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Some South Indian films have become massive hits in North India — take KGF, Salaar, and Pushpa. These films not only broke box office records but also established strong images for their South heroes in the Hindi belt. Now imagine that trend in reverse — a North Indian hero in a South-style setting. Jaat is exactly that. The film looks and feels like a typical South Indian action movie.
The hero lands a punch and hundreds go flying. The screen is filled with dust and slow-motion elevation shots. He flaunts a range of unique weapons. The only difference? Instead of a South Indian superstar, it's Sunny Deol leading the charge. Everything else is a copy-paste of South mass commercial cinema. Jaat feels like a parody of those Hindi films that already copied South blockbusters.
There are echoes of many South films — from the old Chatrapathi to recent ones like Jawan, Salaar, and KGF. At every turn, you can spot references to other films. There’s even a Ramayana touch: the hero is Ram, the villain is Ravan — but set in a completely different backdrop.
Just as Bollywood was slowly recovering from the wounds of Sikandar (another film by a South director), Jaat, made by yet another South director, comes in and delivers another blow to Hindi audiences. It feels like a film made under the delusion that people still crave 90s-style action.
There’s nothing new in this movie. But it’s not about whether South audiences will enjoy it — even North Indian viewers, who’ve already seen these tropes before, may not be impressed.
Watching Jaat doesn’t feel like watching a proper Hindi film. It feels like watching a dubbed South Indian movie — mainly because the characters, including Sunny and local villagers like Makarand Deshpande, are all speaking fluent Hindi even in an Andhra Pradesh village called Motupalli. The North Indian hero somehow fits right in — linguistically and culturally — which takes away authenticity.
And then comes the Idli Episode. Yes, a full-blown scene revolves around the hero wanting to eat idli after getting off the train. Idli becomes so prominent in the film, you could call this an "idli attack" on the Hindi audience.
Can casting Sunny Deol as the hero and Randeep Hooda as the villain make the Bollywood crowd connect to this film? Can you slap on some Bollywood makeup to a typical South-style story and expect audiences to accept it? Can non-stop action scenes guarantee box office success? What about soul? Doesn’t a film need one? Clearly, Jaat didn’t bother asking those questions.
Yes, South Indian films have earned genuine love in North India. But presentation matters. No matter how massy or masala the content is, it needs emotion and at least a little logic. Without those, you end up with something like Jaat — a film that beats up its audience instead of entertaining them.
And yet, Sunny Deol is all smiles. He always wanted to do a 90s-style action film again, and Jaat gave him that opportunity. As for the result — only God knows.
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