The Common Man Speaks

Big celebs endorsing UNRECOGNIZED Phalke Awards adds confusion & lowers value of real Phalke Award

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Dadasaheb Phalke Award is the highest honour for a film artiste in India. It is given each year by the Government of India to one individual for his or her outstanding contribution to cinema. It is a part of the National Awards each year. However, over the last several years, a number of private awards have been started in the name of Dadasaheb Phalke, which has not only created confusion among the public but is also threatening to lower the importance of the actual Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

The new private awards in the name of Phalke that have cropped up in recent years are – Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards, Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards and Dadasaheb Phalke Film Foundation Awards.

With the name ‘Dadasaheb Phalke’ attached to each of the awards, the public comes under the impression that a particular film artiste has received the prestigious Phalke Award given by the Government. What makes things worse is that a section of the media also reports as if an artiste has received the real Phalke award. At times, they don’t even care to mention the full name of the award and that this is not the actual Phalke award.

A few years ago, there was a lot of hue and cry on social media when news about Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of MSG fame receiving the ‘Phalke Award’ spread like fire. It was later found out that he was given one of the private Phalke awards and not the actual one. It was all a result of a publication giving a misleading headline, which created an online uproar.

This year, the confusion regarding Phalke awards increased manifolds. Earlier, not many big stars used to attend and accept these awards. But this year, some of the biggest names in the industry – like Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Rani Mukerji, Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, etc, – attended the Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards earlier this week and some of them even won in different categories. Also the kind of media coverage this particular awards function received this year was never seen before.

One can just imagine the kind of recognition this unrecognized Phalke Award has now received with the endorsement of some of the biggest names. On top of that, some media houses, like previous years, didn’t care to mention the full name of the award, making it look as if these stars have won the actual Phalke Award. The headlines in the press releases regarding these awards shared by some PR (Public Relation) executives also mentioned only ‘Phalke Award.’

These stars have either a shelf or a room full of awards. So it’s sad to see them endorsing these awards that are unrecognized by the government just to add on to their tally of awards. It is not possible to stop any firm or organization from organizing any private awards. So the least that the industry can do is to not give them importance in order to maintain the sanctity of the actual Phalke Award and, more importantly, the honour of Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, the Father of Indian Cinema.

Tomorrow, someone might just start a parallel National or Padma Awards by adding a few more words in the title.

Also Read: Amaltash (Marathi movie) Review: Tenderly created saga on love, life & music

In an era of govt pleasers, Bhakshak comes as a beacon of hope

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Filmmaker Pulkit’s recent saga Bhakshak, starring Bhumi Pednekar in the lead, tells a fictitious tale inspired from horrific case of a girls’ shelter home in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. In 2018, it came to light that a number of orphan girls in a shelter home in the town run by an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) were subject to rape and sexual abuse. The perpetrators roamed free because of their political connections.

But the truth finally came out and after a long period of trial and the people alleged in the crime were punished. The Supreme Court reportedly criticized the then government of Bihar over the delay in filing the correct FIR (First Information Report) in the case.

Bhakshak, which is streaming on Netflix, is about an honest and upright journalist Vaishali Singh (Pednekar) who runs a small news channel called Koshish News, with the help from her only staff member Bhaskar Sinha (Sanjay Mishra) in Patna. She gets to know about the gruesome case of rape, molestation and murder of a number of orphaned girls in a shelter home in Munawwarpur (name changed) after a source hands over a copy of an audit report.

The report states that such heinous crimes are taking place in a shelter home for girls in Munawwarpur. The report is ignored by the authorities since the shelter home is run by Bansi Sahu (Aditya Srivastav), who has major connections among the political bigwigs in the state. How Vaishali and Bhaskar make efforts for the victims to be freed and given justice by facing various obstacles, including Vaishali’s own family, forms the rest of the story.

Bhakshak is a fine example of narrating a chilling tale in an honest manner. The narrative doesn’t give too much footage to the gruesome crimes but still establishes the wrongdoings and its perpetrators in a heart-wrenching manner. This and various other moments are an indication of mature filmmaking, barring few creative liberties here and there. Bhumi Pednekar, Sanjay Mishra and Aditya Srivastav’s brilliant performances also play a large role in creating an impact. You can’t help but feel for Bhumi’s character and you can’t stop hating Srivastav and his associates.

But Bhakshak is more special because it comes at a time when government propaganda films or movies where the government or the ruling party is pleased are seen regularly. It’s quite cringeworthy how artistes bow down to the political class either to be in their good books or because they share the same ideology or some other reason. The number of such films have increased in recent times, obviously because of the general elections nearing.

During such an era, Bhakshak comes across as a breath of fresh air or a beacon of hope when it comes to the conscience of the film industry. The movie takes a hard-hitting route and provides a no-holds-barred approach when it comes to portraying the criminals and those with criminal mindsets within the political class. The film’s bravery can be seen also from the fact that the makers have named the state of Bihar instead of creating a fictitious state in India, like quite a lot of films.

On the other hand, we have films that take the easiest way out where they pretend to tackle something of national or social importance but eventually and indirectly end up pleasing the government or its ideology. In some cases, however, they have even stopped pretending to be neutral.

Interestingly, this is the second film by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment that has dared to show the mirror to the perpetrators of heinous crimes by the powerful. Just a few months ago, the banner did the same with Jawan, which presented not just one but several humongous loopholes and injustice in our system.

Also read: Fighter Review: Regular cross-border action drama

Fighter Review: Regular cross-border action drama

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Filmmaker Siddharth Anand’s Fighter is touted to be India’s first aerial action film. It revolves around a group of Indian Air Force officers. The story starts off in 2019 when a combat unit Air Dragons is created in response to the increase in the illegal cross border operations by Pakistan. The unit consists of Squadron Leaders Shamsher Pathania aka Patty (Hrithik Roshan), Minal Rathore aka Minni (Deepika Padukone), Sartaj Gill (Karan Singh Grover), Basheer Khan (Akshay Oberoi) and Sukhi (Banveen Singh), a junior officer. The group is headed by Rakesh Jai Singh (Anil Kapoor).

The Air Dragons officers are asked to bond with each other. During this time, Patty and Minni get close. There are issues between Patty and Rakesh Jai Singh due to a disturbing past incident. Meanwhile, the officers are sent to Jammu for an operation. During this time, a suicide bomber kills a large number of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) jawans in an attack in Pulwama.

The incident, obviously, enrages Patty and team. They decide to fight back and take revenge. Air Dragons succeed in their mission. However, the dreaded terrorist Azhar Akhtar (Rishabh Ravinder Sawhney) has more deadly plans up his sleeve against India.

A major highlight of Fighter is the aerial action scenes and there are plenty of them. Apart from keeping you thoroughly interested and, at times, at the edge of your seat (especially if you see the film in Imax, like I did), these scenes also boast of good VFX and camerawork. Of course, a good amount of creative liberty is taken since it’s a mainstream commercial film. The movie also deserves to be praised for the detailing it follows with respect to the professional lives of the air force pilots.

Fighter, however, at the heart of it is just like a regular cross-border action drama with loads of patriotism. Anyone following Hindi cinema for even around 25 years would have seen plenty of this in a number of yesteryear films. The movie has all the clichés one would expect from a film of this type, from half-baked, half-intelligent and immature Pakistani military officers to the heroic dialogue baazi between the good and the bad guys.  

The film also suffers from being lengthy. This is felt in the second half where, surprisingly, action and the subject of terrorism take a backseat and the narrative switches onto a number of emotional moments born out of the interpersonal relations between the characters. All those who saw the trailer and felt that this would be an out-and-out action thriller are bound to have an unpleasant surprise. Thankfully, the film makes up for this in the climax.

Vishal-Sheykhar’s music is decent. Apart from ‘Sher Khul Gaye’, the theme song ‘Vande Mataram’ is not only touching but it also adds to the emotions in a lot of situations. But by the time the film ends, one starts feeling that the track is overused.

Fighter is helped a lot by the performances. Hrithik Roshan fits the character of Patty to the T. He is impressive while portraying different shades of his character. And it’s difficult to believe that he is 50. Deepika Padukone is likeable and determined as Minni. Anil Kapoor commands respect, even with a single glance. Akshay Oberoi and Karan Singh Grover offer fine support. In the role of the mastermind terrorist, Rishabh Ravinder Sawhney is just average.

Overall: Despite the negatives, Fighter still turns out to be a one-time watch and for this, the revenge operation in the first half and, more importantly, the climax are largely responsible.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Also read: Merry Christmas Review: Sriram Raghavan leaves behind his stamp yet again

Merry Christmas Review: Sriram Raghavan leaves behind his stamp yet again

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When a filmmaker consistently leaves behind his signature stamp on all his films and, barring one attempt, has a super successful record, he becomes a genre in himself. Sriram Raghavan is easily one such filmmaker. His latest Merry Christmas has all his thriller elements along with his trademark humour.

Merry Christmas is based on the French novel ‘Le Monte-Charge’ by author Frédéric Dard. This is for the first time that Raghavan has tried a period film. The story is set in Mumbai in the 1980s (then Bombay). It’s the Christmas Eve (December 24). Albert (Vijay Sethupathi) returns to Bombay after quite a while. He goes out to eat at a restaurant where he meets Maria (Katrina Kaif) and her mute daughter Annie (Pari Maheshwari Sharma) under weird circumstances.

Albert and Maria meet again at a cinema hall. They then start talking and form an unusual bond. Hence, Maria invites Albert to her place. Albert has had a dark past and Maria is not happy with her married life as her husband Jerome (Luke Kenny) is cheating on her. Albert and Maria both start feeling for each other. After Annie goes to bed, they both go out to celebrate Christmas. But, out of the blue, a deadly crime takes place, which puts Albert and Maria in trouble.

Sriram Raghavan’s movies are known for being right on the money from the start, with something or the other continuously taking place. But Merry Christmas is an exception where during most of the first half of the film, nothing much happens. This, however, doesn’t trouble you since the proceedings are thoroughly engaging, especially due to some witty humour taking place in some of the most unexpected places.

The film changes gears once the crime takes place. Police procedure and the behavior of cops is always unique in Raghavan’s films and Merry Christmas is no exception. It also doesn’t repeat any of the traits of the cops from his earlier films.

The only firm issue with Merry Christmas is its abrupt climax. It seems that the film is ended in a hurry and you don’t feel like leaving the cinema hall. However, one also can’t deny that the manner in which the narrative reaches the climax and a major twist coming from a character who didn’t seem important before, is praiseworthy. Hence, the ending portion is a mixed bag. The other concern here is one activity a couple of characters engage in in the second half, which could have at least given less importance and shortened.

Merry Christmas is also brought alive by Mayur Sharma’s production design of the bygone era of Mumbai. The old bus stop of Bombay is enough to invoke nostalgia for those grown up in this city in the 1980s and 90s. As one would expect from a film by this filmmaker, the technical aspects in terms of the camerawork, background score and editing are praiseworthy.

There was always eagerness to see how Vijay Sethupathi would perform in a Sriram Raghavan film. The actor delivers a top-notch performance and gets every ounce of Albert right. A special mention should be given to his subtle humour. This is one of Katrina Kaif’s better performances, although her usual limitations are noticeable.

Sanjay Kapoor and Tinnu Anand succeed in being hilarious. Vinay Pathak and Ashwini Kalsekar leave behind an impact despite arriving late. Radhika Apte is fine in a cameo. The child actor Pari Maheshwari Sharma shows impressive acting abilities.

Overall: Although Merry Christmas isn’t among Sriram Raghavan’s best works, the movie definitely works for thriller lovers and is worth watching for its key moments.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Also read: Kennedy review: Anurag Kashyap’s political cum crime drama is impressive

Dunki is this year’s Laal Singh Chaddha

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Rajkumar Hirani recently completed 20 years as a filmmaker as his debut Munna Bhai MBBS celebrated two decades. In all these years, he and Shah Rukh Khan came close to working together but things couldn’t go forward. So when the two heavyweights finally join hands through Dunki, your expectations rise, irrespective of the story, genre, etc.

As far as the story of Dunki is concerned, it starts in 1995 in a small fictitious village in Punjab named Laltu. Manu (Taapsee Pannu), Buggu (Vikram Kochhar), Balli (Anil Grover) and Sukhi (Vicky Kaushal) are living miserable lives. They feel the only way to better their existence is to migrate to England. However, they are unable to do so despite trying hard.

One fine day, a soldier Hardy (Shah Rukh Khan) arrives in Laltu to repay Manu’s family for the huge favour one of her family members did to him. When he realizes that Manu, Buggu, Balli and Sukhi are desperate to go to England, he vows to help them. After trying a lot, they realize that the only way through which they can enter England is through the donkey method, which is illegal immigration (called as Dunki in the movie).

Dunki appears like two different films in the two halves. The first half keeps you hooked throughout in a typical Hirani way – no time pass, only dialogues, regular conflicts and heartwarming moments. The humour over here is not as funny as one would expect but the proceedings are at least mildly entertaining. Before the movie, it was felt that it would be difficult to root for the characters in their illegal task. But after going through their respective situations, it doesn’t get difficult.

As said earlier, the second half is a different film about the struggles of the group of people to enter England. Till this point itself the movie had fallen short of expectations from a Hirani product. But from here onwards, it goes further downhill. The various events are not only unconvincing but also uninteresting. And by the time the film ends, it becomes worse. Also the whole idea of narrating the film in a flashback makes it predictable on a lot of occasions.

As you move out of the theatre, you are confused thinking why two greats like Hirani and SRK decided to join hands for something like this. More importantly, you also wonder what exactly is the point of telling this story in the first place, especially due to the climax.

The performances save Dunki to some extent. Shah Rukh Khan brings in the right energy needed for this character and carries the film on his shoulders. But the different tone through which he speaks throughout becomes too obvious and questionable, especially when his character grows old.

This is one of Taapee Pannu’s better acts. Vikram Kochhar and Anil Grover provide dedicated performances. A great talent like Vicky Kaushal is wasted in a cameo, although he does well. Deven Bhojani and Boman Irani are decent in other cameos.

The other saving grace is CK Muraleedharan, Manush Nandan and Kumar Pankaj’s camerawork and the visuals of different countries of the world. As far as the music is concerned, ‘Nikle The Kabhi Ghar Se’ is the only impressive track.

Overall, Dunki is this year’s Laal Singh Chaddha. Not in terms of the plot or the characters but because of the end result and a major story development in the climax, which is not possible to reveal to avoid giving out spoilers.

Also read: Indi(r)a’s Emergency review: Show’s the period’s relevance today

Animal, surprisingly, isn’t called out for its silliness    

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Very few films make the kind of noise Sandeep Redddy Vanga’s Animal is making right after its release. The movie, starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead as Ranvijay Singh, is being called out for its severe violence and the promotion of misogyny. There have been countless articles and social media posts on the same and they just keep on increasing with every passing day.

(SPOILERS ahead)

After finally watching Animal today, I am not impressed. But my dislike for the film is more for other reasons. No doubt, I also felt that it promotes misogyny through its central character. He is someone who doesn’t treat his wife as equal in any away, though he makes it look as if he loves her. Worse, he sleeps with another woman secretly. Although he confesses about it, he has no remorse and, on top of that, tries to justify the same. His worst behavior pattern is the violence he metes out to his wife and he doesn’t feel guilty for that too.

I can somehow look at Ranvijay for being thoroughly mentally ill (although it’s too difficult) and the film as a case study of a person suffering from severe mental disorders and what happens when your family doesn’t take action when you start showing such signs so early in life.

Coming to the violence in Animal, I didn’t find it problematic as we have seen worse than this in Hindi web shows released in last three and a half years. Even a film like Rakht Charitra, which released 13 years ago, had almost the same level of violence and gore.

My major issue with Animal is its silly storyline and its narration. The most laughable aspect here is the complete lack of police or the presence of any sort of authority. Ranvijay announces on national television that he will behead the person who tried to kill his father but there is just no reaction to the threat. As a school kid, he brings a rifle in school and fires it in the class but doesn’t face any consequences, leave alone arrest.

Here comes the biggest one. Ranvijay gets hold of the huge machine gun that has gained popularity on social media in recent times. The number of gunshots fired in that scene is the same as one can see in a war between two countries. But despite the crazy amount of violence and the fact that Ranvijay killed over 100 people, he faces absolutely nothing and gets treated after being injured. Despite the fact that all those whom he killed were goons and criminals, one would expect him to fact at least something from the law.

This is not the only example though. There are various such moments in the film where you are astonished by the complete absence of law enforcement agencies in any way, even in foreign countries. One can somehow excuse these instances if the film is a madcap comedy or a mindless action thriller. But Animal definitely doesn’t fall in this category.

The movie also suffers from an abrupt narrative. The most important incident of Ranvijay’s father getting shot and the former returning to India happens so suddenly that it doesn’t impact you. One can understand that the aim here would have been to present the incident in an experimental or out-of-the-box style but it doesn’t work. The protagonist’s transformation from a young kid to a man possessed is also abrupt.

The worst of such incidents happens in the second half when one character is about to die and is in desperate need of a heart transplant. We are told that there is only 1% chance of that person getting a heart transplant done. But we, as an audience, don’t even realize when the transplant gets done and the character gets a new lease of life. Such an important incident is presented in a lazy manner.

Perhaps, the acting is the biggest plus point here, apart from the technical areas. If the writing would have risen to the same level, Animal would have been a different beast altogether (pun intended).

Also read: Indi(r)a’s Emergency review: Show’s the period’s relevance today

Tiger 3 Review (without spoilers)

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Synopsis: After successfully serving his nation in a daring mission in Tiger Zinda Hai (2017), Avinash Singh Rathore aka Tiger (Salman) is living a simple life with his wife and ISI agent Zoya (Katrina Kaif) and son Junior (Sartaaj Kakkar). But as he is a RAW agent, he can’t enjoy peace for a long time. He is sent on a mission to rescue his fellow agent Gopi (Ranvir Shorey) from a foreign land. Although he rescues Gopi, the latter dies due to severe injuries. Just before dying, Gopi reveals that Pakistan is planning a deadly mission against India and Zoya is hand-in-gloves with them.

The mission is being planned by the ruthless Aatish (Emraan Hashmi). Tiger, who is already disturbed and confused about Zoya’s possible involvement in the evil mission, gets another jolt when Aatish kidnaps Junior and forces Tiger to do what he wants him to.

Review: After watching some high-octane action sequences from a series of films in the Yash Raj Spy Universe, one would keep the same expectations from Tiger 3 on this front. The film passes this test. In fact, the action in some places, mostly in Salman’s entry sequence, is even better and it makes for a thrilling experience, especially when seen in Imax (where this reviewer saw).

Tiger 3

Tiger 3 thoroughly rides on such impressive action throughout its duration of 130 minutes. Of course, like the previous films in this universe, one needs to keep logic and reasoning away to enjoy these moments, especially the old troupe of the good guys not stopping a bullet even when hundreds are showered on them through some deadly machine guns.

Apart from action, the film also shines in other technical areas like cinematography and background score. To see various foreign countries and their portrayal is another plus here.

While Tiger 3 is high on technical aspects, the same can’t be said about its content. The film has a complicated storyline (not all is covered in the aforementioned synopsis) which is narrated in a rather confusing way. On top of that, the stakes here aren’t as high as the previous films in this universe. In other words, the mission is such that one doesn’t feel the tension and worry that one did, especially in a film like Pathaan. This ensures that there are a lot of been-there-done-that moments. The film also leaves a major question unanswered related to the mission (which can’t be revealed to avoid spoilers).

Tiger 3 also lags behind when it comes to the villain. While Emraan Hashmi acts well, he is surely not menacing enough to create a fear in you. The same can be said about the other bad guys.

From Race 3 onwards, Salman Khan hasn’t been in good form. He has had issues with his performances and energy levels in his films of last few years. He is much better in this film, also because the role of Tiger suits him. His screen presence works wonders. One wouldn’t expect much from Katrina Kaif after seeing her, over the years. She scores high only on action sequences. Simran, the actress who played Pakistan’s Prime Minister, provides a mature act. Revathy is also likeable as the RAW chief.

Tiger 3 reaches its highest point during the cameos of Shah Rukh Khan as Pathaan and Hrithik Roshan as Kabir. The former has a longer screen time and his chemistry with Salman is once again exciting. The rest of the film, unfortunately, doesn’t reach this level.

Overall: Tiger 3 turns out to be a one-time watch action extravaganza. At the box office, it has enough masala to be a hit. But it needs to be seen if it turns out to be a blockbuster.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Director: Maneesh Sharma

Producers: Aditya Chopra for Yash Raj Films

Writers: Aditya Chopra (story), Shridhar Raghavan (screenplay) and Anckur Chaudhry (dialogues)

Cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Emraan Hashmi, Revathy

The Vaccine War review

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Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s The Vaccine War starts off just before the COVID-19 pandemic hits the world, starting in China. The movie is largely about a group of scientists at the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research), led by Dr. Balram Bhargava (Nana Patekar) and aided by a group of scientists and doctors (Pallavi Joshi, Sapthami Gowda, Nivedita Bhattacharya and Girika Oak) and others, who aim to invent India’s own COVID-19 vaccine.

The main aim of the movie is to pay tribute to all the scientists, doctors and medical staff who sacrificed a part of themselves to ensure that India makes its own COVID-19 vaccine. The Vaccine War achieves this motto. The film has various moments where we feel dearly for the scientists or soldiers, as they are called in the film, for their painstaking effort.

The Vaccine War

The performances of the actors also play a large role in achieving this. Nana Patekar is brilliant as a genius yet emotionally cold head of ICMR. Despite the serious nature of the character, there are little nuances that trigger’s laughter, all because of Patekar’s skill. The rest of the aforementioned actors too rise to the occasion.

The team of professionals had enough going in their professional and personal lives for a film to have conflict elements. However, as was the case with Agnihotri’s previous two films, he creates more conflict just to showcase his own personal political agenda and please the supporters of the ruling party.

To achieve this, The Vaccine War creates a cardboard villain in the form of a journalist Rohini Singh Dhulia (Raima Sen). She is vehemently anti-India, who just wants the vaccine to fail. But the film doesn’t stop at this. She is also shown as someone who is working on behalf of foreign interest against India. Her work involves following a ‘toolkit,’ a term very famous among the Right Wingers. To say that the film uses a poorly created character to achieve its political aim would be an understatement.

There is another moment in the film where a large group of journalists in a press conference are also shown to be anti-India. Disclosing the culmination of that scene would lead to spoilers but it leads to an unintentionally hilarious moment. By the time the film ends, it gradually becomes a cinematic version of a government press release.

Overall: The Vaccine War’s tribute to the medical faculty of India gets overshadowed by its political motive.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

After ENDING boycott trend with Pathaan, SRK shows mirror to the establishment in Jawan

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Shah Rukh Khan starrer Jawan has been creating an uproar at the box office, not just in India but also worldwide. Directed by Atlee Kumar, the film has found a lot of takers because of the non-stop entertainment it provides in terms of action, stunts, dialogue baazi, style, humour and, of course, performances.

However, it would be unfair to say that Jawan is just a massy entertainer. The film goes much beyond that and that is a major reason why it’s more special than the regular masala entertainers. To put it simply – Jawan is not only SRK’s most political film but also one of the most political films from mainstream Hindi cinema featuring one of the biggest superstars.

(SPOILERS begin)

Jawan unabashedly touches upon quite a few national issues in the course of its runtime. The film portrays the sorry plight of farmers in a hard-hitting manner. It shows that a farmer is literally tortured when he is unable to repay a loan of Rs. 40,000. But, at the same time, wealthy businessmen are allowed to take loans of enormous proportions without any issue.

The film also makes a daring statement on the complete lack of facilities in government-run hospitals and that it only takes a few hours for the scene to change, if there is a political will. There is also an angle about the lack of security for Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). One of the highest points in the film is Khan’s monologue where he urges the people to make the right choice while casting their vote and ensure that the government in power is held accountable.

Jawan Shah Rukh Khan

But the most daring part about Jawan is the sub-plot about a large number of kids dying in a hospital because of lack of oxygen cylinders. This is right out of the real incident that took place in Uttar Pradesh a few years back. The film doesn’t stop at this though. It also shows how an innocent was made a scapegoat and the whole blame is put upon that person. Not many people (leave alone stars) are even willing to speak about this incident. But here is one of the biggest mainstream films with one of the biggest stars providing a sharp critique to that incident.

(SPOILERS end)

It would be putting it mildly to state that SRK has taken a risk by making a film with aforementioned incidents. One shouldn’t forget how actors, especially stars, are targeted for portraying anything that is against the establishment since 2014 onwards. But here, Khan has not only agreed to act in such a film as the main lead but also produce the movie. Hence, if the film would have faced any sort of protest or controversy, he would have been hit financially too after investing a large chunk of money in the film.

SRK made a major comeback this year with Pathaan, which made him regain his stardom. However, Jawan was bankrolled and made when Pathaan was long way away from release. This is another example of the major risk he took at a time when his stardom was majorly hit and when it wasn’t known that Pathaan would eventually become a big hit and his comeback.

Even with Pathaan, the star had taken a risk. He knew before the release of the film that he was being majorly targeted by the supporters and leaders of the ruling party. Yet he came up with a film where he is not only romancing a Pakistani but also an ISI member.

Pathaan faced the biggest boycott Bollywood campaign by the supporters of the ruling party. However, the film turned out to be the highest grossing Hindi movie. Of course, this happened because the movie-going public paid no heed to the boycotters and went for the film in large numbers.

But one must credit SRK for not showing lack of spine by meeting some prominent politicians in front of the media in a display of fake support, so that his film gets a smooth release. In fact, Shah Rukh called up a politician at 2 am after the latter had asked people to boycott the film. On the very next day, the politician said there is no need to boycott Pathaan. Khan also didn’t go the Aamir Khan way by pleading the audience to not boycott his film.

Hence, one cannot deny that it was Pathaan that not only put an end but also demolished the boycott trend. After a major fiasco with Pathaan, one hardly notices any serious calls for boycott for any film on social media.

All this also reminds us how SRK had held his ground against Shiv Sena during the massive controversy surrounding My Name Is Khan in 2010. Yes, there have been times where he has met and shown support to prominent politicians of the current regime. But one can’t take away the spine he has shown on various occasions when anyone else in his place would have melted.

Coming back to Jawan, hopefully, its daring content will encourage more mainstream actors to not shy away from showing a mirror to the current Indian society.

Also read: Jawan review (WITHOUT spoilers): A rare massy political entertainer

Jawan review (WITHOUT spoilers): A rare massy political entertainer

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Shah Rukh Khan’s comeback this year with Pathaan was full of high-octane action stunts and dialogue baazi, which paved way for various whistle-worthy moments. The same can be said about his latest release Jawan. Yet, his latest outing is way different than Pathaan. In fact, you won’t even think of that film while watching Jawan. In other words, the actor has given two massy action entertainers that are as different as chalk and cheese.

Directed by Atlee Kumar, Jawan has a complex storyline taking place in two different timelines. To put it simply, it tells the story of a strange looking man (Khan) who enters a Mumbai Metro train from a station like any other passenger. A group of girls, played by Priya Mani, Sanya Malhotra, Girija Oak, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Lehar Khan and Aaliyah Qureishi, are already present in the train. They too appear like ordinary passengers.

But as soon as the train leaves the station, the man announces that the train is hijacked. The group of girls are from his team. The man frightens the passengers with his antics. A senior cop Narmada (Nayanthara) is given charge of the case as she has handled such hostage situations before. She realizes that the man’s demands are not akin to any other hijacker. Kalee (Vijay Sethupahi), the fourth largest arms dealer in the world, is also forced to get involved in the whole affair.

Jawan is a true blue masala entertainer in every sense. It doesn’t fail to hold your attention even for a moment as it’s full of events and situations that keep you glued to the screen. The narrative is a fine mixture of action sequences, confrontations, humour, emotional moments and dialogue baazi. In fact, this is a rare film of today’s times where a runtime of close to three hours passes away in a jiffy. You won’t even think of checking the time, even during unimpressive songs because they too are taking the story forward.

The interval point deserves a special mention as it’s one of the best first-half ending you will see in a Hindi film. The same excitement is generated in the climax as well (can’t reveal much to avoid spoilers).

But Jawan isn’t limited to being a crowd-pleasing actioner. The film is political in nature with even subtle digs at the establishment. One situation is right out of a real political tragedy in north India, which stuns you and makes you applaud the makers for their daring. And to see a big star like SRK not only agreeing to be a part of such film, both as an actor and producer, is praiseworthy.

As far as Shah Rukh Khan’s performance is concerned, he has never been presented in such a larger-than-life manner before, like Atlee has done here. The film required SRK to show a wide range of his talent while portraying different moods and emotions and he comes up with one of his finest acts.

Vijay Sethupathi, strangely, doesn’t get to emote much in a majority of the period. Thankfully, he comes into his own in the second half and the ending moments. Nayanthara makes a successful Hindi film debut. Thankfully, she wasn’t required to just become a filler, which is the case in most hero-centric masala entertainers. The long list of female cast as the mysterious man’s aides (Priya Mani, Sanya Malhotra, Girija Oak, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Lehar Khan and Aaliyah Qureishi) do well in whatever was required of them.

Sunil Grover and Ridhi Dogra are likeable too, although they don’t get to do much. Deepika Padukone was said to play a cameo but she has an important role, which she performs well. Sanjay Dutt’s cameo is hilarious.

Jawan also impresses you in terms of the technical aspects like action stunts (a major strong point), camerawork, background score and editing.

Also read: Kennedy review: Anurag Kashyap’s political cum crime drama is impressive

The movie, however, isn’t a smooth ride. It is common knowledge that such films require you to keep logic at bay. But even after doing that, some situations, action sequences and character behavior are too far-fetched. More importantly, after a point in the second half, the proceedings also become complicated and, at times, questionable as well. If not the logic part, they could have taken care of this aspect during the scripting stage itself.

Overall: Jawan is an exciting masala entertainer with a daring political touch.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5