Combining the in-your-face maximalism of director Atlee, and the come-get-me grizzled slit-eyed sexiness of star Shah Rukh Khan, Jawan is a pop-masala banger: iss kahani mein action hai, emotion hai, hero hai, villain hai, aur naach-gaana hai, aur kya chahiye? Actually, there is more: fashioned as an unabashed massy entertainer, Jawan slips in strong political messaging at every opportunity, making it a film which is very much of the moment.
Anyone familiar with the previous smash-hits of Atlee, who understudied with Shankar, will know how much he loves going big, and giving us family dramas doused in sentiment. ‘Jawan’ has two SRKs for the price of one, separated by thirty years in time, but united in single-minded Mera-Bharat-Mahaan patriotism: the older one is an army man called Vikram Rathore who, after displaying exemplary valour in the face of certain death, bides his time in the shadows; the younger, who goes by the name of Azad, is a Robin Hood type with a thing for disguise, whose main job is to rob the rich to help the poor.
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