Jawan (transl. Soldier) is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language vigilante action thriller film co-written and directed by Atlee as his first Hindi film. 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 Indian society. Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Deepika Padukone (billed as a special appearance), Priyamani and Sanya Malhotra co-star.
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.
Jawan was initially planned for release on 2 June 2023, but was postponed due to unfinished post-production work.[5] It was theatrically released on 7 September 2023 in standard, IMAX, 4DX and other premium formats, coinciding with Janmashtami. The film received positive reviews from critics.
Plot
Azad is the jailer of a woman's prison in Mumbai, who along with a group of inmates (consisting of 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. Kaliee 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 7 lakh 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 true name as Vikram Rathore to the Arms dealer 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 Kaliee's brother and his henchmen capture and torture them. However, Azad is saved by his doppelgänger named Vikram. Narmada finds out the identities of Azad's accomplices and confronts them, where she learns about Azad and Vikram's connection.
In 1986, Vikram is a commando in the Indian Army, who sets out on a operation to hunt down the terrorist group responsible for attacking and killing 40 Indian soldiers. Vikram and his team take down the terrorists, after several casualties that are caused by malfunctioning weaponry. Vikram files a complaint against Kaalie, who was the supplier of the weapons, but Kaalie tries to unsuccessfully cut a deal with Vikram. That same night, Vikram and his wife, Aishwarya, are attacked by Kaalie and his henchmen. Kaalie takes Vikram onboard a plane and shoots him to death, while Aishwarya is sentenced to prison for killing three cops, who were on Kaalie's payroll. Afterwards, Vikram is declared a national traitor. Aishwarya gives birth to their child Azad in the prison. When he is five, Aishwarya asks Azad to prove Vikram's innocence and provide justice to the oppressed, before she is hanged to death. Unbeknownst to the world, Vikram survived the attack and lost his memory, where he is rescued by a tribal group and rehabilitated. 30 years later, Vikram (his memory lost) is told about Azad by his former army team.
Learning about the past, Narmada decides to help Azad and his team. However, Narmada's teammate Irani, who is revealed to be on Kaalie's payroll, tries to kill them; Lakshmi is killed in the resulting crossfire. Azad arrives at the prison and kills Irani in a stampede. Vikram, Azad and his team attack Kaalie's containers, which contain money for the upcoming elections, which will boost Kaalie's political ambitions. Azad manages to steal Kaalie's containers, while Vikram gets captured by Kaalie'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. Kaalie learns about Azad's location in the woman's prison and a fight ensues, where Vikram finally recovers his memory and helps Azad by hanging Kaalie to death. Few months later, it is revealed that STF officer Madhavan Nayak was the one who helped Azad in completion of his missions, where he assigns Azad his next mission, targeting Swiss Banks.
