Just five days since it's release & Atlee's "Jawan" has entered the 300 C club in the domestic circuit while the world collection has gone past 500 C. It's undoubtedly validation of the star power of King Khan who took an hiatus from the industry for about four years and came back with a vengeance. After the roaring success of "Pathaan", it seems more than likely that this would also clock similar number by the end of its run. So does the content actually justify the numbers generated? Well, to be frank that it is not even a relevant question coz what matters is whether it managed to entertain the audience. In that sense, what is my opinion about SRK's juggernaut at the box office???
The movie unfolds three decades back with an unconscious injured man nursed back to health by villagers & how he became their Messiah. The story jumps to the present day, where a balded man who called himself Vikram Rathore (SRK) along with his band of girls hijacked a Mumbai metro train for a ransom of 40,000 crores in exchange for the lives of the passengers which included the daughter of Kailee Gaikwad (Vijay Sethupathi), the biggest arms dealer in the country. The negotiation was done with NSG Officer Narmada Rai (Nayanthara) & Kailee transferred the money to the gang. However, what surprised the NSG was that the money in turn was re-directed to the accounts of seven lakhs farmers to waiver their loans. So who was this Vikram Rathore & what was his motive to become a modern day Robin Hood??
For starters, I have to confess that I have not been a fan of the type of movies that Atlee had churned out with "Raja Rani" being the sole exception. When it was announced that SRK was collaborating with Atlee I was interested to know whether it would indeed be a Bollywood movie or rather SRK in a Tamil movie spoken in Hindi. Well the second statement turned out to be true as it was mish mash of numerous Tamil mass movies that we have seen in the past with elements of the story literally taken from "Bigil", "Mersal", "Thaai Naadu", "Aarambham" etc. In essence, it felt like we were watching a reel of all these movies in a single movie. Apparently, the screenplay is credited to Atlee & S.Ramanagirivasan and I seriously dont think much thought has gone into into it as it felt like they were hurrying to tell all the issues that plagued the nation and make the protagonist handle everything. But still it manages to keep us engaged for large parts & that is solely because of SRK, who just owned the screen. On the technical side, it was executed quite well be it G K Vishnu's visuals, the action choreography, VFX etc., though I would have to admit that I was a tad disappointed with Anirudh's efforts which was average at best unlike what he did in "Jailer". Another part that felt odd was the make up for Vijay Sethupathi which just didn't suit him & at times, lacked continuity.
King Khan was fantastic as the protagonist as he had the swag and aura that the character required. The only segment that I felt rather odd was when both the avatars of SRK were on screen together whereby the younger one's performance felt rather odd. Despite the presence of Sethupathi, Nayanthara, Priyamani etc ., none of their characters were written well enough due to which except for certain scenes none of them managed to create an impression. The only exception to that was surprisingly the extended cameo of Deepika Padukone whose part had more meat to it & which she performed well.
Verdict: Well the audience have already spoken & given their verdict. As for me, it does throw light on many issues (far too many, rather than being focused) & the breaking of the fourth screen at the end was also impactful, but it all worked solely coz of SRK. So watch it solely for King Khan's swag !!!
Rating: 2.25/5
Regards...Ben
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