SUCH A GOOD MOVIE!!!! So glad I took time off work to see it, TOTALLY worth it, and I was so swept away I even forgot to feel guilty for skipping work!
The plot is really fun, and whacky, and I can’t talk about anything without spoiling something. So be warned, this review is gonna be very basic. While also still trying to convey why you SHOULD ALL GO SEE IT.
I spent a lot of time watching it thinking about Elizabeth Taylor. Elizabeth Taylor in her later years became a huge advocate for gay rights, specifically related to the AIDs epidemic and lack of resources. She had always been aware of and involved to some degree with gay rights, she had very close closeted friends and she talked about how much she loved them and hurt for them. But I don’t think she became involved with the AIDs issues because of her personal connection. I think it was because she was an enormously empathetic person, and she was a public figure who had followers from all parts of society, and in this particular moment the part of society that most needed a champion, that most cried out for empathy, was the gay community in America.
And that’s where I feel Shahrukh is coming from in his violent feminism in this movie. I don’t actually think Shahrukh cares more for young women and their struggles than for children, or young men, or the elderly. But in this time and place, that particular group is crying out for a champion and so he will step into that role.
This is very much a Shahrukh Khan Film. It’s all to his greater glory, for sure. But he is using that glory to shed a light on problems of society, all kinds of problems, and in particular how they effect the overlooked and forgotten young women of modern India.
That’s what makes it work, as a film. Great action scenes, great performances (Dips is onscreen for maybe 15 minutes total and conveyed more emotion than any other actress, just phenomenal), good songs, good villain (Not great, I kind of want to see the Tamil version because I suspect Vijay Sethupathi will be better in his own language), and very twisty plot. But Pathaan had all of that too and it just didn’t hit as hard. What makes this hit is the foundational idea, making the invisible woman into the person who matters most. Whether she is the prison guard, or the college student on the train, or the wife threatened to scare her husband, or even the love interest of the hero. They DO things, they MATTER. And what happens to them matters to, it happens to THEM, not just to the men around them.
So yes, Shahrukh of Chak De, of Dear Zindagi, with the heroine of One 2 Ka 4, and the villains of Oh Darling Yeh Hai India.
dontcallitbollywood 
I cannot wait to see it but I MUST bc I have a wedding this weekend. You would think that a Desi fusion couple would have had the good sense to check Shah Rukh’s film release schedule before planning a wedding. How rude! This is the Shah Rukh we adore.
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Ugh, stupid weddings. It’s only 2 hrs 50 minutes, sneak out for a bit!
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Saw Jawan today. I think your assessment is spot on. It was so engaging and SRK’s performance defies words…indescribable. More afterbothers have had a chance to see it.
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It’s one of those double roles that’s really a quadruple role. He plays two characters, but then plays those characters at different points in their lives and with different emotions and situations that makes them into almost additional characters.
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I loved Nayanthara too … She’s unlike any Hindi film heroine I’ve seen in a long time. Spot on about Deepika and emotion.
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It would have been a great Kajol role, present day Kajol. So much so that I wonder if they offered it to her first and she turned it down. Strong, independent, bossy.
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Maybe didn’t want to do action?
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Maybe. Stunts are a lot of work.
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Or maybe they didn’t offer it because it was a crossover film so the heroine needed to be from the Tamil industry
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Honestly it was so kind of Shah Rukh to release a film during my first week back at work when I need the pick me up. Im going to see it tomorrow and your review has only made me MORE excited to go, if that’s even possible
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So happy for you! I am in a similar boat, I’ve had three weeks in a row of people visiting or holidays or just SOMETHING exciting. So this movie will ease me back into regular working 5 days a week life.
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yes!! honestly I’ve been looking forward to it ever since I knew the release date because I went to see Pathaan on my own on a whim because it was my birthday weekend haha
This time I’m going with my cousin because her uni semester hasn’t started yet and I work in a school so this is the PERFECT “you survived working with 5 year olds all week” prize 😂
Pathaan was the first srk film I saw in a cinema despite loving him since I was a child and it evoked SO MANY emotions in me I’m so ready to experience it again !
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I’m at Gaiety Cinema now, supposed to watch the movie with 1000 other people if it’s full. Btw Alia is in so many ads that come before the movie that I’ve seen now and she really cannot sell things. It’s a joke. I was reminded of your post of how Alia can’t sell clothes but SRK can 😉
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SRK can sell byrani, too. Latest ad with Amit B on YouTube. Found on AMZ and it is on the way to me 😂
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Yes it’s such a great ad!!! It was in the cinemas too
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Not in cinema I went to…so glad to find on YouTube.
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Yeah I saw it in Cinema only because I’m in India right now 😆
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Gaiety was so great. Now I feel fulfilled and flying out of here to Hyderabad tomorrow.
I realized that I picked Jawan to come to India because visiting on a festival such as Diwali while not being with family really would be very lonely. While this was a community SRK celebration not tied to family!
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HA! At this point, I have the opposite,t he few times there’s been an SRK release and I HAVEN’T been able to pull together an SRK Family to see it with me, I’ve felt more lonely than ever before. Luckily tonight I get to go with 4 friends and feel all warm and belonging.
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Awe I can relate ♥️♥️♥️. Perhaps we should coordinate how we will watch Dunki on 22 Dec.
I hope you enjoy it with your friends tonight. Sending you warm hugs 🥰
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Important question: did you have the samosas at Gaiety and are they as amazing as I remember them to be??
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I did not 😭. I got stuck in a middle seat and couldn’t go out to get them. Others next to me were eating them and I was super jealous. Next time!
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Awww! I’m still so jealous of your Gaeity experience. It’s my favorite theater! The last time I was at Gaeity though was in 2000 when I watched Kaho Na Pyaar Hai there! So much fun!!!
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Oh wow, so long ago!!! I wish I could go back for Dunki but maybe it won’t be the whistle and clap movie so I won’t miss much. I think I’ll plan to go to India next year on Shahrukh’s birthday
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Oh that should be fun!
And I know; it’s been far too long! It used to be our go-to theater anytime we were in Mumbai but then so many other theaters opened up and now we just end up going to the closest one based on whose house we are staying at. No fun!
My sister and I keep saying that one of these days we will go back to Mumbai without informing our extended family so we can stay and do what we want. We now have close friends who live in Navi Mumbai and go back every year, so we want to coordinate with them because his uncle is in the industry and can get us passes to premiers and other fun stuff like Filmfare. I mean, if I am going back, I want to maximize my Bollywood experience!
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That sounds fabulous. I luckily didn’t have to worry about any family or visiting anyone. Going one end to another in Mumbai can be so exhausting and time consuming! I wish someone would be able to get me in to meet SRK 😕
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It’s beyond exhausting. Most of my family lives around the Bandra, Sion, Versova, Andheri, Powai area, which is right in the middle but then even then it takes hours to travel just between those places. However, I will always be up for waking up super early in the morning to travel to Thane for Mamledar’s misal! 😀
Here is a cute video of Abhishek talking about Mamledar.
As for meeting Shah Rukh Khan, I wish I would help. You probably know far more than I do, but the only things I can think of for meeting celebrities are:
– Having friends who will take you with them to industry events/parties where he may show up.
– Seeing if you can be in the audience for one of the shows that he hosts and try to meet him there.
– See where he might be shooting, especially if it is outside of India, and see if you can go there. As you know, he has a house in London right by Hyde Park between Belgravia and Mayfair that he used to go to often. He was shooting there in July of last year for Dunki stayed in his house. You might be able to find similar info and see if you can run into him there. My in-laws have been staying in Belgravia 4-5 months out of the year for the past few years and I definitely went by SRK’s house to take come pics :-).
I don’t think he tours anymore so I think that’s out of the question. But again, I may be wrong.
Margaret – or Rachel who has her own SRK fan club in the US – might be able to help you out more.
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I asked the SRK warriors fan club guy and he said the best chance is SRK’s birthday. He also said it’s much easier to meet him abroad but it’s not like I can find out where and when he will be and then just take time off work to rock up there at short notice 🙄🤪
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That’s how a friend of mine met Aamir! He was filming in Chicago and luckily she had a day off work anyway. So she went downtown and haunted the set until she got a chance to see him. And he was suuuuuuuuuuuuper nice and signed autographs and stuff.
It doesn’t seem that unlikely for SRK to film in the bay area at some point, keep your ear to the ground on that, and if you have a little warning you can schedule a day off work. Or go after work, usually the film super early or late so the streets are empty.
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How do I keep track of whether he will be in the Bay? It seems unlikely to me. I think he goes to LA more because of LA knight riders
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I always find out too late or when he’s already left or the day he’s there
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There’s probably a filming schedule city website. I’m thinking Bay Area just because of how many many many song sequences use SF locations.
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Agreed. You might be able to call the permit office and ask them if there is a schedule and if so, is public information. If not, you might be able to find websites that maybe track it?
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Yay! I have tickets for Sunday with my friend and my kids. Barely got in, only front row was left and most shows are sold out for the weekend. It felt like people waited to see the initial reactions then all the tickets got snapped up fast. Was considering going into Manhattan to see it at the bigger IMAX theater, but my friend wasn’t up for it. Seeing it in a packed smaller theater will be fun too.
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If seeing it with kids, watch out! Things get a wee bit dark, there is a dead dog for example. But your kids aren’t little kids any more, right? They’ve metamorphosed into Big Tough Kids?
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They’re pretty tough. I’m slow stepping the 13yo into war movies, an area of interest. We watched Oppenheimer together in Madrid. He’s starting to be ready for more realistic violence, now that he has a moral dimension. The 10yo has the younger sibling effect of being exposed to things earlier because of his brother. I still keep him out of certain content, but I’ll let him watch some more violent fight scenes in action shows as long as he’s with me and we can talk about it. I can’t imagine SRK giving us a movie they can’t watch with me.
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Yep, just be ready to talk about a lot of stuff. Good stuff though! Government corruption and healthcare funding and farmer suicides, nice juicy moral quandaries.
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All the better when the bad guys are the kind of bad guys we see in real life, more to chew on.
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Exactly! Capitalism is the Devil, and Government should provide checks and balances to a free market. That’s the kind of movie villainy I can get behind!
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Emily’s kids are braver than I am. I really appreciate this heads up! Sister and I are watching it on Sunday and I am not sure I would have liked this being a surprise.
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Oh yeah, dead dog, dead small children, lots of bad stuff. But not in an exploitive way, it’s not during action scenes, it’s during flashbacks of Social Ills.
Bonus special Filmikudhi warning, there is no violence against pregnant ladies, but there is a sad bit about a mother and baby son.
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Thank you so much! Definitely needed these spoilers given how hormonal and pregnant I am watching this!
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Dead small children!?!
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Social ills!!!! Lack of healthcare! Etc.
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Filmikudhi take a lot of tissues with you. I’m not pregnant and I cried so much during some scenes (my husband also shed a tear)
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Thank you so much for the heads up! Tomorrow should be interesting.
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Pingback: Jawan Quick No Spoiler Review: YES YOU SHOULD SEE IT! Unless you hate Chak De/Dear Zindagi/Oh My Darling Yeh Hai India/One 2 Ka 4, because it combines ALL THREE - News Hour 24/7
It’s a movie that brings empathy to the fore…SRK’s, Atlee’s…and the audience’s one…basically, it is SRK speaking out very clearly as an actor through his work what so many wanted to hear from him…
SRK, the private man and Indian citizen will – again – be persecuted for that…
It was an overwhelming experience to me…the first Indian movie shown on the biggest IMAX screen in the world…and it is this one.
I’m happy with the initial response, I will be elated if it continues like that.
Packing the own concerns into such a massively entertaining movie with performances from outstanding to very good…with a musical force that matches the content, with a pan-Indian feeling, with a magical team work of Hindi and Tamil Cinema…that is a rather rebellious SRK who already was very clear in Pathaan… an SRK whose potential is shown like never before (imo)…
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Love your comments.
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I agree about his potential. One thing I find interesting with both Pathaan and this, he chose directors who specialize in Star movies. This isn’t Shahrukh the actor (although he gives a good performance in both), this is very much a Star vehicle, he is throwing his full weight around onscreen and putting it behind something he believes in.
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I’m so excited to see this quick take. Shah Rukh and Sethu are my faves, of course. I’ve also really enjoyed Nayanthara in the Tamil movies I’ve seen her in, and Sanya Malhotra is reliably charming too.
My husband is actually coming with me to see Jawan today! I was torn about seeing it in Hindi or Tamil, but it’s only playing in Hindi at our favorite local theater, so that solved that problem. I will see it in Tamil too for comparison at some point.
I love One 2 Ka 4, and especially Juhi’s role in it, so I’m really stoked to see you describe Nayathara’s role that way!
Looking forward to reading all the spoiler discussion after seeing it, and to your longer review/s. Hugs to you and the DCIB fam!
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Hugs to you too!!! I miss you (while also understanding that lives change and you have no obligation to remain active in a community).
Watch out with Vijay, I was disappointed in his performances and even more disappointed the second time around. I went with two people who grew up in Bombay last night and they got the giggles when he talked, apparently his accent was SO bad it was literally laughable. I suspect he had to work so hard on getting the Hindi dialogue right, it made it difficult for him to actually Act. I’ll be curious to see the Tamil version and if his performance is more fluid.
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❤ I remember Vijay saying in the filmcompanion roundtable a couple of years back that he didn't want to work in Hindi because, let alone getting the language right, he wouldn't get the mannerisms and body language of native Hindi speakers right. At that time he was focusing on Telugu as well as Tamil movies. But, I guess the opportunities and money are too good. I don't blame him. Too bad though. Doesn't bode well for Merry Christmas with Katrina.
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This may be an unpopular opinion, but did anyone else feel totally WIPED OUT after it ended? I was so mentally exhausted, I could barely hold a conversation with my dad at dinner. I went to bed almost immediately after I got home cuz I didn’t wanna do anything.
I’m definitely in the minority here, while the action was entertaining, and SRK is as charming as ever, the story lost me. I was trying to follow along, thought I had it, and then realized I didn’t and gave up trying to figure it out. Idk, man.
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Yep, absolutely emotionally drained afterwards.
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Completely agree, Courtney. I am so emotionally exhausted that I am numb!
My plan is to hug my dog and my child while I watch Pathaan or something like that as a palate cleanser.
Margaret was kind enough to put up a counter programming post for us and I am currently watching the video of the dog and the kitten and it is soo cute!
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OMG… this movie needs to come with multiple trigger warnings!!!! Starting with, “Not suitable for pregnant women with dogs!!!!”
Thank you all for the warning. I’m about 3/4 in and it is waaaaay tooo much for me. I’m still finishing it but not sure I can watch it again.
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Well, between you and Courtney, I have now decided to put up a counterprogramming post of Happy Things.
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You are too sweet! Thank you! I will post my thoughts in the spoiler review once I have had a bit of a break from it.
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Well, let me recommend the 12 minute video about a dog and kitten who are friends that I just posted.
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please write a full review on Jawani…I’m sure it’s worth it…also you’re right about Pathan it didn’t hit home like Jawan did…Jawan was a rollercoaster ride…and the songs were really good too…Dunki also had flaws though altogether a fine movie anyway I was really excited for SRK s come back … Proving he’s still the king …
Also I really want to see kajol with him again at least in a cameo…what do think about his upcoming movie KING with suhana…I am really excited ☺️
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