The iconic duo of Salim-Javed have long been an inspiration for dialogue writer Sumit Arora. However, his filmography—dotted with comedies like Stree (2018) and The Family Man—gave him little opportunity to follow their style. Until Jawan came his way.

On the surface, the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer is a massy entertainer. The Rs 1,000-crore worldwide box-office collections prove it. But look deeper, and you see that the leading man and director Atlee have given us a powerful vigilante drama. The Tamil filmmaker may not be well-versed in Hindi, but it didn’t stop him from seamlessly sharing his vision with his team. Breaking down the process, Arora says, “Atlee always presents his characters in a massy way. So, Shah Rukh sir and I worked together to find Azad and Vikram Rathore’s [Khan’s characters] language. We’d sit with the dialogue draft, and Shah Rukh sir would explain the line to Atlee in English. Sometimes, Atlee would convey the emotion he wanted for the scene, and we’d capture it in our own rhythm.”