Jawan Review: Expect A Shah Rukh Khan Movie, In Jawan You Will Get A Shah Rukh Khan Movie (Bonus: Its An Atlee Movie Too)
Director: Atlee
Writers: Atlee, S Ramanagirivasan
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Deepika Padukone (special appearance), Priyamani, Sunil Grover, Riddhi Dogra, Sanya Malhotra, Sanjay Dutt (cameo)
In Jawan, you get everything and all the things that you expect from a Shah Rukh Khan movie. This movie has the quintessential lover boy (a man, in fact) Shah Rukh Khan.If you are familiar with the Shah Rukh Khan of Baazigar, Darr, Pathaan, Don, and Koyla, Jawan has that as well. However, there is a difference: in the above-mentioned movies, the hero was up against an individual or a family or an organization. In Jawan, he is fighting the entire system, which includes the government, organizations, and individuals. In Jawan, Shah Rukh Khan is a suitless superhero who fights everything and everyone without a spandex, but at times covering faces and hair.
It”s a Shah Rukh Khan spectacular, with an Atlee exoticism. A movie that is held together by the kinetic energy of the superstar who submits to the ceaseless showdowns of a script that has been perfectly sketched by Mersal and Theri director-writer Atlee.
The Tamil director brings in all of those elements of an action movie (in fact, a mass action movie) into Jawan. It has dialogues that can keep you hooked into the story. It has an ensemble cast that covers notable Indian demographies. It has those whirling, crunching, gravity-defying fight scenes. Though there is no world tour as there was in Pathaan, the movie travels through all possible geographical locations that the script demands, or may be market demands.
When I say the movie has all the elements of an action movie, I need to add one more thing. Following the cue from how South Indian movies or their remade versions have found a foothold among North Indian movie watchers, Atlee, with the much ease, shows off the cinematic bravura that he epitomized in Mersal and Bigil; the hero has to be a mass hero (or mass” hero), and he has to be presented in a way that scenes, dialogues, and the background music work together to reinforce that idea.
Monotonous action sequences, such as car chases, high-flying daredevilry, and frenetic gunshots, do not define Atlee at all. Instead, he fine-tunes the whole movie into a spectacle, in which the hero wreaks havoc and avenges all the wrongs that were done to him in the past.
Jawan is the apotheosis of the myth called Shah Rukh Khan. Since the actor Shah Rukh Khan has said that he lives behind the myth called “Shah Rukh Khan”, Jawan, like Ra.One, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, and Pathaan, showcases the persona, commitment, brand, and extravagance of the myth. Jawan proves that it is difficult to escape the exuberant manipulation of the myth or what the man has done to his fans and audience in the last three decades. The visibility and acclaim the myth possesses and the arbitrary verve is visible in Jawan as well.
The only wonder that remains is how he managed to do roles like Kabir Khan (Chak De! India) and Mohan Bhargav (Swadesh) despite the overarching idea that the actor is nonexistent but the showman is alive and exploding.
Then there”s Vijay Sethupathi. He hasn”t changed much from his villainous roles in Vikram and Master, but what is visible is the craft of an actor who can metamorphoses into a wide range of possibilities in terms of mannerisms, voice, and presentation. You see Vijay Sethupathi the actor erupts into these possibilities as the movie enters the “who”s the biggest badass?” mano-a-mano between Khan and Sethupathi.
Apart from Shah Rukh Khan, the panache in the entire 169 minutes are Nayanthara, Deepika Padukone, and Khan”s six “ladies”. The camera and editing work have done wonders in bringing to life the flamboyance that both leading ladies can bring to life when given bigger responsibilities. Note that Deepika”s role is much longer in the movie than what was earlier announced as a “special appearance”.
The script and the visual imagery of the movie may send out different messages, since Shah Rukh Khan”s politics and the actor”s identity are always areas of debates among fans and the public. Yes, the movie carries a certain weightage of the politics and message in it. Movie conspiracy theorists may have a field day with the vigilante Shah Rukh Khan, who at one point gives a monologue asking people to use their right to vote through informed decisions, and who is also in conflict with the power centers and their affiliates throughout the movie. However, the crowd joining the vigilante hero and justifying his or her actions, as shown in Jawan, has been a major winning formula in several movies in Tamil Nadu, such as Indian, Annyan, Mudhalvan, Shivaji, Mersal, and Vaathi. When it comes to presentation, the Tamil film industry has never shied away from questioning the power centres in the country, and most times, they have done it better than Hollywood movies. Atlee”s cue in this is his own industry, which is daring when it comes to portraying politicians.
