‘Jawan’ review: So much Shah Rukh, so little that works
Live MintJawan works best as validation of the Hindi film-watching public’s immaculate Pavlovian response. What happens next should come as no surprise to anyone who’s seen Atlee’s Bigil, in which Vijay plays both father and son, and Mersal, in which Vijay plays two brothers and their dad. Turns out the bandaged Shah Rukh who single-handedly defends a village at the beginning of the film isn’t the same one who’s cleaning out the system 30 years later. What was implicit in the public response to Pathaan—a nation rallying to support its favourite son after the hounding of his own son by the government—is text in Jawan: Shah Rukh Khan embarrassing evil politicians and cops and saving his boy. Jawan might be in Hindi, but it’s a Tamil film at heart—the manic cutting, the souped-up, slowed-down action, and more politically aware than the average Hindi film.