Shah Rukh Khan's Jawan, and the North-South divide on Atlee's art
Bollywood audiences can't stop gushing over the film's script, editing, acting and political messaging; down South, there are yawns and snickers
The North and South of the Vindhyas vary in various ways. The latest example would be Shah Rukh Khan's 'Jawan'.
Trade analysts, fans and actors, particularly from Bollywood, are over the moon raving about the electrifying ‘mass entertainer’, praising its powerful political messaging. Atlee is being hailed as the director who has produced the best film of this year and, possibly, SRK's career-best. He has joined the legion of SS Rajamouli, Mani Ratnam and Sankar in giving pan-India superhit films, it would seem.
Down South, though, there is snickering on Atlee's tendency to get 'influenced' by other filmmakers and, often enough, by his own past films. His fans back home says Jawan is nothing but a mish-mash of several South films – a ‘massy’ potboiler. South Indian audiences have seen it all before.
In fact, a Twitter (now X) user has accused Atlee of copying a 1989 Tamil film, 'Thaai Naadu' (mother land), a Sathyaraj starrer, which had a similar plot right down to the double role that Shah Rukh plays as father and the son in 'Jawan'.
Another user feels it is like Ajith’s 'Arrambam', which is based around a bullet proof vests scam. In 'Jawan', the senior Shah Rukh, an army officer protests against an arms dealer who sells poor quality guns that don’t function even when you pull the trigger!
South directors are on steroids
Clearly, it seems like a North South divide here. For fans who have not seen Tamil films before, South directors are in ‘another league’, with one social media user even gushing that Kollywood directors are on ‘steroids’. For creating this cracker of a film with its “dumdaar dialogs, dhamakedaar action…”
This is what happens when the "brilliance" (sic) of the south meets the stardom of the north, says another X user. North Indian fans realise the film has a 'south aesthetic' but they love the fact that Shah Rukh takes on the establishment even if that face-off involves robbing a lot of EVMs to stop the elections from happening!
Trade analyst Sumit Kadel who seemed to have loved the film describing it as a “Gigantic blockbuster” says, 'Jawan' delivers entertainment in wholesale quantity with a powerful and pertinent message'. He goes even further to call Atlee’s “terrific Mass Appealing script” as "rooted, emotional & inspiring..”
And, particularly feels that SRK’s entry in the film, the metro sequence, chase sequence, interval and climax are Major Highlights that evokes 'goosebumps'. The Interval Block for him is the GREATEST EVER, he writes.
For south Indians who have cut their milk teeth watching Vijay or Rajni's over-the-top entry shots and swagger with accompanying music and punchy dialogues a hundred times, watching Shah Rukh wrapped up like a mummy framed against a night sky struck by lighting is as boring as listening to a sermon on Sanatana dharma.
Milking the father son emotion has been done to death in Tamil films from Sivaji’s 1973 'Gauravam' to the 2023 'Varisu'. In 'Varisu', Vijay, the brave son takes on the enemies single-handedly to save his father from ruin.
Some X users have zeroed in on the films that 'Jawan' has copied from.
Calling it a 'crap' movie, a 'big disappointment', one user accuses 'Jawan' of being a copy of south movies and Amitabh Bachchan starrer 'Aakhri Raasta'.
One user says it is a rehash of 'Thaai Naadu', in which, a military officer (Sathyaraj) is accused of colluding with the enemy during a military operation and he is murdered before he can prove his innocence. His son when he grows up is told about his father and decides to investigate the case and find the real culprits. In 'Jawan', Shah Rukh’s father is almost killed by a weapons dealer (Sethupathi) (yes he pumps bullets into him and throws him off a plane) and his reputation is sullied and his wife is hanged. His son (another Shah Rukh) who loves to go bald like Rajini in 'Shivaji the boss', goes after the baddie, who destroyed his father and caused the death of his mother. And, in between, save the world.
South Indians are finding it funny that such a commonplace revenge cum vigilante drama, which has been done to death in different ways in south films, is being hailed as a masterpiece in Bollywood.
Over the past decade, Bollywood has more or less toed the government's line. 'Political' films are mostly propaganda ones (read 'The Kashmir Files') and anti-establishment films have become a rarity. Kollywood has always been big on political messaging. Stars like Rajinikanth and VIjay routinely spout clever dialogues that their fans quickly identify as politicals. This difference could, to some extent, explain the difference in the reactions to Jawan.
One thing to note though is that though there are sharp criticisms, friendly jibes and hilarious social media memes on Atlee, Jawan has set the box-offices ringing in the South, too. Looks like there's no stopping Atlee from trying to become the next big South director to hit Bollywood.