Jannat: In Search of Heaven...

the new movie from bhatt production house has been released to a great hype following the success of awarapan. Don't go to the movie expecting too much. Its just a time killer that will keep u busy till the end.

A gambler turns into a cricket bookie finding that he has a sixth sense of guessing what will happen the next ball. But his urge to make quick money pushes him into match fixing and he looses control of his life and love. The ending is very dramatic which lends the punch at the end. i kind of liked it.

Imran delivers a steady performance. He has done alright in similar roles in the past. the soundtrack and background score is good. Its a good way to kill time on an evening.

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.

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.

The best thing about a Mukhesh Bhatt release is that no one expects much from it. And more often than not, his films turn out to be quite entertaining. He is also credited with having launched budding directors in this new age of Bollywood (Recall : Anurag Basu). Jannat is the directorial debut of Kunal Deshmukh, and among all the flops that have come out of the Indian Hindi film industry this year, Jannat happens to be a huge surprise.

Jannat has two parts to its story. The former set in India, the later in South Africa. Essentially, like most Bhatt films, it is a love story. However, its main storyline deals with betting and match fixing in the cricketing world. Arjun, the character portrayed by Emraan Hashmi, is a man with, what he calls, a 'sixth sense'. He is a master predictor of cricket matches. He becomes a bookie and soon gains attention in the eyes of underworld don Abu Ibrahim, who buys arms and ammunitions with the money he makes from betting on cricket matches. Torn apart by his love for the girl of his dreams, Zoya, and his greed for money, Arjun is left with making a choice between living a normal hard-earned life and an easy, yet deceiving one.

The first good thing about Jannat is that it has a solid storyline. Whether it is the childish, yet well defined love story, or the complexities of a man who is clearly suffering from some obsessive compulsive disorder or other. Then there is the cricketing world and underworld bit. This is one of the most original and well written story lines to come out of Bollywood this year so far. When it comes to being effective, it achieves that in its entirety in its two hours and twenty minute running time. With everything from the mention of a cricketer turned comedy show host, to the murder of a coach at the World Cup, the storyline is the strongest point of the movie.

The music is not as good as one expects it to be. Judai being the pick of the lot. However, the version sung by Kamraan Ahmad is not there in the film. Zara si is just okay. Characteristic of a Bhatt film. Rupam Islam's Hindi singing debut is noticeable, although miss-able. The song is too similar to the songs of his band, Fossils. The background score is very good. It gels in very well with the pace of the film.

Emraan Hashmi, apart from having earned the tag of 'serial kisser', happens to be a freakishly good actor. The versatility of the roles that he has done clearly shows that. From being a wife-thief, to an undercover agent, and now a simple man with quite a serious mental disorder. He is like what his dad states in the film - 'A compulsive liar'. And in order to get himself out of any situation, he does what is characteristic of him. He lies some more. Newcomer Sonal Chauhan is okay, making the transition from a sweet and bubbly Mumbai girl to a sexy bar dancer in South Africa. She does look quite anorexic in certain scenes, but as a whole she looks great. Javed Sheikh, as Abu Ibrahim is cold. Effective. Vishal Malhotra, as the sidekick serves the humor quotient well. The lad has come a long way from hosting Disney cartoons on Doordarshan.

Bollywood's only great film this year happens to Jodhaa Akbar, with Mithya and Shaurya being the other two 'good' films. Race might be a commercial success, but it is a highly frustrating film. Even Bhootnaath failed to click. Tashan is a no brainer! In a year when Bollywood is churning out flop after flop, Jannat serves as a breath of fresh air. Although far from heavenly, Jannat has a lot to offer at a time when cricket is on the lips of almost every Indian (Read : The IPL).

The IPL has come to a stage when it gets boring to sit down and watch an entire game. Do yourself a favor, grab a Jannat ticket and spend two and a half hours in an air conditioned theater watching a film which redefines all the 'Ishtyle' and 'Pharmoola' that Bollywood has been coming up with off late.

7/10. Worth it!

As it has been said in the media,this movie is not your regular hashmi-flick (which either end up being corny or/and extremely boring).

I went in to watch the movie with very low expectations but was surprised with the the first half.It had a nice and enjoyable plot and i especially liked the opening card game (me being a big time card enthusiast).The second half more or less fell apart with all the emotions flying in.It suffers from what i call "The Soap Opera mentality" where every small thing is made a very big deal of.

Emran Hashmi was extremely believable as the grey-charactered high profile match fixer. His speaking style, i felt somehow, encapsulated the apprehensiveness yet decisiveness of a fixer. I would say this performance by him was his best,second only to one in Gangster. Vipin Sharma(Arjun's dad) was rather flat while delivering his dialogs and so did the emotionless Sonal Chauhan. The one performance i was bowled over by in this movie was of Javed Shaikh(especially the weight in his voice).

Another let down in the movie was for the ones among us who wanted more of insider-story from the match-fixing scenario. There, the movie lacked material.it ended up more as a love story rather than a match-fixing story(which quite a few of us were hoping for).

I would rate this movie a 8/10, a definite watch if you have got the time and can bear the second half that gets all draggy.