Jannat

Cast: Emraan Hashmi,

Sonal Chauhan, Samir Kochar, Javed Sheikh

Director: Kunal Deshmukh

Showing at theatres near you

Kathmandu

Arjun (Emraan Hashmi) has a knack for winning money in card games and making money the easy way. On one such occasion he has to return a local don’s money but is unable to do so, and when the don comes to collect his money, Hashmi asks the don to put money on a cricket match as Hashmi claims he has a sixth sense for the game and knows almost every next step and even whom the final victory belongs to.

And it turns out true. And so starts his journey into the world of betting and match fixing in the world of cricket, day by day with his keen abilities he starts earning loads.

And this arises the suspicions of the police (Samir Kochar) who come to interrogate him, but he smoothly lies and gets out of trouble. South Africa’s Don (Javed Sheikh) decides to take Hashmi under his wing, this catapults both their lives into greater heights.

But there is another side to Hashmi’s life, he is deeply in love with Zoya (Sonal Chauhan) who is unaware of this dark side to him and loves him deeply to. With his wooing and smooth talks he has convinced her that he runs a business. But the twist comes in the story when Chauhan comes to know of the truth. She persuades Hashmi to take the path of honesty. And so the story moves on between the tug of war between the two equally important facets of his life, his true love and his desire for money.

The interesting thing about the movie is the pace it holds, it doesn’t get too tiring or boring especially in the first half. But the second half however, is comparatively a let down when things like true love and hard work seem to take over, a little too dramatically.

There are however a few things which seems quite difficult to place. Hashmi wooes his woman with the most expensive gifts, it proves if you have money to throw away the girl is yours, but why this girl who is living in a city like Mumbai cannot put 2 and 2 together and figure out where all the money is coming from and actually believes Hashmi is difficult to fathom. Can anyone be really that innocent or is she just plain dumb. Okay this is a love story, but love seems to have been way overrated, in today’s day and age can love like that really exist? And of course the common slip ups in the scenes where police and Hashmi are concerned do make you see the loopholes in the movie.

For first time director Kunal Deshmukh it is a debut which deserves applaud. The screen play by Kunal Deshmukh and Vishesh Bhatt is good as both are first timers. As for the music as in any Mukesh Bhatt film there are a few which will be heard played all over town, Jannat Jahan comes top on the list.

Emraan Hashmi’s performance is good, amazingly no steamy hot scenes, but a more mature performance by him. Chauhan has a pretty face but fails to portray feelings like anger and hurt effectively. Samir Kochar impresses you with his natural flair and Javed Sheikh totally commands his role.