Jannat (2008 film)

Jannat is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language romantic crime film directed by Kunal Deshmukh, and produced by Mukesh Bhatt. The film stars Emraan Hashmi opposite Sonal Chauhan in lead roles. It released on 16 May 2008 and was a success worldwide, receiving positive response from critics, it is the first installment of the Jannat film series.

Plot
Arjun is a rigid street-smart youngster with an obsession for making a quick buck. He meets a girl named Zoya who is looking at an expensive ring. He breaks the glass and retrieves the ring for which he is arrested. Inspector Shekhar is amused, but leaves him with a warning as he knows Arjun's father. Wanting to get rich for Zoya, Arjun steps up from playing small-time card games to becoming a bookie and strikes gold.

After impressing Zoya with his wealth, he calls his father for lunch in his new house. His father, a simple man who has lived an honest life, is happy to see Arjun's success but skeptical of his business methods. He tells Zoya that Arjun was a habitual and a smooth liar. When Zoya questions Arjun, he is offended and blames his father's failure in life for his resentment toward him. Arjun is whisked off to South Africa where he meets Don Abu Ibrahim and becomes his key match-fixer.

Rolling in money and enjoying a fast life with Zoya, everything is interrupted when the South African Police takes notice. Now an ACP with the CBI, Shekhar is summoned for assisting the investigation and contacts Zoya to help trap Arjun. She speaks to Arjun's father, who tells her to leave Arjun if he doesn't change his dishonest ways. With Zoya's help, the cops arrest Arjun, who is sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.

However, Don Abu Ibrahim uses his influence to get Arjun out of prison to use his skills for the upcoming World Cup. Arjun is released in 6 months and Shekhar warns him to mend his ways. Arjun relents and starts working as a bartender, where he happily lives with Zoya, who is now pregnant with their child. Don Abu Ibrahim asks Arjun to participate in one last operation so that he has enough money for the future. Arjun reluctantly agrees but Zoya overhears his conversation with a bookie and leaves to informs the cops.

Arjun is chased by Shekhar and the cops, and shot in the shoulder. He calls Zoya and pleads to meet her one last time before surrendering. Cornered with Zoya, he surrenders. When he notices the ring for Zoya fell from his pocket, he bends to retrieve it. (Assuming that he is going for his gun), the cops shoot him.

A few years later, Zoya and her son are seen shopping in a supermarket. Zoya is unable to pay the full amount as she is short on cash. Her son notices this and discards his toy so she can pay the bill. Zoya realizes that he is not greedy like Arjun and smiles at him.

Cast

 * Emraan Hashmi as Arjun Dixit
 * Sonal Chauhan as Zoya Mathur Dixit (Voice dubbed by Smita Malhotra)
 * Javed Sheikh as Abu Ibrahim (Underworld Don)
 * Samir Kochhar as ACP Shekhar Malhotra
 * Vishal Malhotra as Vishal Grover (Arjun’s friend)
 * Vipin Sharma as Kedernath Dixit, Arjun's father
 * Shekhar Shukla as Patel
 * Shakeel Khan as Shadaab
 * Abhimanyu Singh as Shakeel Ahmed (Abu Ibrahim's sidekick)
 * Vineet Kumar Singh as Cricket Team's Captain

Soundtrack
The soundtrack of the film is composed by Pritam with lyrics penned by Sayeed Quadri, Kamran Ahmed, R. Mehndi and Neelesh Misra. The album consists of 6 original songs, one remix and one Power Ballad. Kamran Ahmed wrote, sung and composed the smash hit Judaai. The music received generally positive reviews and the songs Judaai, Zara Sa, Haan Tu Hai and Jannat Jahan became chartbusters. K.K. was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer for his song Zara Sa while Kamran Ahmed won the MTV Breakthrough Artist Award for his song Judaai. Songs are as follows

Reception
Atta Khan of Planet Bollywood wrote about the soundtrack "In short Jannat has the hallmarks of Pritam at his very best; it is a vibrant, classy, and extremely enjoyable soundtrack that reaches out to the masses and therefore sells itself, just go and soak up its glorious rock-infused sounds and then reflect on why we all love Pritam…talent is a word too easily used in this day and age but he clearly has it in abundance (controversy aside!) and gave an 8/10 rating."

Satyajit from Glamsham noted "The teamwork of Pritam, Sayed Quadri, Neelesh Mishra props up with another remarkable album for Bhatt camp in the form of JANNAT. The album ensures itself to be this year's one of best sellers with tracks like Zara Sa, Judai and Jannat Jahan promising golden results". According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 16,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's seventh highest-selling.

Reception
The film was met with critical acclaim along with its soundtrack being well praised. The film collected in 5 weeks, inr 350000000a considerable amount for its small budget and release. Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India rated it 3.5 out of 5 and said, "When we have something in a movie that appeals to everyone, that's when we call it a masala entertainer – probably. Keeping this in mind, Jannat, with a decent measure of romance, thrill, comedy, tragedy and of course cricket is definitely a masala flick." A critic from The Times of India wrote that "Truly, this one's a case of a great opportunity going kaput". A critic from Rediff.com wrote that "Jannat all comes down to the romance. The girl is a callcenter executive who doubles up as a stripper? The guy is a hardcore pro but bawls like a baby to make another bet? It is the unpredictability these two promise that makes Jannat interesting, even if ultimately a bit of a con job". A critic from The Economic Times wrote that "Alas in search of this heaven we only find hell". The film was eventually declared as a super hit, earning inr 415000000 worldwide.

Sequel
The sequel to Jannat was released on 4 May 2012, under the title of Jannat 2. The main direction/production crew remained the same. It was directed by Kunal Deshmukh, and produced by Mukesh Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt once again. Emraan Hashmi also appeared as the male lead actor again, opposite Esha Gupta, with Randeep Hooda in a supporting role. The music for the sequel was composed by Pritam. It was also commercially successful and grossed inr 650000000.