Directed by: Atlee
Screenplay by: Atlee, S. Ramanagirivasan
Dialogues by: Sumit Arora
Story by: Atlee
Produced by: Gauri Khan, Gaurav Verma
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi
Cinematography: G. K. Vishnu
Edited by: Ruben
Music by: Anirudh Ravichander
Production Company: Red Chillies Entertainment
Release date : 7 September 2023
Running time: 169 minutes (Theatrical release)
Country: India
Language: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu
Budget: ₹300 crore
Box office: est. ₹1,148 crore
Jawan is a movie from India that came out in 2023. It’s an action-packed thriller in the Hindi language. Atlee, who’s new to making Hindi movies, directed it along with writing the story. Gauri Khan and Gaurav Verma produced the film for Red Chillies Entertainment. The main actor, Shah Rukh Khan, plays two roles – a father and his son. They team up to fight corruption in society. Other actors like Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Deepika Padukone, Priyamani, and Sanya Malhotra also star in the movie.
They started filming in September 2021 in places like Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Rajasthan, and Aurangabad. Anirudh Ravichander created the music, G. K. Vishnu handled the camera work, and Ruben did the editing. Some scenes were shot again for the Tamil version of the movie.
Originally, Jawan was supposed to come out on June 2, 2023, but it got delayed because they hadn’t finished all the work on the movie. It finally hit theaters on September 7, 2023, during the festival of Janmashtami. Critics loved the performances, story, action scenes, and music in Jawan. It made a lot of money at the box office, even more than Shah Rukh Khan’s last movie, Pathaan. It became the highest-grossing Indian movie of 2023, the second-highest in Hindi movies, and the fifth highest-grossing movie overall, earning over ₹1,148.32 crore (US$140 million).
Plot
Azad is the person in charge of a women’s prison in Mumbai. He takes over a train in Mumbai with six prisoners: Lakshmi, Eeram, Ishkra, Kalki, Helena, and Janhvi. Azad talks to an officer named Narmada Rai and asks for a lot of money in exchange for the passengers’ safety. He wants to use this money to help poor farmers by paying off their loans. Azad and his group give the money to the farmers and escape. Azad tells Kalee Gaikwad, a powerful person, his real name is Vikram Rathore through Alia, Kalee’s daughter.
Later, Azad meets Narmada and they get married. Azad’s gang kidnaps the Health Minister and demands better hospitals in return for the Minister’s life. They get what they want and escape after a fight. Narmada discovers Azad’s real identity but faces trouble from Kalee’s brother. Azad gets help from his lookalike Vikram Rathore. Narmada finds out about Azad’s partners by pretending to be a prisoner and learns about Azad and Vikram’s connection.
In 1986, Vikram Rathore, a soldier, went after terrorists who had killed Indian soldiers. He faced problems with his weapons and later fought against Kalee, who supplied the weapons. Kalee hurt Vikram and made everyone think he was dead. Aishwarya, Vikram’s wife, was jailed for killing corrupt cops. Their son, Azad, was born in jail. Aishwarya asked Azad to clear Vikram’s name before she died. Vikram lost his memory but was saved by a tribal group.
Back to the present, Irani, Narmada’s assistant, tries to kill them. Lakshmi dies in the chaos. Azad arrives and kills Irani. Azad’s team steals money meant for elections, while Vikram’s team gets caught by Kalee’s people. Azad announces he’s taken voting machines and demands to shut down polluting factories. The government seals the factories. Kalee fights Azad at the prison, where Vikram remembers everything and helps Azad by defeating Kalee. Later, Azad gets a new mission from officer Madhavan Naik to target Swiss banks.
Cast
Shah Rukh Khan plays two roles. First, he is Captain Vikram Rathore, a former commando. Then, he also acts as Azad, who runs a women’s prison and happens to be Vikram’s son. Nayanthara plays Narmada Rai, who leads Force One. Vijay Sethupathi is Kalee Gaikwad, who sells weapons. Deepika Padukone makes a special appearance as Aishwarya Rathore, Vikram’s wife. Priyamani is Lakshmi, Sanya Malhotra is Dr. Eeram, and Sunil Grover is Irani. The cast also includes other actors in various roles such as Helena, an ethical hacker; Ishkra, an artist; and Kalki, among others. Sanjay Dutt makes a special appearance as STF officer Madhavan Naik.
Production
In late 2019, people heard a rumor that Shah Rukh Khan would work with Tamil movie director Atlee. Atlee confirmed this when he was promoting the movie Bigil. Because of the COVID-19 lockdown in India in 2020, Atlee told Khan the story over a Zoom call. In May 2021, news came out that they would start filming the movie soon.
Gauri Khan is producing the movie under Red Chillies Entertainment, and Gaurav Verma is also helping as a co-producer. They officially announced the project on June 3, 2022. The movie cost ₹300 crores to make.
Atlee worked on the script of the movie with S. Ramana Girivasan. This is their fourth movie together. Sumit Arora wrote the dialogues. Atlee kept most of his usual team for the movie, including cinematographer G. K. Vishnu, editor Ruben, art director T. Muthuraj, and stunt director Anal Arasu. They also hired Spiro Razatos, Craig Macrae, Yannick Ben, Kecha Khamphakdee, and Sunil Rodrigues as stunt directors. The movie’s dance choreographers are Farah Khan, Vaibhavi Merchant, Shobi, and Lalitha.
Music
Anirudh Ravichander made the music for a movie with Shah Rukh Khan and Atlee. This was his first time working with them in Bollywood. It was also his first time making all the music by himself for a Bollywood movie. Before this, he only made one song for a movie called David and did the background music for another movie called Jersey. At first, the director, Atlee, asked A. R. Rahman to make the music for the movie, but Rahman said no for some reason. So, Anirudh was asked instead and he did it. The music rights for the movie were bought by T-Series for ₹36 crore, which was a lot of money and a record for a Hindi movie’s songs. The movie’s soundtrack has seven songs made by Anirudh. The songs are called “Zinda Banda,” “Chaleya,” “Not Ramaiya Vastavaiya,” “Aararaari Raaro,” “Jawan Title Track,” “Faraatta,” and “Chaleya” (Arabic). Irshad Kamil and Kumaar wrote the song lyrics.
