Jannat: In Search of Heaven...

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.

Poor presentation and a disaster presented by the Bhatts. Emraan and the newly launched Sonal Chauhan justified their roles. Poor script did this film down. Music has been good as usual for Bhatts. Stories about match fixing and cricket may not be able to pull the movie ahead. Probably would have worked in the heap of Bob Woolmer Controversy... The initial part was the routine old love story, with breaking glasses and the love at first sight stuff.. don't know why bollywood does the same again and again? Then the story moves ahead much shabbily with the anything for money sort story filled with match fixing scandals, killing of the coach, underworld connections, and lastly killed for the ring. Probably, when I decided to watch it, I had a lot of expectations from a Mahesh Bhatt flicker, but this one dint keep up with the history of Bhatts and moreover, my own expectations.

i expected a lot more from this movie, especially after watching awarapan. arjun dixit(emraan hashmi) is a lucky vagabond (perhaps a bit too lucky) who survives by gambling. ultimately he is debt ridden and does cricket betting to repay his debt. he discovers that he is very good at it and promotes himself to a match fixer. ultimately it becomes his profession. in the mean time he woos a girl and they both fall in love with each other. but the girl dislikes his profession of illegal cricket betting and match fixing and decides to bring him on the right track. at last arjun decides to leave all illegal activities but it happens to be too late. the film portrays a few real life characters.and i must say the songs are mind-blowing. overall the movie is worth watching one time.

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.

I watched Jannat yesterday evening. I have to say that it was quite an intense movie with good performances except from the female lead (débutant Sonal). A powerful actress could have enacted it with more power and punch. Emraan is very impressive and first rate in this movie. The story is quite novel and good. The twist at the interval was quite shocking to me, I did not expected that. Overall the support cast was also good. South Africa locales are good and cinematography is good. I liked the end a lot even though others may have different opinion. Th movie does not look like that it has been directed by a débutant. I will be looking forward for further movies from the director. Go for it guys..

I sat through the entire movie wondering when it was going to end, i could have left the hall sooner but decided not to do so because of the comfort of a pvr cinema. Alright, the movie , sucked big time, the only good thing about it was the song zara sa, and it as a disgrace to the singer when imraan hashmi lipped it. The acting was sloppy, the story could have been handled much better by a director of such class, a nice song and a hot actress don't make for a good movie, a good script, powerful acting , are key features. Imraan hashmi is a very bad actor, and ugly looking too.People who say this movie is good haven't seen a good movie in a very long time and i kinda feel sorry for them too. my advice, stay away at all costs!

Emraan – In terms of the shades, the role had immense potential to unleash the true talent in an actor and do what "Naam" did for Sanjay Dutt. Having said that, a confident performance here. Sonal Chauhan –Barring a few plastic moments, her performance is not too bad for a first-timer. The svelte figurine, if chooses wisely can survive in Bollywood. And very addictive smile. Sameer Kochhar – This actor is too handsome hunk to be a police officer. And why was he munching all the time? Vishal Malhotra – there was no value addition of this role to the movie per se'. When the apartment is raided, why does it scare the living daylights of him? And later he jumps in to be a partner in major crime? Bad characterisation! Vipin Sharma –Probably owing to lack of screen time, the character seems unwarranted. Perhaps hangover of TPZ. Jawaid Shaikh - I wonder if it is the actor or the writing department who should take blame here for turning it into a character role. Have we forgotten Paresh Rawal in "Naam"? BTW even the one-way street dialogue from "Naam" is reprised here. Perhaps the weakest villain from Bhatt's camp. Songs as usual from the house of Bhatt's do bear the trademark stamp over it and posses repeat value. Kunal holds the reigns well for the first timer. By another couple of rounds, time will tell. The promos set a different expectation bar altogether in the audience's mind. Cricket though infused into the storyline is not integral to it and hence it would be safe to say that justice was "not" done to the subject. The last 30-minutes could have been easily trimmed to give it a slick finish. The climax was definitely long-winded and practically even the blind can see it coming. PS: The dig at Sidhu.. I agree too!

Now I am convinced 'Good trailers do not make good movies'. The audience was lured into believing 'Jannat' had all the elements of a movie which would explore the hidden truths behind betting, match fixing and et al but except for a few patches of brilliance the movie reminded me of Anurag bose's Gangster where a protégé turns hostile against the betting baron at the behest of his girl friends' incessant appeals to quit illegal activities and return to normal civic life. The story had such a beaten plot that even a 5 year old could predict the climax only half way through the movie. It begins well with Emraan's sixth sense serving him good for betting practices but loses its way completely. The insipid romance between the two leads did more damage to the otherwise convincing story telling. What left me completely aghast was the turn of events in South-Africa where the director took his creative imagination too far to show a pole dancing heroine and dressing room cold blooded murder. The movie fell under the gravity of expectations of its director who tried to do too many things instead of sticking with the plot. There were so many incomplete subplots like that of girls conceited stance on morality, her own love for glamour, father's inexplicable hatred towards his son , and the all important modus operandi of match fixing mafia . Instead we had to content ourselves with typical villainous certain bhais and a self indulgent hero who was caught unaware of his girls' sinister motives. .I wish Mr. Director had given more dendrites to the screenplay. Music was good indeed , Emraan hashmi was in his 'business as usual' role and the movie was not what it could have been .

If you haven't already seen this movie, it is probably a good idea to watch it first and decide for yourself IF it was Worth it. It is amazing to see how the story and characters in the film are detached from reality in almost every sense. The Morally Grey Dreamer (Emraan Hashmi) finds out he has a thing about cricket and people who play cricket, that is, he can tell what is going to happen in the game (named Sixth Sense) and he is a very good judge of players personality. Making him not just a talented Bookie but also a gifted Match Fixer. His Love interest is a Not-so-well-off but Morally Sound(Sonal Chauhan)who is also deeply in love with Emraan. Both characters are given troubled backgrounds, which is financial for Emraan and Emotional for Sonal. There was bound to be a conflict between these two love birds. And when it does happen it all goes down in a classic (read clichéd) bollywood ishtyle. Direction is good given the sort of Plot. Story lacks any real depth. Acting is convincing and pretty much compensates for the incompetent storyline. But if you overlook all these things... and don't fall for the emotional façade...you will find the ending quite witty (read Sexist) Enjoy