically, the series impresses and the cinematographer Cameron Bryson does an exceptionally excellent job here. 

Bajpaye is undoubtedly the flag bearer with a knockout performance, bettering his season one act, almost making himself indispensable, nobody else can be imagined in this character that’s the kind of conviction and command he gains over it. Sharib Hashmi, Shahab Ali, Priyamani reprise their characters from S1 and do a fine job. But two characters that stand out are Mutthu(Ravindra Vijay)-simply brilliant and Chellum Sir (Maheshwaran) -with hardly ten minute screen time in entire nine episodes, who cares about the length of the character when you can impress in just a few minutes. The weakest link is Akkineni, though overhyped and praised to the skies, inspite of having the best role (author backed) her performance lacks the punch and fire that was so needed. (Reference could be Manisha Koirala in a similar role in Dil Se[1998] which was more effective), maybe her dead pan expression impressed many, sorry I wasn’t. 


Must watch if you liked the S1, and a must watch even if you haven’t watched S1 after all I’m still wondering what happened at ‘Lonavala’ ? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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