Jawan Review: South Biryani For North Audience!

After Pathaan, King Khan SRK is back with action-thriller. He teamed up with South filmmaker Atlee for Jawan. The film’s ensemble cast has several leading South actors in prominent roles including Vijay Sethupati as the antagonist and Nayantara as the female lead. The film’s advance sales for the opening day at national multiplex chains set records. All these indicate a super craze for the film. Will the film live up to all its hype and buzz? Will SRK and Atlee together do the trick. Let’s check out.

Plot:

Azad (SRK), a jailer of a women’s jail, revolts against the corrupt political system. He is the Robin Hood who takes on rich and looters like Kali (Vijay Sethupati) to help the poor and needy like farmers families. He meets Narmada Rai (Nayanthara) who is on lookout for most-wanted Vikram and both fall for one another. What is Azad’s past? Who is original Vikram Rathore and his connection to Kaali? How does Azad settles all the scores for the personal cause as well as the larger interest forms the Jawan’s main plot.

Performances:

Undeniably, SRK delivered his career-best performance. It is his one-man show. He is going to turn 58 in the coming November. His age-defying action stunts and his performance stands out. He slipped into various avatars. His makeover and body mannerisms take center-stage. Nayantara gets a substantial role as Narmada Rai, love-interest of Azad. She is beautiful yet she shines in the action scenes. Deepika Padukone as Aishwarya is alright. Deepika did her best. But her portions are underwhelming, blame the poor writing. Vijay Sethupathi gets usual role as baddie. His initial portions get thumbs up. But it just takes stereotype turn. Lack of seriousness in his role makes villain character little weaker. Priyamani is decent as Lakshmi, a supportive role among the six women team led by SRK as Azad. All the six women get decent role. There are several actors in the film who has limited scope to shine as it is total hero-dominated and hero-worshipping movie from Atlee.

Technicalities

Jawan has all the mass elements. But the writing is very formulaic and nostalgic. The direction is where the film scores. The hero-elevation scenes does the magic, thanks to Atlee’s direction that has South-masala. Visuals are grand and appealing. Songs are not as energetic and successful like other south films of this scale. Anirudh couldn’t meet the expectations. BGM is good though. Production design is efficient. Technically, the film has nothing much to point out.

Highlights
SRK as Azad & Vikram Rathore
Crowd-Pleasing & Mass Scenes
Heavy-Duty Action Episodes

Drawbacks
Prolonged & Predictable Drama
Flashback Episode
Old Fashioned Narration
Songs

Analysis

Jawan is a South Biryani dished to North audiences. Basically, this is a very much familiar dish to south audiences. However, this is catered largely to other part who may find it appealing. The story is quite familiar to the Telugu and South audience who have been used to such films, in fact these-type stories are done to death. The similarities to several old films are infinite. However, this content may be liking to North audiences who have been embracing commercial and massy films of late. This is where chef aka director Atlee succeeded in delivering perfect Biryani. He masterfully used lead actor SRK and played to his strengths. Story-wise, Atlee got the right ingredients and essential elements that largely work and appeal to crowds. The masse elements are scoring points.

Yet, the film is highly predictable on several counts. The writing is a big let down. Cliched scenes are scattered all across the film. There are forced emotion and scenes. The action and hero-domination scenes are over-the-top. There is lack of grip on the film’s screenplay. The narration is quite old-fashioned and the pace issues are struggling. The first half goes smoothly with occasional appealing moments. The flash back episode involving Deepika Padukone in the second-half is boring.

On the surface, Jawan is very cinematic and formulaic. There are several artificial moments placed here and there. The pre-interval portions or pre-climax portions all make us nostalgic. The film gets prolonged and drama is very dampening. Sumit Arora’s dialogues are not upto the mark. Commercial films like Jawan are hard to judge. Masses may take this film a top notch higher. The biggest strength of Jawan is SRK and his mass appeal. Atlee banked upon SRK’s charm and his star power. He also attempts Shankar-type of social elements which only worked partially.

Having said all the pros and cons, the film got a stellar opening and given the trend of commercial hits in Bollywood (recent being Gadar 2), let’s see how Jawan fares at the Box Office and received by the masses. This is Jawan is Purani but massy. This South Biryani appeals to North audiences.

Verdict: South Biryani For North Audience!

Rating: 2.75/5