Jawan: The Possible Mission of Bringing Indian Cinema to America
Jawan (2023)
Directed by Atlee Kumar
Starring Nayanthara, Shah Rukh Khan, Vijay Sethupathi
Indian cinema has officially made its way to American theaters, captivating audiences with its explosive appeal. Over the last two years, some of India’s biggest hits have become successful imports to North America. Pathaan ($17.45 million), RRR ($15.15 million), Brahmāstra Part One: Shiva ($7.75 million), K.G.F: Chapter 2 ($7.4 million), Jailer ($6.9 million), and Ponniyin Selvan: Part I & II ($6.75 million and $5.25 million, respectively) have all done impressive numbers. Jawan, which I caught in the theater last year, finished at just over $12 million in box office sales.
But how has this cinema cracked into the regular viewing habits of Americans, especially considering they tend to resist anything with subtitles? One word: action.
True action films are rare in Hollywood these days—unless you’re counting superhero flicks and animation—but they remain a staple of Indian cinema. Spectacle takes priority over logic, realism, and brevity. This formula seems to work both in India and abroad.
Jawan is the first film I have seen from director Atlee Kumar, and his fifth overall. If this is any indication of his evolving skill set, I’ll be diving into his earlier work as soon as possible. Despite its nearly three-hour runtime, the film never drags. It continually ups the ante, pushing its action sequences far beyond standard tropes. The violence is intense from start to finish, but not in a gratuitous Kill Bill way—it serves to underscore the cruelty of the antagonists. Shah Rukh Khan is both dashing and brutal as the film’s protagonist, while Nayanthara as Narmada, his foil, is equally captivating. Their dynamic shifts rapidly throughout the first half, with alliances, motives, and jaw-dropping moments leading into the second half with renewed energy.
Speaking of energy, the audience reaction is something I always pay attention to in theaters. Not long bewfore I saw Jawan, I watched Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One with a full house, but nobody seemed to care about Ethan Hunt or even Tom Cruise. Despite early hype, the box office reflected this indifference ($54.6 million opening weekend but only $171.7 million domestic total). The opposite was true for Jawan. The nearly full theater was buzzing with audible gasps, cheers, and applause throughout the film. And more importantly, everyone stayed for the (apparently standard) song-and-dance number during the credits. Shah Rukh Khan, with his signature wink-at-the-camera charm, had the audience fully invested—something Tom Cruise’s overly intense performances rarely achieve.
The villain in Mission: Impossible was met with yawns. Not so in Jawan. Vijay Sethupathi nails the role of a corporate arms dealer scumbag with the kind of hubris and pride that cinema’s best villains have always embodied—think Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus, Robert Mitchum’s Reverend Harry Powell (The Night of the Hunter), and, of course, Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter. Sethupathi’s character, Kalee Gaikwad, is a scene-chewing delight, and the hatred for him isn’t just reserved for the man himself but also the corrupt institutions that prop him up.
Jawan is an indictment of runaway capitalism and corruption, touching on everything from the plight of working-class farmers to the dismal state of hospitals. In this way, it reminded me a bit of the Netflix series Money Heist, both in its ethos and, strangely enough, its structure (though, obviously, one is a film and the other is a multi-season epic). Money Heist found huge popularity in the U.S. after offering an English dub—could Jawan have doubled its North American box office if it employed the same tactic?
If you’re looking for insane, borderline ludicrous action sequences, beautiful musical numbers, and can step out of the “lazy American” habit of avoiding subtitles, Jawan is for you. If Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a D, and RRR was an A, then Jawan lands at a solid B+.