Jawan 2023 ‧ Action/Thriller

Jawan (transl. Soldier) is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film co-written and directed by Atlee as his first Hindi film.[4] It is produced by Gauri Khan and Gaurav Verma under Red Chillies Entertainment. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan in a dual role as father and son doppelgängers who team up to rectify corruption in society. Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Deepika Padukone (billed as a special appearance), Priyamani and Sanya Malhotra appear in supporting roles.

Principal photography commenced in September 2021 with filming taking place in Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Rajasthan and Aurangabad. The film's soundtrack and background score were composed by Anirudh Ravichander, with cinematography by G. K. Vishnu and editing by Ruben. A few scenes were simultaneously re-shot for the Tamil version of the film, particularly Khan's appearance in the song "Zinda Banda" ("Vandha Edam" in Tamil), Sethupathy's portions and scenes featuring Yogi Babu.[5][6]

Jawan was initially planned for release on 2 June 2023, but was postponed due to unfinished post-production work.[7] It was theatrically released on 7 September 2023 in standard, IMAX, 4DX and other premium formats, coinciding with Janmashtami. Jawan received critical acclaim from critics who praised its cast performances, screenwriting, action sequences and musical score.[8] The film set several box-office opening weekend and first week records for a Hindi film, overtaking those set by Khan's previous release Pathaan (2023). Grossing over ₹695.67 crore (US$87 million), it emerged as the third highest-grossing Indian film of 2023 and the 10th highest-grossing Indian film.
Plot

Azad is the jailer of a woman's prison in Mumbai, who along with a group of inmates (named Lakshmi, Eeram, Ishkra, Kalki, Helena and Janhvi) hijack a Mumbai Metro. He negotiates with NSG officer Narmada Rai to ask the Agriculture Minister to send ₹40,000 crores in exchange for the passengers' lives. Kalee Gaikwad, a global arms dealer, learns that his daughter Alia is also one of the captives and agrees to fund the deal. When Alia questions their motive, Azad reveals his plan of donating the money towards the loan waiver of 700,000 impoverished farmers in the country. Azad and his gang directly transfer the funds into the farmer's bank accounts and escape from the Metro. Azad reveals his name as Vikram Rathore to Kaalie through Alia.

Meanwhile, Azad meets Narmada and her daughter Suchi, and they eventually get married. Azad and his gang next kidnap the Health Minister and demand to initiate better infrastructure at every government hospital, in exchange for the Health Minister's life. The infrastructure is immediately initiated in the hospitals, allowing Azad and his gang to escape again after a shootout between Narmada and her team. Soon after their wedding, Narmada finds out about Azad's true identity and confronts him, but Kalee's brother and his henchmen capture and torture them. However, Azad is saved by his doppelgänger, the real Vikram Rathore. Narmada finds out the identities of Azad's accomplices and confronts them by disguising herself as an inmate, where she learns about Azad and Vikram's connection.

In 1986, Captain Vikram Rathore is a commando in the Special Ops unit of the Indian Army, who sets out on an operation to hunt down the terrorist group responsible for attacking and killing 40 Indian soldiers. After facing several casualties that are caused by malfunctioning weaponry, Vikram and his team take down the terrorists. He files a complaint against Kaale, who was the supplier of the weapons. He tries to unsuccessfully cut a deal with Vikram and that same night, Vikram and his wife, Aishwarya, are attacked by Kaale and his henchmen. Kaale takes Vikram onboard a plane and seemingly shoots him to death, while Aishwarya is sentenced to prison for killing three cops, who were on Kaale's payroll. Afterwards, Vikram is declared a national traitor. Aishwarya gives birth to their child, Azad, in prison. When Azad turns five, Aishwarya asks him to prove his father's innocence and provide justice to the oppressed, before she is hanged. Unbeknownst to the world, Vikram survived the attack but lost his memory. He is found and rescued by a tribal group in northeast India and rehabilitated.

After coming to know about Vikram and Azad's past, Narmada decides to help Azad and his team. However, Narmada's subordinate, Irani, is revealed to be on Kaale's payroll, and tries to kill them in the prison; Lakshmi is killed in the resulting crossfire. Azad arrives at the prison and kills Irani in a stampede. Vikram, Azad, and his team attack Kaale's trucks, which contain money for the upcoming elections that will be used to boost Kaale's political ambitions. Azad and his team manage to steal the trucks, while Vikram and his team get captured by Kaale's henchmen. Azad releases another video and states that he has stolen voting machines and demands to seal 253 factories in the country, responsible for air and water pollution. The factories are sealed by the government. Kaale learns about Azad's location in the women's prison and a fight ensues, where Vikram finally recovers his memory and helps Azad by hanging Kaale to death. A few months later, it is revealed that STF officer Madhavan Nayak was the one who helped Azad in the completion of his missions, where he assigns Azad his next mission, targeting Swiss Banks.
Cast

Shah Rukh Khan in a dual role as
Captain Vikram Rathore, an ex-commando
Azad, the jailer of a woman's prison and Vikram's son[9]
Nayanthara as Narmada Rai, chief of Force One
Vijay Sethupathi as Kalee Gaikwad, an arms dealer
Deepika Padukone as Aishwarya Rathore, Vikram's wife (special appearance)
Priyamani as Lakshmi
Sanya Malhotra as Dr. Eeram
Sunil Grover as Irani
Riddhi Dogra as Kaveri, Azad's foster mother
Sanjeeta Bhattacharya as Helena, an ethical hacker
Girija Oak as Ishkra, an artist[10]
Lehar Khan as Kalki
Aaliyah Qureishi as Jahnvi[11]
Mukesh Chhabra as Pappu
Yogi Babu as Pappu (Tamil version)
Eijaz Khan as Manish Gaikwad, Kalee's brother
Sangay Tsheltrim as Juju
Seeza Saroj Mehta as Suchi Rai, Narmada's daughter
Priyansh Vatiani and Arijit Gaurav as Young Azad
Utsav Narula as Mahaveer Jain
Viraj Ghelani as Dubey
Bharat Raj as Irai Anbu
Kenny Basumatary as Naazir Ahmed
Jaffer Sadiq as Sudhir[12]
Naresh Gossain as Agriculture Minister
Ashwin Kaushal as Health Minister
Sukhi Garewal as Murad (Voice by Manoj Pandey)
Abhishek Deswal as Abdul
Sai Dheena as Sudhir
Ashlesha Thakur as Alia Gaikwad, Kalee's daughter
Smita Tambe as Kalki's mother
Omkar Das Manikpuri as Kalki's father
Vivek Raghuvanshi as Commando Alif
Ravindra Vijay as Mukund Menon, District Collector
Sharad Vyas as Judge
Dorendro Loitongbam as Village Physician
Abiral Limboo as young Juju
Sanjay Dutt as STF officer Madhavan Nayak (special appearance)[13]
Atlee as himself in the song "Zinda Banda" (cameo)[14]