Jawan (2023)

In 2023, I have visited theatres multiple times and had watched the trailer of ‘Jawan’. I couldn’t make out the storyline, but I liked the presence of a woman-gang around SRK and the usage of the song ‘Bekarar Karke Hamein Yun Na Jaaiye’. SRK’s move into a full-time action hero means long-time fans like my mother don’t relate to his recent movies, and I hope he considers them as well when he makes future movie choices.

To watch ‘Jawan’, I had a colleague's company - it was great fun watching a SRK movie with a fellow fan! I went for a late-night show after years, and it felt very good. The audience was clapping for SRK more than once, and it was wonderful to be part of this experience.

For a change, let me start with what didn’t work for me. Unless it is ‘Chennai Express’, I can’t watch train sequences set in India without getting triggered – they remind me of blasts and more. The sudden introduction of songs, Nayanthara’s character development, dramatic scenes at a women’s prison, the intense violence from all corners – all of this left me a bit disoriented even if I admired Nayanthara’s spot-on body language during fight sequences. I kept hoping the violence would deescalate, and it didn’t happen. Given how the movie ends, a sequel can be expected, and I am not sure if I will be able to stomach this level of violence again.

Let’s get to the better parts now. Bridging the North-South divide with astuteness, treating women characters well and spreading awareness around social issues without being preachy is something SRK is really good at, and I have deeper appreciation for this as I age. The movie draws deft attention to villagers living in areas closer to borders, treatment of women prisoners, farmer suicides, public medical treatment facilities, corruption in Armed Forces, awarding of death penalties, faulty EVMs, and the behaviour of the average voter. Each time when it looked like a rape sequence would be introduced and I slowly started getting triggered, the women uniformly resorted to self-defence that left me proud of seeing it on the big screen. Reality was shown when without exception, these women who resort to violent self-defence are jailed.

As for the performances, I particularly liked three of them. I got a chance to watch Vijay Sethupathi finally – I loved his acting, how he captured the Vijay Mallya look, and the authentic dialogue delivery with accent. Even if I couldn’t relate to her action sequences, I liked Sanya Malhotra’s portrayal of the Government doctor Eeram – her character may have been based on Dr. Kafeel Khan, and I love that genders have been flipped, something I noticed in ‘Ghoomer’ as well. The surprise package for me was Deepika Padukone – her character had been given more thought, and the way she portrayed a single mother was way better than Nayanthara’s portrayal of the same.

The movie’s release has been timed well, right before the General Elections in 2024. If it inspires more people to exercise their voice and vote, it has truly done its job.

Ghoomer (2023)

In the past, I have enjoyed the interesting portrayals of women in R Balki’s movies (Cheeni Kum, Paa, English Vinglish). Across age groups, the women have a mind of their own, are decisive and experimental in their relationship status. So, the minute I saw the poster of ‘Ghoomer’, I knew I wanted to watch it. The sports link was evident, and to my delight the portrayal of disability too.

During illness episodes, one after another, I used to mention words that sounded similar, or words that meant more than 1 thing (remember paryayvachi shabd?) This time, Ghoomer reminded me of the song ‘Ghoomar’ from Padmaavat. Watch the movie to see why Ghoomer has a significant role to play.

Ghoomer has sought inspiration from the life of Karoly Takacs, the Olympic medal-winning shooter. Like him, the budding cricketer Anina played by Saiyami Kher loses her right hand in a freak road accident and must give up her dream of representing India as a batter. An older cricketer past his prime, played by Abhishek Bachchan, gives her career a new life by encouraging her to become a bowler instead. Like all good coaches portrayed in media, he makes things difficult for her initially, helps her build strength in her left hand, and eventually she becomes so good at bowling that she gets another chance to represent India, and goes on to win glory.

There are two other strong women in the movie – Anina’s paternal grandmother played by the fantastic Shabana Azmi (may everyone be blessed with considerate paternal grandmothers like the ones she has portrayed in 2023) and the trans woman Rasika played by Ivanka Das. Witty, observant and helpful, these women light up the screen when they appear.

Balki’s movies, however well-written, have a few moments of unbelievable drama that leave me flabbergasted, but the overall taste is so good that I am willing to let them fly by. I haven’t been tracking cricket for years now, but enjoyed the scenes featuring cricket and can see why women’s cricket is gaining popularity. I was happy to see more attention given to bowlers (finally!) and the references to Physics.

Finally, the real reason that I wanted to watch the movie – Anina is a person with disability (PwD). I liked the scenes featuring other PwDs who rejoice at her bowling spell, the looks given by her team members when the scoreline is against them and they miss having an extra batter, and I read that the DCCI (Differently-Abled Cricket Council of India) hosted a special screening of the movie for 50 paraplegic cricketers. So far, all good. What’s not good? Yet again, a PwD has been shown as a super-achiever and hugely inspirational figure, instead of remaining human with flaws like any other. The other option would have been to portray the PwD as an object of pity – disability portrayal offers only these two extremes – so this was better to that extent.

While I was a bit sad to see how quick Anina is to forgive the male driver who leaves her disabled and her childhood friend who gives her the idea to hand signal while driving, I wasn’t surprised. Forgiveness is expected of women, irrespective of the harm meted out by men. The only silver lining is that the male driver is repentant and tries to make amends. As for the childhood friend, he loves her.

Watch the movie. You’d be happy after doing so!