Jawan director Atlee says film’s success is ‘all because of Shah Rukh Khan’, admits criticism he faces for rehashing similar stories is valid

Jawan has been designed as Shah Rukh’s first pan-India release; Atlee is best known for his work in Tamil cinema, particularly three films starring Vijay. Jawan also features South stars Nayanthara and Vijay Sethupathi in prominent roles, as the protagonist’s love interest and nemesis, respectively. Before heading to Mumbai, Atlee also attended an early morning show of the film in Chennai, where he was joined by the film’s composer, Anirudh Ravichander. At Gaiety, Atlee, walked on to the stage area near the screen and waved at the crowd.

Prior to the film’s release, Atlee reportedly interacted with marketing strategist Siddarth Srinivas, and addressed the criticisms that he often faces about rehashing familiar stories. He said, “The only criticism that I get is that people keep saying that I bring back stories that they’ve already seen. If you see my friends like Karthik Subbaraj, Lokesh and Pa. Ranjith, they have adapted to different spaces in cinema such as different filmmaking, action, social issues etc. I’m the only one who believes in commercial cinema, star-driven films and a massy screenplay. So I’m bound to get such criticisms. But yes, my motive is to entertain the audience and make them feel for my characters. I feel I’ve succeeded so far and I’ll hopefully do again with Jawan tomorrow.”

Jawan has broken the record for the biggest Hindi-language opening, raking in a reported Rs 75 crore in India on day one. This is way higher than the previous record debut, held by Shah Rukh’s own Pathaan, which made Rs 57 crore on day one. Jawan is also expected to make around Rs 45 crore from overseas, which would make it the first Hindi film in history to have a worldwide opening above Rs 100 crore.