This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Shah Rukh Khan has just a magnetism about him. I could sense the excitement in the room when I saw Jawan, as the mostly Indian audience really went where his performance told them to go. But SRK charm and really fun action sequences can only take Jawan so far. I think his presence here undercuts a story with incredible potential to be something really special and not just about its star.
After a 300 like battle sequence introducing us to amnesiac Vikram Rathore (Khan), we flash to present day. Rathore has figured out his purpose: he’s become a terrorist for “Indian Citizens,” holding a Mumbai metro hostage with his female companions: a doctor (Sanya Malhotra), a mother (Priyamani), a hacker (Sanjeeta Bhattacharya), an artist (Girija Oak), and a farmer’s daughter (Lehar Khan). Rathore plans to blow up the train with the daughter of rich businessman Kaalie (Vijay Sethupathi) unless he can talk to a police negotiator. Enter the best negotiator, Narmada (Nayanthara), who wants a safe result for everyone, but is surprised by how resourceful and well informed Rathore is about India’s systems of power.
The first half of Jawan, especially this opening train hostage sequence, is excellent. That’s because the screenplay is front and center, which focuses on systemic forces inside India that consistently disenfranchise the poor and helpless. The movie uses backstories for Rathore’s female accomplices to showcase various cruel ways India neglects its poorest citizens for the happiness of its rich ones, and how in reality if given the will to help by say, a terrorist threatening to bomb a train, the government can mobilize quickly to solve real problems. I’ll give Jawan credit for how bleak they are willing to go with their messaging, breaking a LOT of US cinematic taboos to drive home their Robin Hood tactical points. I wish the movie had continued in this path, with more backstories of disenfranchised people in different systems inside of India while kicking ass at the same time, like a bigger version of V for Vendetta.
But Jawan is at war with its message and its star wattage. In a movie about helping the poor, its very confusing to see all of these women serving Shah Rukh Khan and following him instead of using their skills and taking agency themselves. I would have liked the roles to be flipped, and had Nayanthara in the Rathore part and SRK as the negotiator, forcing someone familiar at the top of the system to see things from a real world perspective. Instead the story tries to walk the line between its really potent message and a standard action movie story built around Victor’s tragic past and complicated present. Sadly, we learn star power means more than message, as basically the entire second half of the movie is a long backstory about Victor and NOT all these real, tragic hard working people dealt bad hands by their lot in life. The movie also doubles down on this choice so hard Jawan almost becomes self-parody, as SRK does things in the third act that are, um, really weird if you think about it for even a couple seconds, and despite a last second attempt to stick the landing, loses its way when there isn’t a super duper action sequence going on.
Jawan is the movie that never reaches its full potential. I’d love to see this adapted into other countries, or even Bollywood to take a 2nd shot at the story with more of a faceless cast. Because when a story like this is right? You have something like a Collective on your hands, that stays with you forever and ever. Though I think if you polled the fans last night, SRK might have done that on his own with his big double down second act.