First of all can we agree to pretend that SRK made his post-lockdown return with Jawan and Pathaan never happened?

Let’s get this out of the way. If you don’t like Shah Rukh Khan there’s no point watching the movie. He’s the titular character, the centre of the plot and there’s nothing going on in the movie that doesn’t involve him. So let that direct your intention to watch Jawan. 

Atlee’s Jawan’s plot is straight out of a 70s movie. Man of the system pushed by the system to go against the system to fix the system. The trope is utilised well here and there are some predictable but well executed twists. It’s also a, what we’ve grown to categorise, “south indian” movie- short for social issue romantic comedy action drama. Yes. 

The premise

An unidentified body is found in the water, a tribe takes it in and makes the necessary fixes to keep him alive. He in return helps stave off a militant group of pillagers but in the process reveals he has no memory of who he is. 

30 years later, we see the Mumbai Metro and some suspicious women making eye contact with each other. The train is boarded by an old, bald SRK who along with the women takes the metro cabin hostage. So one may think that escalated rather gradually but there’s a bit more to that. 

This story is about how SRK-hero unsystematically destroys an influential and legal arms dealer without knowing that the aforementioned arms dealer is the reason behind the death of his parents. He even uses his father’s name to do so! But despite that Sethupathi-villain has no idea and pulls a surprise Pikachu face. So you know what that means: surprise revenge party!

Sethupathi-villain’s blue pill, red pill introduction by the way is inconsequential, so had no reason to exist in the movie. 

This is one of the few misses in the movie, and some of the other misses in the movie involve the other misses of the movie, if I may.

So as made evident from the songs and trailers, SRK-Hero leads a non-hockey Chak de team of girls who help him pull heists. The ladies are featured well in the beginning of the movie, with backstories and connections drawn for 3 of them, whereas the other three? Nope, try again in the sequel girls!

The cast

The cast is completed by a solid line-up, with Nayanthara, Sanya Malhotra, Priyamani, Ridhi Dogra, and Sunil Grover in key supporting roles. But most of them didn’t get enough character development to be breakout.

There are cameos from Deepika Padukone, Sanjay Dutt, Eijaz Khan and Vijay Sethupathi. Okay, the latter two are credited as full roles, but they are very brief. You would at least expect Sethupathi to have a longer role considering he’s the antagonist. But despite being 2hr 45 minutes long, Jawan always feels pressed for time especially in the second half. Despite that, the movie is no drag. It moves along quickly. 

Hol’ up a minute

A monologue on farmers committing suicide due to their inability to pay back loans has a clear poster of Muthoot gold loans placed in the background. Why would you do that to yourselves?

The look

The movie looks good. Great production quality. Nice use of VFX (the makers own one of the best VFX studios in the country, so yeah.) SRK pulls of multiple looks in the movie, but thankfully not enough to give Kamal Hassan a run for his money. His looks are not really disguises, just enough variation to mislead in the situations he finds himself him. In fact they establish fairly easily that he’s easily recognizable. It’s just one cool look after the other.

The music

The background score throughout the movie hits the right notes, slight pun intended, but the songs don’t belong there. They don’t fit in the plot or the look of the movie. They just exist so they could market this as an Anirudh musical. They are fan service. SRK dancing with his core team members, SRK dances with Nayantara, SRK dances with Deepika Padukone, SRK dances with…himself. 

So if you like SRK dancing, SRK is doing a lot of dancing. Even in some scenes. And the trailer. 

To conclude

As I re-read this, I feel I should tell you by this point that I actually liked the movie. 

This movie is a Rajinikanth movie with SRK as Rajinikanth. So you should expect an SRK fan to love Jawan like you expect a Rajni fan to like a Rajnikant film. Adding to that if you like South Indian movies, you would like this too. 

When it’s not highlighting social issues, Jawan is loaded with fan service and you will not be disappointed. The presentation of the social issues is just right, gets you to feel what’s there to be felt but snaps you right out before it goes too deep. REVHUMAN feels the movie would’ve benefited from being a bit longer. 

So yeah, you should watch Jawan in theatres if you love SRK and some South Indian (Social issue romantic comedy action drama) movies! It has many hits, and a few misses, comes with the genre.

Will there be a sequel to Jawan?

Well most likely, the movie leaves you off with the potential of a sequel. It’s doing tremendously well at the box office. The crew is set, what more can they achieve together now that the surprise revenge party is out of the way?