Jawan's story would take you to 80-90's, when the heroes of movies were demigods; they could accomplish any Herculean feat. The film flaunts typical "Bollywood coupled with SOBO" activism. It focuses on their favourite topics - farmers, the environment, and of course, women empowerment. The irony is that people born with a silver spoon pretend to be the champions of communism in India, just to score points in their restricted social circles.
The movie doesn't miss the opportunity to ride the borrowed trend from woke (and going broke) Hollywood of showing women as protagonists.
Switching back to the messiah movie stars, visualise this - a man draped with ointment-soaked mummified clothes (covering the entire body) jumps out and kills more than a dozen men with a spear. Action scenes are comical. In one scene, Shah Rukh attempts to throw a spear, but in the next cut, he is impaling someone with it. What happened to the continuity?
After elevating colleges (and whatnot) Shah Rukh, in this movie, takes Indian jails to another level. Maybe you have seen cooler prisons only in porn. Music is a mix-bag; for example - Zinda Banda would bore you, whereas Chaleya is cool. Though the song "chaliya" elevates the mood, but it is not timed properly. No way there was any spark between the couple. They were trying to initiate something only for the sake of the child.
The film never lets the audience forget that they are watching an SRK movie. In the background, the voiceover kept announcing - King Khan of Bollywood (or some silly chant in praise of SRK) throughout the supposedly cool action cuts. LOL!
Nayantara looks more like a glamorous doll, with her botoxed looks and vibes, than a kick-ass babe.
By the way, the lady who played Shah Rukh's mom, looked younger than him. Sorry Shah Rukh, the popped-up veins in your arms don't half your age automatically.
The only good thing that touched the heart was the little girl who played Nayantara's daughter. In sync with the story, her screen presence kept me glued.
Another out-of-place thing is negotiators (both Nayantara and Sanjay Dutt) also act as their respective action-team leads. I have seen maybe 1000s of action movies (mostly Hollywood). Negotiators are altogether different professionals than men in action.
The idolatry of SRK continues throughout the movie. When SRK gets into trouble, another avatar comes to save him. Of course, no one is allowed to take the limelight.
The icing on the cake is that the older version (Vikram) calls the younger version (Azaad) "handsome". I'm not sure, but it sounds akin to an ad.
Deepika dazzles as the eye candy (especially in sarees). However, her allure fades when the camera zooms on her face. Deepika's acting, especially in mother's form, seemed relatively better than others.
Vikram Setupathi looks menacing in some scenes as the antagonist. However, Hindi doesn't sound apt coming out of him. For instance, he calls Rathod "Rathud" or some weird pronunciation.
An example of how much the scriptwriters and directors are disconnected from reality is that Vinod Rathod (older SRK) smokes a cigar while doing some woodwork in a remote village. He also assists a doctor in the jail in trying to resuscitate Laxmi (a team member of Azaad). Guess, a hero doesn't need a nursing certification. Also, the younger SRK (Azaad) would preach to you how and whom to vote for.
The media may announce it as a blockbuster; however, hardly 30% of seats were filled on the second-day first show (2:30 pm) in the multiplex I visited.
If you like to read a video version (on YouTube) in Hindi, you may check out Pratik Borade's review here.
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