Jawan Movie Review: The Worst of 2023, We Call This Cinema?

Atlee is one of the most renowned filmmakers of South Indian cinema and his most recent collaboration is the highly anticipated film Jawan with Bollywood’s biggest star – Shah Rukh Khan. The prevue and trailers for the film hyped it up to be one of the best films of the year and the film is projected to break every record of Hindi cinema. Well, it may break a few box office records, for me personally, it has broken the will to even try any Indian mass action film ever again in my life. What really bugs me is the fact that the film is being hailed as the one of the best of 2023 by the same critics who bashed films like Thugs of Hindostaan and Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. There is absolutely no difference between all these mass films, and if you want to bash one, you need to bash all but due to SRK’s sheer stardom Jawan is getting unearned and unworthy praise. Read to to find HOC’s completely non-spoiler verdict for Atlee’s Jawan.

Jawan Review: A Mass Film That Has Nothing to Do With Cinema As An Art

HOC Rating – ★★★★★

Jawan is a film where Shah Rukh Khan is presented to the audience in the most massy avatar we’ve ever seen of him, even more than his previous venture Pathaan. So, if you enjoy typical South Indian masala films or are a huge SRK fan, only then can you enjoy this film. Otherwise, it could turn out to be the most disastrous and horrible experience of your life which would make you feel like peeling your skin off. Jawan is a mix of the pathetic angry youth era of 70’s Bollywood and every South Indian action film cliche you are aware of.

It heavily borrows its plot elements from the tales of Robin Hood and films like Ramana (2002) only to merge it with ridiculous action sequences and over the top performances, dialogues, and BGM. The film is so loud with its narrative as well as choreography and sound, that you just can’t take it seriously. If you aren’t a fan of mass cinema, there would be several moments throughout the film where you’ll feel like just walking out and be done with torturing your eyes and ears. It is very disappointing to see modern audiences as well as critics praising such an atrocious film, while expecting Indian Cinema to grow at the same time. As long as we keep appreciating films with just sluggish concepts, and hyperbolic action sequences with pathetic editing, how can we expect the industry to match the international standards of filmmaking?

It saddens me to see actually decent films like Ghoomer and OMG 2 being ignored in favor of massy films like Gadar 2 and Jawan. Sure, films like Pathaan and Jawan have helped in reviving the theatres but that doesn’t mean we start appreciating them as cinema as well, just because they feature the King of Bollywood. Talking about SRK, he delivered a mediocre and uneven performance as usual. However, credit where credit is due – he nailed the looks and persona department, specially as Vikram Rathore. But as Azaad Rathore, he once again looked too old to play a clean shaven young man. As for other performances, all of them were either disappointing or bad, especially Vijay Sethupathi who played a cliche villain and lacked the aura of some of his previous films.

There were a few cameos in the film which a few fans might enjoy alongside a special appearance from Deepika Padukone. Padukone sure did a fine job with whatever little role she was offered but had a much superior on screen presence in Pathaan. Let us talk about the technicalities for a moment. The action as expected was highly over the top, although some sequences did involve some genuine martial arts prowess. The score and sound effect were overly loud which tried to cover the numerous shortcomings of the film and provide an illusion that you were watching a masterpiece. The cinematography was pretty good for the most part but was ruined by typical South-film-like jerky and hard to follow editing. Finally, the make-up and production design departments deserve the bulk of the praise and are the only reasons, we rated Jawan as much as we did.

Final Verdict – Jawan is the massiest of mass films which is meant to be viewed on a single screen along with the strata of audience which just comes in for mindless entertainment. So, if you are a cinephile, who expects to see something substantial, artistic, logical, or worthwhile, then do not be fooled by the glorious reviews. But in case you are ready to leave your brain at home and just cheer along for numerous over-the-top entrances, action, and dialogues, then go ahead and watch Jawan.

If you have any questions regarding Jawan, feel free to ask in the comments below. For more content, stay tuned. As usual, like, subscribe and share our articles as we here are trying to build a community of people High on Cinema!

Abheet Gupta

administrator

Founder and regular content publisher of High on Cinema. A passionate cinema enthusiast with a keen interest in the drama, fantasy and superhero genre as well as parallel cinema. Terribly terrified by the horror genre, he refrains from even trying the spooky cinema. Having studied Film Appreciation, he has a keen eye for the technicalities involved in a particular piece of cinema and tries to judge a film as open mindedly as possible.

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