“Sorry Bol”
This Jaat movie review will be full of spoilers. Avoid reading if you haven’t watched it yet. Dekh aao fir padhna. Aur agar sirf verdict chahiye toh you can skip directly to the last paragraph. Kyuki, ‘Yeh Ranatunga Ki Lanka Hai, Yahan Raasta Kilometer Mein Nahi…Bichi Hui Laasho Mein Naapa Jaata Hain.’
Jaat’s Opening And Setup
I love the films that open with the villains, set the core of the film, and catch the audience’s attention immediately. Jaat does that beautifully. We get the entire back story of Ranatunga and Somulu, the bodies that are found in the village, the police coming in, going to arrest Ranatunga, and the confrontation with Ranatunga’s mother and wife. All this before we even get the first glimpse of Sunny Deol.
I did not like the first song where they introduced Sunny Deol. While the picturization was quite beautiful, the song itself was very forgettable. Makes you feel that it was only there to – one, sell the music rights, and two, add some religious emotion. Standard check box pe tick lagana. Aage aur bhi bataunga.
Actors and Characters
Sunny Deol as Brigadier Baldev Pratap Singh – Please note that he is 67 years old, 8 years older than the three khans. Yet he looks so fit. From the teaser itself I felt he was looking very smart and stylish. His dialogues and acting were on great as usual. Be it action, mass dialogues, emotion or comedy, Sunny Deol nailed his role perfectly.
Randeep Hooda as Ranatunga – I feel he is to be celebrated the most. Loved his character, his screen presence, and his acting. Randeep Hooda truly embodies how a antagonist should be. He was literally Sarkate Ka Aatank!
Vineet Kumar Singh as Somulu – Loved the sound he made with name Somulooooouuuu! Strong character, great acting. Another reason to love him even more after Superboys of Malegaon and Chaavaa.
Regina Cassandra as Bharathi – I was not expecting her to be the surprise antagonist in the film. Smaller role but good screen presence and acting. Was both impressed by her acting and at the same time hated her character.
Other actors and characters were fine. They did their roles well. Nothing too impressive but nothing bad either.
Main Idli Kha Raha Tha
This was amazing. People were laughing every time Sunny Deol repeated this dialogue. Apart from this there was nothing for comedy as such, except Upendra Limaye.
Har south film mein characters hote hain na Hero ka intro dene ke liye. Ki ye aisa hai, waisa hai, sabse great hai, jante nahi ho tum use, etc. Upendra Limaye was just that. Frankly I’m quite tired of this Hero hyping in south film, but the way Upendra Limaye does it is unique and interesting. He gave the name Buldozer to Sunny paaji. Loved that.
He has another scene with Randeep Hooda. He was being too cheeky with him, laughing and taunting him. As he was doing so, I said to my brother, “Ye marega ab.” I guess everybody thought the same. And in the next scene, he was hanging with the others.
Jaat Ka Action
I liked the action choreography in the first half. The film was self-aware and whatever they did, they did it in style. Even when the goons were flying, it seemed to fit well. Sunny Deol was really owning each shot, each punch. Even when he stops the jeep with his hand or uses the giant fan, it all did not feel out of place because of the way they presented everything.
But the same cannot be said for the second half. The Dhaka Jail scene, the police station scene and especially the end scene with a helicopter, RPG, and Gatling Gun was way too much. From what was entertaining in the first half, it went to “an toh kuch bhi karnege, mass ke naam pe accept ho jayega.” It is not about what you show but how you show it. Action in the first and second half felt very different.
Writing and Direction
First half was entertaining because the screenplay was tight. We started with the intro of the villains, the village killings, the President’s involvement, and the female police getting captured. Then Sunny Deol’s intro song was the only breather. As soon as he gets into the dhaba (Main idli Kha Raha Tha), we just get one action scene after the other. The plot moves on and on till he confronts Ranatunga and rescues the female officers.
So ke dekho, kitna sara plot, ek ke baad ek action scenes with some dialoguebaazi, stylized picturization, music and some comedy (Main idli Kha Raha Tha). In the second half, the film flipped completely.
Second Half Ki Problems
The second half was full of same old ghisa-pita, 100 bar dekha hua plot, in the name of backstory. We got that Ranatunga and family were very cruel. Bar bar usko kheechne ki zarurat nahi thi. There was no need to show how they wrote the letter to President and the 10 beheadings. Not everything needs to be spoonfed. The audience is intelligent. If those scenes were not shown, the story would not have been affected at all.
Zabardasti Ka Emotion aur Dialogue
Seriously saying I was pissed. It is like we are not evolving at all. Ek item song, ek budhi laachar aurat, maa main kisaan hu. Tera mera rishta mitti ka hai. Then Sunny Deol being Army Officer (Wanted/Pokhri style twist), zabardasti ka national emotion.
Murali Sharma being an army officer used such cheesy lines to describe Sunny Deol’s character, ki wo akela hi ek batallion ke barabar hai. Police station mein aurat ki izzat wala pura angle, uske around ke dialogues. Rape mention na hi karte, already kapde faadna was too much insult. Last mein wo ladki ka fir faltu dialogue, aap hi president ho na, main bulaungi toh aaoge na.
When will we evolve? Inko kya lagta hai janta bewakof hai? Inko ye sab emotion nahi doge toh inko samajh nahi ayega?
Extended Police Angle
By now we had seen enough fight scenes and knew that police was corrupt. The whole police station sequence was a drag, with maybe a few shots that looked good. Again that Dhaka Jail backstory and fight scene was unnecessary. Fir Upendra Limaye ka hero hyping. We love him and he did make the scene interesting but it was a drag. Firse female emotion ka overdose. Bits and pieces were nice but overall it felt dull because same baat repeat ho rahi thi bar bar.
But I liked how Sunny Deol comes out for a smoke and the camera goes back inside and all of them are hanging. That was quite creative. Also liked the scene where Upendra Limaye was hanged.
Army Angle
Hero aur Villain dono ko Army bana diya. Waah! Koi zarurat thi iss baat ki? Saaf pata chal raha tha ki fir wahi janta ko ullu banane ke liye nationalist emotion ghusaya hai.
And that final action sequence. Helicopter, RPG, Gatling Gun, explosions, sab ghusa diya. Sunny Deol hai, army bhi bol diya hai, Bulldozer bhi bol diya, toh ab “Kuch Bhi” ki hadd paar karna justified lagega, haina? Thoda sa kuch naya kar lete jo pehle nahi dekha kabhi, toh baat hi kuch aur hoti.
They Tried Making Sense
With all the ridiculous scenes and dialogues (talking about the second half), they still tried making sense. Thorium angle was included to show they needed to vacate the land to show reasons for atrocities and Minister’s involvement. They even gave a reason why Ranatunga will get involved – to take 25,000 crores back to where he came from to be treated a s a King. I will give them the credit that they tried connect various angles together. The thought and intension was there. The problem was that they were very loosely connected, and with the other reasons I gave above, it all fell flat.
What I Would Have Recommended
Instead of going International and making both of them army officers, I would have liked more raw and real stuff. Hear me out..
While going back, they kill one police officer, great. Let Ranatumga and family be the locals they were shown I the beginning, and Sunny Deol just a normal person but a sarfira Jaat. Now he realizes that he cannot escape this area and if he does, there was nobody to help the people. He also realizes that Ranatunga has a big empire and it has to be dismantled while at the same time he needs to empower the villagers.
And so begins the Jaat’s hunt for destroying the villain’s empire one by one, while taking help from the villagers. Everything is very local and intelligently planned, like guerilla warfare. Somulu gets killed (beheaded and his head put on a pike to send a message). In a fit of rage Ranatunga does something drastic (need to give the villain some edge too).
Jagapathi Babu reaches (yeah, it’s not a one day story) and they team up, after some arguments of course as an officer of the law cannot allow a civilian taking matters in his own hands but in this area and in this situation, he agrees.
Some dramatic situation is set up for the final faceoff, with Jagapathi Babu being injured. There is one on one fight between Randeep Hooda and Jaat, something special, something not seen before. Not like how they showed in the film which was quite simple.
Just wrote it in 10 minutes. Obviously if I was part of the team then it would have been in much more detailed. Just tried to give you a general idea of what I had in mind.
If You Disagree
It always happens that some fans or some haters come to mock, criticize and abuse because of my thoughts, not realizing that it can be a platform to discuss interesting things and share perspectives. Not to fight, argue or prove who is right and who is wrong.
If Jaat was a great film, the word of mouth would have boosted the collections a lot over the weekend, especially after Gadar 2. But it is not the case. Hence, it is required to go back and trace what went wrong and why. I have mentioned my thoughts. You may have a different take. Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Verdict/Recommendation
The film is just like the teaser and trailer. If you liked them, then you can definitely go to watch in the theatres. The first half is fully paisa vassol. Second half is also decent, not unbearable for sure. Just that it leaves you wanting more.
Author: Ishan Jain
Cast – Sunny Deol, Randeep Hooda, Vineet Kumar Singh, Jagapathi Babu, Dayanand Shetty, Babloo Prithveeraj, Ajay Ghosh, Regina Cassandra, Saiyami Kher, Ayesha Khan, Swarupa Ghosh, and others.
Director – Gopichand Malineni
Release – 10 April 2025
Producer – Mythri Movie Makers, People Media Factory
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