Jawan - a full spoiler review

Here I am going to give a running commentary on Jawan, the text version of a reaction video, hahaha.

P.S. My brain will provide some counter commentaries.

As the movie starts, we see the first credit we see is Nayanthara's. I am reminded of a conversation long long ago, maybe twenty years ago, when, in a discussion about gender inequality in Bollywood, someone had raised a question about how the hero's name always comes first in the casting. And then SRK had promised that in his films, the heroine's name would come first. I remember seeing Deepika's name first in Om Shanti Om. I was glad that the trend still continues with Nayanthara. But then, a mere few minutes later, we see SRK's name, and it is not typed in small white letters discreetly on the corner of a scene like all other names, but in extra bold letters, replacing the scene so that it is the only thing on the screen, and it comes with its own background music. The credit to SRK is a mini movie on its own.

Brain: What, then, is the point of displaying the heroine's name first?

And then, we are taken to a Himalayan village. It could be Nepal, or India, or Tibet. I am glad at the inclusion of people of a different ethnicity. There we see a heavily injured man, and we don't see his face. Soon, the man is covered in bandages by the villagers, and he resembles a mummy. I await the unclothing of SRK, but it never happens. Anyhow, there is a fight scene, and the scene's point, or logic, or its relevance to the plot is entirely lost to me. I know the entire internet is praising this opening and sure, it is visually stunning, but for me, the only question is, 'why'?

The point of the scene is that SRK, though mummified in bandages, rises up when he hears the innocent being slaughtered, and proceeds to decimate the bad guys. In the course of this one-man (or rather one-mummy) bravado, someone throws fire at SRK. Instead of burning in pain, his bandage is burnt away very artistically, revealing the tattoo on his wrist which is presumably a clue to his identity.

Brain: Is Shah Rukh Khan a Targaryen? That he emerges unburnt from fire?

Me: I shoulda left you at home.

After the fight, we realize that SRK has no idea who or where he is. The reason why the bandages did not completely come off to bless us with the face that we came to the cinema hall to watch is clear in the next scene. The caption reads – 30 years later. So, if we are going to see SRK 30 years later, and he still needs to look a hot middle aged at 50, then in the mummy scene he is about 20. But then, not even the best makeup team can make a 57 year old look 20.

So then, 30 years later, we see SRK in the same bandage, but then this time the bandage is unraveled in the course of his holding a train hostage. He looks like he could be 50, as intended. Or ageless, like Voldeomrt, with his skin whitened and smoothened.

We are supposed to believe that he is a bad guy. Nayanthara enters to negotiate with him from the government side. My only comment – hot cop. Very very hot cop. So then we realise that SRK is not a bad guy. He brings up the issue of farmer suicides, asks the agriculture minister if he is familiar with the details – as you can guess, the minister is not. And then, SRK proceeds to ask for an unthinkable sum of money from the minister, which is somehow granted (we will skip the plot detour here). After the hostage situation ends with no one harmed, Nayanthara tries to get the recipient bank account frozen, but realizes that the money has been transferred to 7 lakh accounts. The account of farmers who are in debt.

Brain: All well and good, but I still want to know more about SRK's research team. Sure, we have been shown half a dozen of his accomplices by this time, but, how did they assemble this list, and how long did it take? I have similar questions for every operation they do – how and where do they find the vast amounts of information required for such large scale operations? And what are their operation costs? Like, do they keep any of the money for themselves? How do they buy all those guns? Can you really call Azad a selfless messiah if he is funneling some of the funds into his private operations?

Me: Let's leave Bollywood to itself and get back to the story.

At this point, I really want to laud this movie. My problem with so many action movies, especially western superhero movies, is that the solution is always killing a bad guy. And I deeply disagree with that concept. Because in reality, very few people are responsible for all the evils, and nothing is solved by killing the kingpin. Nothing. It is systems that are perpetrating the most evil, and it is systems that need to be dismantled and reformed or remade, and that is a behemoth project that no one can do alone, and again, killing someone doesn't play any role here. My dialogue to these kinds of movies always is – ok, so you have killed the villain. Now let's see you destroy capitalism!

For the first time, I saw a Bollywood movie addressing the system like this. Or maybe it had been done before, and I didn't really notice. People did compare the movie to Amitabh Bachan's angry young man movies where Amitabh lashed out at things like corruption, oppression, etc. I am not very familiar with them, only watched bits and pieces as a child, but I would still think they all ended with killing one person. So then, here is SRK giving a full lecture on how banks extort from poor farmers but forgive big businesspersons like Vijay Sethupathi (the villain). I loved that. I know I'm getting too nerdy and what I say probably goes against the dramatic spirit of Bollywood, but for once, the success of Jawan has told us that it has worked.

The act of distributing money to 7 lakh poor farmers did not destroy capitalism, because no one can, nothing can. But it did put a dent on it. And then, the lecture. I thought the film was headed a good way. I thought we could get more into the complicacies and intricacies of how economies work and how poor people are screwed and how it can be solved.

Unfortunately, I was to be disappointed on this count. The film moves on from one subplot to another in which the hero reforms the system – from farmer suicides to government hospitals, from cash to ballot boxes. Not only is it all over the place, it's also a bit of disservice to these issues. Each of them deserves is own movie because each subject is so vast. I think the subject that is treated the most unjustly is the prison.

Soon we realize that the messiah on the train is Azad, a jailor of a women's prison. While we come to realise that prison plays a big role in the characters' lives and in the movie, the depiction of prison is never realistic. At first we have a model prison. Well and good. Then we come to a dance, where SRK dances with the women prisoners. We will talk more about this male savior complex later. As the song progresses, the inmates' costumes go from bland uniforms (which still do not look like prison uniforms) to more and more fashionable, until by the end they are flaunting lungi glam. Not heroin glam but still, it is far too cheery a depiction of jail. Later, when Deepika spends time in jail, again, I don't see any of the dangerous, or melancholic, or sordid, jail dynamics going on. Also, nowhere are we told that the women in jail might be criminals. We are only shown women who are unfairly jailed, and some of them even valorized. There is even this dialogue by Deepika – about how there are many unjustly jailed mothers like her in the jail, which is, very realistic, but also, not the complete story. I am sure there are many such cases of injustice, but then, I am sure there are many women criminals too.

We will go back to Deepika later too. For now, I will fast forwards the story. SRK leads one heist after another, goes to see a girl for marriage and ends up meeting the girl's daughter, makes friends with her and then wins over the girl who happens to be the cop assigned to unmask him, Narmada, gets engaged and then married to her.

Brain: The little girl has just met SRK. How can she call him papa? It's ridiculous.

Nayanthara and SRK have met just once. How can they both agree to the marriage? Isn't marriage a big deal?

Why is she working the day before her wedding?

They are both on high-octane missions the day before the wedding, and no one seems any stressed about wedding planning. Come on, where are the rushed dress fittings, the menu finalizings, the kich kich over what to write on the invitation cards, the venue and menu selections?

This is the day before the wedding. Nayanthara has dated this man for some time now, in his day job as a jailor. And then in his other persona as the heist 'Captain,' he gives her a call. Or several. And how come she doesn't recognize him? Wouldn't you recognize your fiancé's voice? And then they actually have a confrontation, coming face to face. Wouldn’t you recognize your fiancé, even if he was wearing a mask? This is reminiscent of the highly unbelievable double identity theme in Rab ne Bana di Jodi, though that was worse. I would recognize my husband's very profile or even shadow, let alone the man himself in a mask.

The night of the wedding he is trying to tell her the truth when his house is bombed and they are both taken hostage, beat really hard, Nayanthara even takes a bullet on her arm and bleeds heavily, and are generally at a losing position when someone enters. I am guessing it is Deepika because I know she has a guest role.

But no, it is………………. Another SRK, a visibly older one with deep creases around his eyes. With a weapon that looks like a chakra held at the end of stick, is he supposed to be Krishna? He rescues the younger SRK and Nayanthara, and we break for an interval.

By this point, my brain has gone on an overdrive, just pointing out one thing after another that doesn’t make sense.

Brain: So, who is the second, older SRK?

Oh, he is probably the guy we saw in the opening sequence, he looks 60 now so he was probably

30 then. In that case, how old is the young SRK?

I thought the young SRK was supposed to look 50. Everything fits, the fact that he is ladki dekhing a girl who is already a mother, maybe because he is too old to attract single women now. But, but, if he is the older guy's son, then he is just 30. 30? Does he look convincing as 30?

So which SRK was leading the gang of girls? It must be papa, poor Azad looks innocent. The heister said his name was Vikram Rathore.

But that can't be, because the girl heisters are jail inmates and Azad is the jailer. Son doesn't know his papa, he could not have passed on the crew to papa. In that case, why is the son using his father's name?

How did papa Rathore know his son was in trouble? How did he know the exact place to come to? And the exact moment?

How did Nayanthara, who took a bullet in her arm, get back to work the next day?

Me: It's best you rest.

I am going to skip many things now which don't make sense. So now we are taken into the life of the older SRK. As we can guess, this was the young one's papa. Thirty years ago he was a Jawan, who was framed for doing the right thing. So he was kidnapped, injected with presumably a drug that makes him droopy, taken inside a helicopter, shot, flown across the border, and thrown out. From the sky. So it appears that he landed in a body of water, and that's how he survived all that.

Brain: How can he survive that much? He took a bullet in the chest, for God's sake.

Me: He landed in water.

Brain: But hitting water from that kind of height is like hitting a slab of cement.

Me: Ssssh.

But he has lost all his memory. And in the denouement we are shown how a young boy in the village reunites papa Rathore witth his long-lost comrades in arms, and the 'uncles' go about rescuing Azad.

Brain: Still doesn't make sense how they knew who Azad was, what he was doing in disguise (heisting while pretending to be Vikram Rathore) and how they figured out the right time to intervene.

Me: Just be thankful you get to watch two SRKs.

Brain: Ahh. Yes. That.

Meanwhile, his wife, Deepika is also framed. Oh let's rewind. Her introduction scene is one of my favorites in the movie, where she comes sizzling in an orange sari and floors Vikram in wrestling. Their smoldering chemistry is short but a delight to watch. Although I hated the horrible, garish saris she wears in the song, and found the song itself entirely forgettable, that's a matter of taste.

And then, after Vikram is gone, she is also framed, sent to jail, and sentenced to hanging. But then she collapses because she is pregnant. So according to law, she can only be hanged when her baby is born and is 5 years old.

At this point, if I was Deepika, I would have taken some poison and died. I mean, she appears to have no family – the baby is later adopted by the head jailer. She knows she is going to die five years later, leaving the child orphaned. And then, what a horrible way for the baby to start his life, orphaned, and with the memory of his dead mother's feet swaying in the air as she hangs to death. Although, like I said before, jail is depicted too cheerily – with everyone giving the pregnant Deepika extra food and even celebrating her baby shower – this particular scene of the child crying 'Maa', cut to Deepika's feet swaying, cut me to the core. Why? Just why? I mean, there are serious movies about these subjects, which should be made and watched and people should be made aware of such injustices, but does this kind of masala movie have to include this level or sorrow? It was very, very, very sad, almost unbearable. I would rather die than give my child this kind of beginning in life.

So you got the gist. Deepika doesn't take poison and die. She gives birth to the baby, who later becomes SRK. And now papa and son go out and bash the baddies. It includes various befuddling subplots, like…

Brain: What is that triple, or maybe quadruple or quintuple role that SRK has, holding a cheetah and wearing a Darth Vader mask in Russia? How does that figure in the plot? Why throw a spinner so late in the story? And where did that cheetah come from? Azad is a jailor, not a zookeeper…

Me: Shh. You know what's more ludicrous? Vijay Sethupathi is in Russia and is speaking Hindi to a group of international people.

Bina: They all have headphones on. Someone is interpreting.

Me: Show me the interpreter. Show me my job! Interpreters call for more visible representation on screen. We are not to be hidden inside booths all the time.

Sadly, the movie fails to oblige me.

So now we come to the end where SRK has a long monologue where he asks people to vote. So many thoughts on this scene. Personally, I thought this dialogue was a fitting conclusion to the film. The film is all about governance issues – farmer suicides, bad condition of hospitals, pollutant factories, etc. So instead of going the Amitabh Bachan's angry young man way and killing someone, the film points to the only possible solution to these issues – vote better, be vigilant. It's a bit of a stretch, a bit of awkward storytelling, a bit too abrupt – the movie is not about voting, it just hops from one issue to another and just gets at voting in the end. But then, I would say, if you want to solve governance issues, it's the only way to go.

Finally, Bollywood gets realistic about how to solve bad governance issues. Most of the movies that open with similar subjects end with killing. I am thinking of Rang De Basanti where five college students go on a rampage and then are themselves killed for their murders. Because, obviously, their solution is not realistic. And Bollywood knows by now that this kind of action does not lead to happy ending for the hero, and has been searching for alternatives – Nayak finds the solution in active political engagement. This new hero does not harm anyone in his quest for social justice – even in his vigilante role, SRK does not kill anyone. Jawan pushes the evolution of this new kind of hero – the peaceful political activist – one step further.

But also, 'please vote' is such a boring and un-dramatic ending that I never thought it would work in a Bollywood movie – the failure of Yuwa is an example. But apparently I am wrong, because many people say it's their favorite scene in the movie. That could be because there is more at play here. I have heard that the scene is not just about governance in general, but about one particular government. SRK is asking people to vote better next time and get rid of these guys on top. Also, apparently, the "bete ko haath lagane is pehle baap se baat kar" is a reference to SRK's son Aryan getting arrested un trumped up charges which were never proven, and apparently Gauri Khan drawled this dialogue before the mvoie released, so this is SRK's challenge to the government?

I wouldn't have seen it that way, because the issues it raises could be about any government, and the film does NOT raise the issues mostly linked with Modi government – like the curtailing of free speech and religious tolerance (I have now learnt that the incident of framing an innocent doctor is taken from real life). But apparently, many people are seeing it that way. Especially since SRK has stood for religious tolerance and harmony in real life, and many believe he has been silenced from speaking publicly, with the arrest of his son on unfounded charges. So if the dig at Modi government was intended, or even if it was unintended, it's great.

So now let's go about concluding the review. This is just the beginning of the end. The conclusion is going to come with several subheadings

Vijay Sethupathi

For me, it was a little bit of a disappointment that the movie that started out with the great premise of tackling capitalism and bad governance ended with killing a guy. So even after the please vote speech, there is a post-resolution denouement, where everyone gets together and gives the villain what he deserved. So it's like, you can't really leave Bollywood behind, not even after the most boring and most daring speech in all of Bollywood history.

And that brings us to the villain, Vijay Sethupathi. He is quite menacing, and I found that surprising. Because, he has nothing going for him. No looks, no body, no voice, not even acting, and still he made it! I have always marveled at how SRK made it despite these deficiencies – people say he is not good looking, and although he has defined good looks for me for as long as I remember, I see the point in what people say. He doesn't have a chiseled Greek god body and is in fact called effeminate by many, has a high-pitched voice to match and does strange things with it, does weird roles ranging from baddie to loser to gay-appearing dances (his recent real-life romanic dance with Vijay Sethupathi has gone viral), and yet he made it. I attribute it all to his acting skills, and I do believe he is the best actor ever, ever. The second time I marveled at someone like that was Dhanush in the movie Ranjhana, who did not even have as much good looks as SRK, positively skinny, and was still so convincing in that role… for me, he was the actor after SRK. But Vijay Sethupathi I marvel even more, because he doesn't even seem to have expressions on his face, the way SRK and Dhanush's face come alive with a diverse range of emotions, he just stands there and speaks and is still just so menacing. I don't know what's going on here, but I want to watch more of him.

Gender

Now let's talk about the gender role in the movie, and how it take the portrayal of gender one step forward but doesn’t really take a great leap. It is good to see an all –female crew of heisters that turn out to be heroic. It is also good to see the female lead as a capable police officer.

And it is great that the female lead Narmada is an unwed mother by choice. I don't think we have seen such a choice portrayed so positively in Bollywood before – when asked to choose between a pregnancy and a relationship, she chose the pregnancy. And I am glad about this little plot point.

However, there are several issues here.

First of all, I think the movie still doesn’t pass the Bechdel test. I.E. I don’t think that there is a conversation between two females that's not about a man.

Secondly, there is too much of the male savior complex here. SRK leads a team of girls, and they all hero-worship him. Sure, it's good to see an all-female crew, but they all need a man to lead them. Has Bollywood ever dared and done the opposite? Say, a woman leading an all-male crew, adored (not sexually) and dancing amidst thousands of men? I don't think I have seen such a movie. And until we have those, I don't think we can say that Bollywood is gender-equal.

I also just noticed a trend in SRK movies – in the beginning the girl is badass and either his adversary or his better, but by the end she is his subordinate. Think Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Mein Hoon Na. It's the same thing here. Nayanthara starts as a hot-shot cop, the first meeting between the two of them is cute – with SRK getting nervous, calling her sir/maam, and then saluting her. But then she ends up losing her job, becomes his fan, and takes her orders from him. If we see the opposite kind of movie – where a woman outsider gets a male police officer to quit his job follow her orders, then we will believe that SRK's movies have good gender roles.

But as it is, apparently SRK is the best we have when it comes to gender equality. According to a book by Shrayana Bhattacharya, women love SRK movies because, SRK movies have the most speaking roles by women – in an average SRK movie women speak 25% of the dialogues, according to the analyss by Shrayana. Average movies by other big actors have lesser airtime for women, as low as 4% in some. I am shocked that 25% is Bollywood's best. If this is what the best looks like, what about the rest?

Postscript, my cousin Bina was telling me that nowadays, the Jodi of Deepika and Shah Rukh has replaced Kajol and Shah Rukh as the iconic romantic jodi, because of Deepika and SRK's onscreen chemistry and offline friendship. First of all, good for Deepika, the most beautiful woman in the world (for me). Secondly, how is it fair? That SRK gets to have these second innings where he can discover a second iconic Jodi thirty years after his first, while Kajol is now paired with a fat old lecherous drunk in Lust Stories 2. Only if Kajol gets to have her second innings with someone like Shahid Kapoor or Ranbir Singh will this be fair.

Double Roles

I also noticed a trend of double roles and identities in SRK's films. From Duplicate to Rab ne Bana di Jodi, Paheli to Don, he has done many double roles. And now he comes with multiple role changes in Jawan. Even his heroines have double roles – from Juhi's triple role in One Two ka Four to Kajol's sea change in Kuch Kuch Hota Hei. I'm sure there are deep psychological patterns hidden there, but for now I am too lazy to unravel them.

Movie references

Jawaan has reference to literally every movie ever made.

Kidding. Haha. Exaggeratingly …

The soldier coming to life in the beginning is reminiscent of Shiva, what with it happening in front of a Bhairav? Avalokiteshwor? statue. But the movie does not explore Shiva mythology.

SRK praises / satires himself by saying that – jab mein villain ban jata hoon, toh koi bhi hero mere aage nahi tik sakti. He parodies himself when he says – Vikram Rathore, nam toh suna hoga? Later, in his guest role, Sanjay Dutt parodies himself by saying – Nayak nahi, khalnayak hoon mein.

The girl gang of heisters is reminiscent of Ocean's 14. SRK's entry as jailor, in uniform and accompanied by whistles, is like Salman Khan in Dabanng - although of course SRK is more expressive than that plank of wood, even in his botoxed skin.

SRK's several masks, and even much of the story, is reminiscent of V for Vendetta.

When the double role is revealed and we are suddenly faced with two SRKs, I thought I was watching Dhoom 3 where we suddenly realise that there are two Amir Khans.

These references are fun, sure. It's great when you recognize the reference and can laugh at it. But then, they will not get you an Oscar nomination. Sigh. SRK has been rehashing his old films for quite a while now. Dilwale was a rehash of DDLJ, and I remember Happy New Year was also full of references to old work. Why? I mean, just why? Has Bollywood run out of ideas? Or were the theorists right? That there are only so many stories in the world and everything else is a rehash?

Sigh. I just wish SRK, the best actor ever, did more original films. I would really love to watch him in an original story of any genre, not this formula box where he doesn't have much to do in terms of emotions.

Criticism

I think my biggest criticism of the movie is that there is very little space for character and relationships. The movie focuses entirely on plot. It moves from one operation to another. We never know what anyone feels, there are no moments for reflection, reaction, or even simple conversation between the characters, apart from the plot which is like a battering ram. Maybe that's the reason Deepika's part seems strong – that's the only part where the feelings are. This lack of story and emotions, combined with the things in the earlier section where I spoke of SRK rehashing his old movies and not doing anything original – mean that this cannot be a great movie, not even a great action movie. It misses the person and the story that should be at the heart of any movie, even an action movie. This, then, is simply a coherent jumble of visually stunning sequences, with social messages thrown around haphazardly.

By the end, the director does not even bother to give us a backstory about the ongoing operation. In the first operation, we were taken to the backstory of a farmer and shown how he suffered. In the last operation, we are simply told that Vikram Rathore demands the closure of an X number of factories. We have no idea why the factories should be closed – just a half minute statement by some important looking official which inspires the president of the country to say that he is happy to give the blackmailer what he wants because blackmailers always ask for the wrong things but here he is asking for the right thing.

My eyes have rolled so far back that I see the back of my brains. And let's not even talk about the six thousand jail inmates that he has armed with huge machine guns and who are sitting around guarding ballot boxes and holding themselves hostage.

Brain: Come again? Why are six thousand women holding themselves hostage? And how? Yawwwwn

My brain has completely given up so I will not even attempt to find out what is going on here. So yeah, the point here is that despite the good action and the good social messages, the movie is still highly unbelievable, unlike Nayak which was more credible.

Conclusion

Ok so now let's move to the final conclusion of the movie.

First of all, the movie is extremely entertaining. The action scenes are well choreographed, the story has many riveting twists and turns, and despite the brain fail points, keeps it coherent in a Bollywood kind of way. The Bollywoodiness is exaggerated by the South Indian touch of extravaganza and incredulity. A lot of cars blowing up here. Hahaha. I mean, visually great, sure, but I don't remember any of it now. When it comes to SRK and action, Mein Hoon Na did it better, I thought. Just a matter of taste, Jawan is still pretty great action, and I am guessing that is the reason for its success.

Secondly, I like how the movie aims to tackle the big questions of governance, and ends by asking people to vote.

Thirdly, for an SRK movie, all the songs are entirely forgettable. I can't remember a single moment when the music touched me. But then, that's a matter of taste too.

Fourthly, despite all the positive points, the movie it is still too bizarre and Bollywoody. That's an acquired taste, only Bollywoodies can handle it.

Fifthly, you get to watch two SRKs. And for me, that makes the movie worth it. I mean, I wouldn't watch this movie if it had Akshay Kumar, or any other random newbie. Although SRK had still not managed to salvage duds like Ra.One, and he is far past his peak as an actor in Jawan, what with the skin enhancements that have certainly reduced the mobility of his face muscles – he still manages to shine here. And I am all for celebrating the return of the Badshah. Yay.

Brain: (raises hand one last time, after the final song and casting which reveals a key plot point). How come Madhav Nayak, the one person who has been colluding with Azad all along, is also the one person that the government sends to negotiate with him in the final operation?

Me: Shh. It's time for the success party.

So, final verdict: Jawan has nothing for your soul, or even your heart. The brains, like already said, are better left at home. The movie is only for the eyes and the adrenaline gland. Go if you like SRK and wouldn't mind seeing five of him. Otherwise, don't bother.