May 23 2008
Jannat – Movie Review
Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatts ‘Jannat’ is themed on the bookies and match fixing issues in cricket, but the movie Jannat belies the very theme with cricket taking a corner seat. The pursuit of materialism at the expense of contemporary life and having a luxurious lifestyle in the shortest span of time is conveyed across by the debut director Kunal Deshmukh who has done well with the available script. The movie could have more genuinely given proper insights on the match fixing nexus instead of a worn out love ballad.
Emraan Hashmi (Arjun) a small time card game money maker moves on to become a bookie and that too to provide for or flaunt his lifestyle to his lady love Sonal Chauhan (Zoya). With some intuitive predictions coming right he reaches to South Africa having the shelter of the big time goon Javed Sheikh. It is there he finds himself in rift to be choosing between the new found success and his lady love. Not being able to overcome the temptations of fixing matches is done in by Zoya at the behest of a truthful cop Sameer Kochar. He vows to make amends for his love only to find himself succumb to the obsession of power and a point of no return.
Emraan has carried the movie entirely with his performance and seems to be bettering his acting with each outing. Sonal Chauhan looks great and nice in certain parts, but didn’t have much to do throughout the movie and expressions have been the same. Sameer Kochar could have done much better, but is shown eating sandwiches more often. Javed Sheikh has done a fair job.
The cinematography is just wonderful especially the South African locales. Music by Pritam is good enough. The film is a one time watch for Hashmi fans, but the Bhatt camp has ended up trivializing the match fixing issue and mixing it up to the likings of a love story with good and bad moral story.
