With an unexpected start, and a rather unexpected-but-touchy end, this movie was one great ride.
I rushed to the cinema hoping to buy the evening Bhootnath show, which was "house full"...so "i had no choice and in desperation of not wanting to waste my journey i decided to pass my time with Jannat"...I wish I could take my words back...because it proved ironical! Mahesh Bhatt showed us again that like the movie, he can be unexpected himself. With a brilliant and soothing soundtrack, a little-off-the-track acting, a different storyline, and a BRILLIANT TOUCHY ENDING, this movie just has it all.
Critically speaking, there's nothing but the fact that it "did some Hindi-movie-ones" if u know what i mean...? i don't want to spoil the movie for first timers, but for those who've already seen it, i hope you understand...
Otherwise, BRILLIANT! and unexpected from sum1 not-so-professional as Emraan...great work!!! Bhootnath can go later...
8/10.
Worth it.
Plot summary
Living in a Chawl in India, Arjun Dixit decides to become rich. He gets involved in gambling, and soon becomes a bookie. His quest takes him to Cape Town, South Africa, where he meets with Zoya and both fall in love. She disapproves of his so-called career, but Arjun disregards her concerns. Arjun does not know that soon he will be arrested, but quickly released with the help of an underworld gangster, Abu Ibrahim, who has plans for Arjun. These plans include cricket match-fixing - and Arjun's greed will make him go to any lengths to make as much money as possible in a very short span of time.
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Movie Reviews
Unexpected...!
A Hit plot of betting but overshadowed by the love angle
The Bhatts always are the first on making movies on the most controversial and current topics. With the IPL fever on, they now return with a movie based on the plot of betting and match fixing in cricket along with an elaborate angle of an intense love affair.
The film starts promisingly and ends brilliantly but in the mid it loses pace and interest as the narration stresses more on the love angle than on the interesting betting plot. The first one hour of the movie is exciting and highly enjoyable. Watching it you feel like seeing something new and an unexplored plot. The betting & match fixing scenes in the first half are brilliantly directed by the debutant director Kunal Deshmukh. And when you are expecting more of similar stuff coming later the director changes tracks and takes on the love angle as his main theme.
If the film would have been strictly on the betting and fixing plot then it was a confirm bigger Hit. But unfortunately there is more of sacrifice and love story angle which is quite expected and becomes tiring after a certain point. Though director shows promise in his first movie but he should have stuck to one plot only.
Imraan Hashmi is competent and gives a good performance. It can be counted as one of his finest. Sonal Chauhan looks fresh and ravishing. She has got the talent which will become polished with more of her movies. Jawed Sheikh as the DON shows class and he shines bright in his role. A very unexpected act is given by Samir Kochhar as the police officer. He is excellent in his small part and is an actor to watch for.
Bhatts definitely have a good ear for music and lyrics. Their movies always have some good numbers with meaningful lyrics. Jannat also has got hit music by Pritam. The songs don't interrupt the narration and have got the soothing melodies. That's the reason audio companies fought with each other for the music rights of this movie.
If you are a cricket fan and expecting a lot of cricket, betting and match fixing in the movie then you might be taken back. The movie has the main plot of betting but the story revolves more around the match fixer and his girlfriend. That's the main drawback of the movie. The other weak point is that the background of Imraan Hashmi and Sonal are not explained in details. Sonal just leaves India for a live in relation with Imraan and there is no one in her family who has to be informed. Thought the love proposal scenes are highly enjoyable but after the intermission you feel the overdose of the affair angle.
As per their tradition Bhatts this time follow a similar plot as in "Two For The Money" (2005) featuring Al Pacino. But this time its only an inspiration and not a version. The script also gets inspired by the real life "Coach Murder" incident in the last world cup.
One of the highlight of "Jannat" is its climax, which is unexpected and has a shock for the viewers. After witnessing the climax sequence you feel that the film is good enough for a one time watch. As it has a new plot, good performances and soothing music.
Ridiculous!
I have already seen the Hollywood version (Lord of War) why would I want to waste my time in a poor copy? Even in Bollywood, we've seen so many better film with a similar storyline. I can't even believe it's rated highly at all nor that it made all that money at the box office. Most of the scenes are borderline vomit inducing where people either overact their scenes (Emraan Hashmi included) or just plain standing there reading their lines instead of emoting. The newbie girl (an Amrita Rao clone) who plays Zoya needs to go back to the drawing board and learn acting first instead of just voguing for the camera and wearing a ton of makeup. Bollywood has truly gone to the dogs in a world where films like this are lauding and given special treatment at the box office.