Jawan is a 2023 Bollywood action movie, directed by Atlee.
The story follows an Anti-Hero (Shah Rukh Khan) who — along with a team of six women — use terrorism to try force change in regards to sympathetic and pressing issues that affect India (forgiving the loans of poor farmers, updating hospital equipment, etc).
On the side of the government, Narmada Rai (Nayanthara) tries to catch him.
In the background is baddie weapons dealer Kalee (Vijay Sethupathi).
Tropes
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Kalee tortures Vikram and asks him if he remembers who he is, Vikram mistakes him for Santa Claus, due to his white hair and beard. Later, Kalee brings Vikram to Azad while gleefully singing, "Santa has come for you! And he has a gift for you".
- Amazon Brigade: Azad's terrorist activities are made possible by a team of six women helping him: Lakshmi, Eeram, Ishkra, Kalki, Helena, and Janhvi. After realizing Vikram and Azad's actions were for the greater good of the people, not to mention that she was betrayed by one of her own men, Narmada joins the team.
- Amnesiac Hero: Vikram Rathore, Azad's father, lost his memory decades ago after nearly being killed by Kalee Gaikwad. However, due to muscle memory, he retains his sharp reflexes and lethal combat skills as a former Special Forces officer.
- Anachronism Stew: In Vikram's flashback in 1986, they're wearing gear that didn't exist until the early 21st century. They are also armed with modern-looking AR-15 variants when their actual assault rifles at that time are the L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle (a British variant of FAL) and the AK-esque assault rifles like MPi-KMS-72 (an East German variant of the AKM) and Vz. 58.
- Badass Boast: Vikram's squad mates give a few on his behalf, when Kalee asks how can there be two Azads and how Vikram Rathore could even be alive.Pushkar Mahajan: It was Simba on TV. This is Mufasa!
Kalee: What samosa?
Nazir Ahmed: The man you saw on TV is the lion's son. And he's the lion!
Kalee: I killed you with my own hands!
Mahaveer Jain: Yes, but he wasn't in the mood to die that day. (laughs) - Big Damn Heroes: Azad, a.k.a. Vikram Rathore, and his newlywed wife Narmada are captured and tortured by the villains, only for the real Vikram, also played by Shah Rukh Khan, to show up to save them when all seems hopeless.
- Chekhov's Gunman: In the prologue, a young boy in the North East Indian tribal village promised Vikram that he would help him find out his identity when he grows up. In the present day, he is Juju, the cop who encountered Azad in the Metro train and after seeing how Azad looks identical to the man in his village, he investigates further and discovers Vikram Rathore's identity, along with the whereabouts of his squadmates.
- Cigar Chomper: Vikram is often seen with a cigar between his teeth.
- Cool Old Guy: Despite his advanced age, the actual Vikram Rathore still kicks ass as much as his son, Azad.
- Dating Catwoman: Narmada Rai, head of the task-force out to capture the activist/terrorist 'Vikram Rathore', is engaged to and eventually marries fellow police officer and jailer, Azad, who leads a double life as... 'Vikram Rathore'.
- David Versus Goliath: Azad and Vikram's final opponent was Murad. Vikram even dubs him "Baahubali". They manage to defeat him by Vikram kicking a fire extinguisher at Murad while Azad tackles him.
- Hates My Secret Identity: Though hate might be a strong word. Narmada falls in love with Azad, while being determined to hunt down 'Vikram Rathore', whom she considers a dangerous criminal, not knowing that they are the same man! Once she discovers the truth about Azad's history and motivations, however, she accepts his crusade and even joins him.
- Identical Grandson: Father Vikram and son Azad are both played by Shah Rukh Khan.
- Just Like Robin Hood: Azad's first scheme is hijacking a metro, terrorizing the passengers with a fake shooting, extracting a ransom from a girl's Corrupt Corporate Executive father, and then distributing the money among poor farmers who are in crushing debt. The press even dubs him "Robin Hood".
- Karmic Death: Kalee was killed the same way Vikram's wife Aishwarya died: being hanged to death for the crimes that he actually committed instead of being framed in Aishwarya's case.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Azad's speech to India in the climax is framed as though he's speaking directly to the audience.
- Raised by the Community: Azad was raised by his mother Aishwarya and the entirely of the women's prison she was incarcerated at. They're all super invested in him, and he in turn does everything he can to help them.
- Right-Hand Cat: Mr. D, Kalee's mysterious backer, has a right-hand cheetah.
- Shout-Out:
- To The Lion King (1994). At one point, Azad is referred to as Simba and Vikram as Mufasa. Also when Azad is born, he's presented before the community (the prison) by being held aloft above a cheering crowd, just like Simba was. Doubles as Actor Allusion, as Shah Rukh Khan previously voiced Mufasa in the Hindi dub of the 2019 CGI remake.
- Vikram Rathore's story bears more than a passing resemblance to that of Jason Bourne's from The Bourne Identity — a special forces operative who suffers a near-death experience after being repeatedly shot and nearly drowning, resulting in memory loss, while retaining his lethal skills from his forgotten past. One of the very first shots of the film, of an unconscious Vikram floating in the water, is identical to the opening shot of The Bourne Identity.
- One to Rowdy Rathore, which had Akshay Kumar in dual roles, one of them named Vikram Rathore and the other one assuming his identity later. In both movies, right before the interval, the real Vikram Rathore wields a saw like tool as his weapon to rescue his doppelgänger.
- Secret Identity: Azad, the jailer of a women's prison, using a series of disguises, assumes the identity of activist/terrorist 'Vikram Rathore'.
- Someone to Remember Him By: Azad is this to Aishwarya, although Vikram isn't actually dead, she just thinks he is.
- Staged Shooting: The metro hijacking involves creating fear by seemingly shooting one of Azad's planted co-collaborators. She's dressed in a niqabi so when she falls, fake-dead, she's covered and no one can see her breathing. Also, it's generally nice not to have your bare face touching the floor of the Mumbai Metro.
- Villainous Breakdown: As Kalee loses his henchmen in the Final Battle between him and the Rathores, he desperately tries to make a deal with Vikram but the latter is beyond pissed off and leaves Kalee to be hanged by the six women whose lives he helped ruin, in the same prison where he got Aishwarya wrongfully executed. Kalee continues begging to make a deal with Vikram until he is hanged.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Azad is a terrorist, but he truly wants to help people. He champions some very sympathetic causes, like poor farmers Driven to Suicide by Evil Debt Collectors. Azad is introduced as a villain, with this first bit (the metro hijacking) taking the POV of the scared passengers, but by the end of the movie, the film's framing sides with The Extremist Was Right.
- Winning Over the Kids: Inverted Trope. Narmada's ex-boyfriend, the biological father of her daughter Suji, tried to pressure her into having an abortion. Since then, she's been adamant that any man in her life must be as 100% about her daughter as she is. This creates the situation where little Suji does Kids Play Matchmaker: she picks out Azad, pre-approves him and decides she wants him as a stepfather, and then introduces him to her mother. Having already won over this kid, he must now secondarily win over the love interest.
