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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Dhaakad- Review

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From Budapest to Bhopal you get to experience a torturous, terribly violent and eardrum shattering journey of good vs evil in Razneesh Ghai’s Hollywood inspired thriller Dhaakad! 

Packed with punch, that fizzles out every now and then the story (or the lack of it) is about an agent named Agni (Ranaut) and her fight against a human trafficking mafia Don (Rampal). Dragging for over 131 minutes it’s a long and never ending boredom. Some of the scenes are stretched and dragged till you yawn, some flashbacks are so recurrent that you wanna catch hold of the director and request him to stop it right there ! 

It’s good to see the beautiful and unexplored city of Bhopal and some more lovely locations in Madhya Pradesh being beautifully explored in this movie. That’s the only saving grace, the lovely photography and scenic locales. The screenplay is weak, dialogues dull and storyline is a mishmash of 70s Bollywood trash combined with wannabe Lara Croft meeting kill bill. 

Ghai’s direction lacks credibility and authenticity, there’s too much of an Hollywood hangover. Ranaut is Ranaut, zilch improvisation, she’s just playing herself. Rampal with his lean and mean appearance is passable. Hashmi, Dutta and Chatterjee (he’s the original Bob Biswas) are really good, specially Dutta’s rustic and cold blooded Rohini is extraordinarily good. ⭐️⭐️

Dhaakad is a Bollywood crime thriller featuring Kangana Ranaut, Arjun Rampal, Sharib Hashmi, Divya Dutta and Saswata Chatterjee. 

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