Exclusive: Jawan dialogue writer Sumit Arora reveals his favourite lines and talks about Atlee, SRK

Sumit Arora, renowned for his contributions to projects such as Stree (2018), The Family Man, Little Things Guns & Gulaabs (2023), and Dahaad (2023), has achieved significant acclaim for his memorable dialogue writing in the blockbuster hit Jawan, starring Shah Rukh Khan.

In an exclusive interview with Filmfare, Sumit Arora recounted the writing process, his reflections, and shared intriguing anecdotes from his time working on Jawan.

How did you land up writing dialogue for Jawan?

A close friend Alif who knew director Atlee took me to Chennai to meet Atlee. He was editing his last film, Bigil, back then. And we met, and he had seen Family Man. And he also knew about the show that I was directing at that point, called Little Things. So he was like, I love that show. I was very surprised because it’s a very intimate show. And I was going to meet our director, who was making very ‘massy’ films. So then he told me, “No, no, I love love stories as well; my first film was actually a love story, Raja Rani.” So we bonded on all of these things. And we had a good time. The whole day, I was there. We had dinner. The next day I came back, and then we were constantly in touch, not really talking about the film, but we were in touch. So, I think 2020 ended or something when he approached me and said, ‘listen, I have my draft ready. Now I’m looking for dialogue. I said I would love to work on it. That’s how the whole process started.

Okay. And any inputs like Atlee or Shah Rukh Khan gave during that time?

Atlee’s input was that it needs to have punches, but not just for the sake of dialogue. It needs to have some value—some emotional value—to the dialogue, because that’s how his school of filmmaking is. It has to be massive. It has to have that kind of mass appeal, those dialogues, and that kind of punch. But it need not sound like dialogue is happening on screen. So that’s the mantra that we followed throughout the film.

Were you present on the sets of Jawan?

Yeah, I was there. I was there for more than a hundred days on the set. A phenomenal bunch of actors performing the lines that I had written was a really good experience because, you know, you’re realising how the line that you write sitting alone on your desk can turn into a cinematic moment. And also, I could add a lot of things while I was on the set as well.

Can you share how Vijay Sethupathi’s Santa Claus dialogue came into the play?

He resembled a Santa Claus kind of person. So when he says, ‘Who am I, who am I, you don’t know who I am, who am I?’ And then Vikram Rathore, just to mess with him, says, ‘Santa Claus’. And then basically he, then Kali’s also says, Santa Claus, I have a gift for everybody. And in the next scene, when you see him, when he goes to that jail again, that scene comes back. Yeah, because he’s singing. While shooting that scene, we had a dummy song that he’s singing. But while dubbing the scene with Vijay Sethupathi sir, suddenly these words came to me: ‘Santa has come for you, and he has a gift for you’. And we, all of us, really started laughing, and we thought it was really good. And then, you know, Vijay sir sang it immediately on the dubbing, and we felt it’s fitting so well in the character, so we decided to keep it in the film.

What were some of the most memorable moments from the sets of Jawan?

I was constantly interacting with, on the one hand, Mr. Shah Rukh Khan and, on the other, Mr. Vijay Sethupathi. And both are really, you know, like working with these two actors was a privilege for me. I like to celebrate my birthday with my friends and family. I was stuck in Chennai because of the shooting and couldn’t leave. And Vijay sir learnt about it and he organised a surprise birthday party for me on the sets. They brought in a cake, there was lots to eat and drink, everyone sang the birthday song – I think someone recorded a video which is circulating on the web. He didn’t have to do that for me but being the person he’s, he made sure I felt on the top of the world on my special day, making it truly memorable.

Did you sit with the South Indian actors to explain the dialogues to them?

Priyamani is completely thorough with Hindi. Nayanthara was also really good with Hindi. Vijay Sethupathi, sir, has a particular accent. But the character itself was from Tamil Nadu. He grew up in Tamil Nadu. So that’s why the accent was always justified.

Can you tell us about any of your favourite lines from the film?

Oh, I have many. I like the poem. I loved writing this because I think it has resonated a lot with people. Another line that I really take a lot of pride in is the one where Sunil Grover’s character comes to Shahrukh sir’s character in jail and says ‘Tu kuch nahin kar paayega, is jail mein mere aadmi hai.’ And Shah Rukh Khan sir cancels out and says, ‘Yeh jail meri aurton ka hai.’ So that, because he says ‘jail meri aurton ka hai’ specifically because he does not say that ‘yeh jail mera hai’, ya phir, he does not even say ‘yeh aurton meri’ hai because neither does he think that this jail, I own this jail, nor does he think that I own this woman. This jail belongs to women, and I am part of them.

Tell us about your favourite scenes from the film.

I love the interval, the whole sequence where Vikram Rathore comes back and he just takes care of everybody, puts everybody in place, and he looks at his own son and says, “Handsome boy.” Yeah. Because he’s looking at himself, it’s also a fun thing because he’s looking at himself and saying he’s handsome. And then he puts him on his shoulders, and he’s going, and Ajaz Khan says,’Ki tu hai kaun?’ And he says Rathore, Vikram Rathore. And then my favourite line again, which comes, Naam toh suna hi hoga. Because again, it was SRK’s line, which was a romantic line. And I turned it into a very swag wala line.

Any top 5 Hindi movie dialogues that you like?

I think Salim Javed’s films have had really good dialogues, from ‘mere Paas Maa Hai’ to ‘main aaj bhi pheke hue paise nahi uthata’ and so many more. I also like Rang De Bansanti’s dialogues.