‘Jawan’ Gives Shah Rukh Khan His 2nd Bollywood Blockbuster of 2023 | Analysis

India pulled another big win at the global box office. Shah Rukh Khan’s action-filled political melodrama “Jawan” has zoomed past $113 million worldwide in just over two weeks. With $112 million thus far, it now seems sure to pass the $130 million total of SKR’s “Pathan” to become the highest Bollywood earner ever. It may end up as the fourth-biggest Indian earner worldwide, behind only “RRR,” “KGF 2” and “Baahubali: The Conclusion.”

That makes two-for-two for Shah Rukh Khan, with a third film, “Dunki,” from “3 Idiots” director Raju Hirani arriving in December. SRK might release three movies in one year that end up becoming the first, second and third-biggest Bollywood films ever. That’s movie stardom on an unheard-of scale.

Considering Bollywood’s recent box office slump, SRK is almost single-handedly keeping it in the game.

The picture concerns a would-be Robin Hood committing public crimes to bring attention to pressing social issues. It features an in-your-face political text that rebuts the notion of overseas cinema being mere propaganda for the ruling class. “Jawan” also represents a cross-cultural effort between Kollywood (movies in Tamil) and Bollywood (pictures in Hindi).

The film comes from Kollywood director Atlee Kumar. He previously served as an assistant director to Kollywood helmer S. Shankar (who helmed “Enthiran” and “Game Changer”). Yet also “Jawan” stars Bollywood’s biggest movie star.

“In its strong global debut, ‘Jawan’ offered further proof that audiences are hungry for original, virtuoso storytelling,” Imax CEO Rich Gelfond told TheWrap.

The film debuted with $2.8 million in Imax alone. He also stated that the film represented “the type of cinematic events IMAX helps create and that go-for-broke blockbuster filmmaking increasingly transcends language and cultural barriers.”

Bollywood x Tollywood x Kollywood

The release of “Pathan” was an inflection point for the comparatively on-the-ropes Bollywood industry. SRK took a four-year break from 2018 to 2022, partially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, Tollywood gained the upper hand in terms of Indian box office market share.

As previously noted in TheWrap, at least some of Bollywood’s troubles were due to a confluence of offscreen controversies. That included pressure from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s more right-tilting government.

As recently as 2019, Bollywood made up 44% of annual Indian box office earnings, with Tollywood and Kollywood each making up around 13%. By 2020, the combined earnings of non-Bollywood movies surpassed Bollywood’s total. And by 2022, Tollywood was in the lead. As such, SKR’s two Bollywood blockbusters are a major shot in the arm for the industry.

Bollywood’s biggest star and Tollywood’s answer to James Cameron both know that India wins when Indian tentpoles crush it globally.

As Siddhant Adlakha explained to TheWrap, “Bollywood tends to be more muted in comparison.” He explained that Bollywood films tend to present their situations, even amid larger-than-life elements, with less overt stylization while Tollywood movies (films in Telugu) tend to be more stylized. Think J.J. Abrams’ “Mission: Impossible III” compared to John Woo’s “Mission: Impossible II.”

Adlakha continued, “[‘Jawan’] was essentially bringing the visual language of South Indian blockbusters to Bollywood in a major way in terms of scale, over-the-top action and hero-reverence.” Adlakha stated that “this is a definitive acceptance by Bollywood of what kind of films people enjoy.”

Indian box office expert and journalist Jatinder Singh explained that “Bollywood has, for some time, faced a lack of directors who can deliver cinema like ‘Jawan.’” He described it as “a way forward with Bollywood utilizing technicians from South India who excel at this and need a wider audience.”

Moreover, as independent film critic Sucharita Tyagi stated, the various languages and portions of the vast Indian film industry have become ever-more accessible due to streaming. “There is more cross-pollination,” she said.

As Singh declared about a film containing joking references to recent Indian blockbusters, “This will be a win for all.”

Politics + star power = blockbuster

SRK has made over 90 movies since 1992, pulling in big crowds in a variety of dramas, comedies and romantic melodramas. In fact, “Pathan” and “Jawan” are somewhat against-type for him in terms of being muscular actioners. It’s also noteworthy due to the in-your-face progressive political slant.

“Jawan” presents India’s challenges as matters of political will and voter indifference. SKR plays, in one of his two roles, a domestic terrorist. However, his demands are more about robbing the rich and fixing the social safety net than world domination or revenge. Is this unusual for a big-budget Bollywood flick?

Tyagi argued that yes, yes it was. “For a film that mainstream, you would usually see a narrative or message that’s pro-establishment. It caught everyone by surprise.”

“Jawan” shows SRK using his star power as a unifying tool for India’s many different cultures and a political tool to speak truth to power. The film features scenes of his anti-heroic protagonist talking to the masses (and implicitly the audience) about, so says Tyagi, “holding the systems accountable.” His son was arrested in 2021 on allegedly trumped-up drug charges, so it’s hard not to see the film as at least partially a public response to that seemingly politically motivated scandal.

The picture’s progressive politics also refute the notion that non-Hollywood tentpoles can only succeed by embracing a nationalistic status quo. Sure, China’s comparatively nationalistic Korean war epic “The Battle at Lake Changjin” became their biggest global earner ever. However, “The Eight Hundred” was a searing indictment of the “young men dying and old men talking” nature of global warfare and became their biggest title of 2020.

There’s room in India for us versus them actioners like “RRR” and self-critical tentpoles like “Jawan.”

As Tyagi states in her review, “Jawan” is partially about “[Shah Rukh Khan] and what he means to a nation” and a reminder of “what his superstardom can be galvanized to achieve in a nation feeling increasingly fragmented.” His last film essentially saved Bollywood as a bankable film genre. “Jawan” at least tries to reawaken Indian citizens to the power of their voice and their vote in a democratic society. Let’s see what “Dunki” does for an encore.

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