Jannat
wogma rating: Watch but no rush (?)
Jannat - An engrossing watch which raises some philosophical questions. A story well told but yet doesn't warrant a trip to the theaters.
Read more
Jannat - Preview
NOT A REVIEW - Taking a look at what Vishesh Films have to offer next.
I must confess that I look forward to whatever the Bhatt camp comes up with. Pleasant experiences with Who Lamhe, Dhokha, and Awarapan are to be credited for that.
The official site has typical "wo-o-o-ow" Pritam music playing in the background. And you don't need to read the synopsis to figure out that the movie is about match-fixing in cricket.
So, the timing for a movie related to cricket seems ripe, what with the entire nation cursing-yet-following the IPL. Or is it too ripe edging towards rotten because there is a thing like too-much-cricket?
More on Friday...
- meeta, a part of the audience
A 'Materialism versus idealistic simplicity' theme runs heavily through Jannat. So, who wins? If only it were that easy to answer. Such a deep philosophical question cannot be answered in 2.5 hours, and isn't answered either. So, if you are looking for a conclusion, a closure, Jannat is not for you.
I'm sure you could easily replace the cricket-match-fixing backdrop with any dishonest activity and arrive at the same result. But, cricket feels fresh and the season is right, so why not? The dialogues spiced up with references to retired cricketers and some cricketing events in the recent past are good enough to keep you interested too.
The climax of the movie reminded me of a 5-6 pages long, Marathi essay I had written in school - "An autobiography of a soldier". In the end, my soldier who was taken in as a prisoner of war was released because the enemy got bored of him and his silence. My teacher appreciated the writing style but made a concluding remark, "did the enemy get bored, or did you get bored of writing?" I only smiled sheepishly at getting caught. Something similar seems to have happened with the writer here. A nicely developed plot got shot in the middle, absolutely abruptly.
Like many other movies out of the Bhatt camp, Jannat revolves around the romance between the lead pair. I really enjoy the way their relationship builds and the tumult it goes through. Important moments are given space and time to develop. There is a certain human element in these movies that clicks and you can sense the expected chemistry.
Emraan Hashmi's (Arjun) acting has begun growing on me over the last few movies. So much so that the unidentifiable thing about his looks that used to irritate me, does so a little less now. A fearless gambler who can woo and romance his lady love with the right dosage of style - all this falls flat when he is required to cry. Same goes for the pretty looking Sonal Chauhan's (Zoya's) performance too.
What I can't come to terms with however, are the shabby performances by the supporting cast, except maybe Samir Kochchar (Inspector/CBI official). Everyone else, from Javed Shaikh (Don in South Africa) to Vipin Sharma (Arjun's dad - isn't he getting tired of playing the dissatisfied dad, already?!), seem superficial and are just reading out their lines. There was no way to judge how well Arjun's friend was performing, because the bad dubbing was extremely distracting.
On the other hand, the tight close-ups worked really well, because they were used rarely when the facial expressions were important enough to deserve exclusive attention. I also particularly liked the use of handheld camera just for Arjun. in the scene just before the interval - sort-of hinting that his life might not be as good as it seems after all. Otherwise the calm camera movements have a soothing effect.
Like the softness in the narrative had a Vishesh Films stamp on it, the music had Pritam written all over it. In general, I enjoy this kind of music and enjoyed it as much as the other Bhatt-Pritam combinations that have been churned out earlier. Now, that it is him plagiarizing himself, who had earlier plagiarized some one else, is a different matter all together. And I didn't particularly like the way the title song was picturized though - a tad too artificial to go with the rest of the film.
There isn't too much that I didn't like about the movie, but yet, it leaves only an okay-ish feeling while walking out of the cinema hall. Can't really point a finger at what went wrong other than the scenes in which people were crying and weren't very good at it. It might seem a wee bit longer than it needed to be, but that is not really the reason for me to be harsh. So, as always, I'm just going to stick to the feeling I came out with.
- meeta, a part of the audience
Thumbs up, by Abhishek Bandekar, Buzz18 : ...Sonal Chauhan is a known model. She has done some popular commercials and falls in line with all the rest of the models who simply cannot act to save their lives.... full review
Thumbs up, by Martin D'souza, Glamsham.com : ...But this is one film where I'm willing to overlook the flaws and view the film in its entirety... full review
Thumbs up, by Taran Adarsh, IndiaFM : ...You can't imagine JANNAT without Emraan Hashmi. Right from his debut film FOOTHPATH to JANNAT, the actor has only grown with the passage of time.... full review
So-So, by Aparajita Ghosh, Apun Ka Choice : ...After a while the story seems to go in circles. On top of it you don’t strongly relate to the emotional turmoil of the lead characters.... full review
So-So, by Fatema H Kagalwala, Business of Cinema : ...The film, although well executed, follows the production house formula of a controversial story stir-fried with two scoops love sautéed in five scoops emotion and garnished with five scoops drama.... full review
So-So, Indicine : ...Jannat is slow paced throughout and therefore tends to get a little boring to sit through... full review
So-So, Intermission, The Bookeazy Blog : ...The audience were laughing when she tells Emraan that she loves him.... full review
So-So, by Vijay, MovieWalah : ...What's missing is the under developed and seemingly forced Bob Woolmer's mysterious murder in the narration... full review
So-So, by Subhash K Jha, Now Running.com : ..."Jannat" lacks the resonance and staying power of some of Bhatt's earlier films... full review
So-So, by Hanumant Bhansali, Radio Sargam : ...Sonal Chauhan is good looking and needs some more movies to prove her potential.... full review
So-So, by Raja Sen, Rediff : ...it coasts along smoothly without really boring you... full review
So-So, by Sonia Chopra, Sify Movies : ...The quality of dialogue (Sanjay Masoom, The Train, Krrish) is inconsistent... full review
So-So, by Kavita Ogale, Times Now : ...nfused with a love story at its core, Jannat is as much about a lover as much as it is about his greed to make big bucks through unscrupulous ways.... full review
Thumbs down, by Yasser Usmaan, DearCinema : ...same old honesty versus money confrontation... full review
Thumbs down, by Deep, Deep's Home : ...Very good music, very good cinematography but what was bad then? The story.. it was very poor, execution was pretty bad too, specially the climax... full review
Thumbs down, by Shubhra Gupta, Express India : ...Jannat has been engineered for the scruffy charms of its leading man, and the rows of youngsters on Friday's first show didn't seem to want more... full review
Thumbs down, by Khalid Mohamed, Hindustan Times : ...Kiss spotters are likely to be disappointed too. The closest you get to the Hashmieseque lip-a-loola is a smooch in silhouette. Tsk... full review
Thumbs down, by Gaurav Malani, indiatimes : ... The love story in Jannat resorts to the archaic templates of the 80s while the backdrop theme of match-fixing on which the film is formulated is least exploited in its screenplay.... full review
Thumbs down, by Damini Berry, merinews : ...Emraan Hashmi, handsome as usual, looks just the same and acts just the same as in his previous movie... full review
Thumbs down, Movie Talkies : ...Their courtship consists only of sequences showing Arjun taking Zoya out on dates, feeding her and buying her gifts. There is hardly any romance here.... full review
Thumbs down, by Siddharth Pillai, Passion for Cinema : ...Imagine my surprise when I, in my full senses, started to enjoy the movie. It happened somewhere in mid to late first half.....‘Jannat’ ends up as a mediocrity.... full review
Twitter reviews for this movie are not available.
This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.
Plot Summary
Arjun (Emraan Hashmi) a reckless, irresponsible gambler falls in love with Zoya (Sonal Chauhan). While he woos her, he willingly gets more and more involved with the cricket-match-fixing network. Ideologies clash and we get a movie to watch.
What Worked
- The way Arjun's character is established in two scenes, the opening one and the first one with Zoya.
- Loved the way two matches where Virendra Sehwag gets out are chosen.
What did not
- How come there were no red marks made by the cricket ball on the bowlers trousers even at the end of the game? Hmmm...maybe he was bowling his first over!
- How come all wrong-doers were Muslims, other than Arjun and Vishal?
- That was a pretty huge house they were staying in when they were complaining about not having enough money!
- Why exactly did they keep the hotel room door open while conducting such secretive business!?!
Nitty-Gritty
- How can anyone be so unaware of someone else staring at them the way Arjun was staring Zoya is beyond me.
- They couldn't get a decent bundle of 500 Rupee notes? Did they really have to wrap white paper so visibly with two 500 notes on each side?
- Why was Arjun wooing Zoya with a speaker phone on in the middle of a road?!
- The newsreader towards the end of the movie was awful!
- If someone has been brutally shot to death, wouldn't his shirt have holes in it?!
![[Wikipedia page of Jannat]](/static/images/icons/wiki_small.png){kind=icon}
![[IMDB Page of Jannat]](/static/images/icons/imdb_small.png){kind=icon}
![[Kunal Deshmukh twitter account]](/static/images/icons/twitter_small.png){kind=icon}
Comments (7)
Hey meetu
This is not exactly a comment to Jannat review but something you'd like to see
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
http://www.kottke.org/08/05/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die
Thought it might be of your INTEREST :)
That's an interesting list there Rohit, I should check how many of them I've seen.
Vikram, I thought the point was that by dancing in a bar she wasn't doing any harm, but by betting and gambling, Emraan was making money that aided terrorism.
dude the movie is a good movie, plz go and check out ur tashan review which sucks, u overrated that crap
btw i like ur notepad
u write g8 facts
well said there are some flaws in the film but yet it's a good film thanks to the writing
btw she was dancing in the club to earn money
and was forced but emraan was doing it purposely and cos of greed
i mean writing, direction were good but there are some flaws i agree
emraan performed well while the girl sonal was good too,
the cop samir kochar seen last in ZEHER did a good job
@silvano, what are you talking about in the 4th comment (with respect to Tashan). What do you mean by "you overrated [it]"? It's already been given the worst rating possible.
Leave a Comment