Jannat (Heaven)
Runtime: 140min 30secsTagline: In Search of Heaven
Language: Hindi (with English subtitles)
Written by: Vishesh Bhatt
Directed by: Kunal Deshmukh
Plot Outline:
The story revolves around a man who is caught in a quagmire of crime and consumerism as he struggles to find heaven on earth.
Arjun (Emraan Hashmi) is a reckless young man with an obsession for making money at card games. A chance meeting with a girl in a mall, Zoya (Sonal Chauhan) gives him the reasons he was looking for to move out of his ordinary life. He steps up from playing a small-time card games to becoming a bookie.
Stuck in a triangle of sorts between the woman he loves and his addiction to make a quick buck, Arjun moves on from being a bookie to a runner for the mafia. He steps into the world of Cricket match fixing, ensuring a match looks interesting, but the end result is to their advantage.
Arjun basically switches on the limelight to the bigger, faster, better & more, until his dizzying rise attracts the attention of the police. Arjun has now to choose between the love of his life, and this new found success and power.
As Arjun struggles to choose between the two, the Don offers the forbidden apple of limitless wealth in exchange for his soul, drawing him into his core entourage of money spinners.
Overall Impressions:
Very little positive to say unfortunately. The soundtrack is very good, which gets people to the cinemas. The acting isn't 'bad', but boy what the hell were they thinking? Let me elaborate. The beginning isn't half bad. The main character is a gambling man, tension is rising as we see he plays his cards blind... after going all-in (& borrowing some more), he loses. Drats.
The credits roll and we follow him and his buddy around making some low-level schemes to pay off their debts. This part was rather entertaining, the fact that Arjun didn't break a sweat during his rather bad times, while his friend was making up for him was amusing. Enter 'the girl', love at first sight & all that, from gaining this partnership his luck will kick in, etc, etc ... you do get such naive people out there, so we let it fly, but wait, this is when it gets just plain silly.
The film takes a sharp turn for the worse as we're informed that it's not that the boy has a skill, but a sixth sense, one that will be enhanced once he meets this love of his life. Ye, that's really the explanation. He can see what will happen next in a cricket match down to the bowl, but he explains it off as calculations to his prospective 'mafia' employer, who believes him & then the money starts rolling in.
It gets worse, but I won't ruin the only thing that got me through to the end, in case you do see it. You kind of figure out where the film is going, but you're just not sure how it's going to get there. In the end when it does, you sort of nod and think... "hmm fair enough", and also "what a stupid idiot, could he not have waited just a minute?".
Apart from the pleasant songs and the reasonable acting, jeez, what a mess this was. Oh dear!
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