First things first! The Bhatts have as much (or rather as minuscule) knowledge about match-fixing and cricket-betting as much as any average audience. So do not expect a fine-tuned screenplay detailing the intricacies on the misconduct of cricket or revealing the modus operandi of the sport malpractice. The Bhatts are no Bhandarkar. Rather be prepared for a superannuated story sketched not even around but on the external periphery of the theme of match-fixing.

So you have the conventional filmi hero character Arjun Dikshit (Emraan Hashmi) who subjects himself to love at first sight as he notices the heroine Zoya (Sonal Chauhan) staring at a diamond ring in a mall. He shoplifts rings, splurges credits cards and gambles to get hold of a swanky car to woo the girl. While the audience doesn’t fall prey of such lousy layouts in the plot, the girl predictably falls for the guy.

Meanwhile our hero’s basic instincts work overtime (and we aren’t implying Emraan’s mandatory lip-locks here). He proclaims of his sharp sixth sense that can predict every single move in the cricket matches as if he were some ancestor of Nostradamus. From betting on matches, he turns a bookie and subsequently upgrades himself as a match-fixer. Rather than an elaborate evolution, the progression of his character is rushed through one transition song. Moreover the offhand approach through which he lures cricket captains amidst match innings by his casual conversations in locker rooms is to be seen to be believed.

Soon Arjun shifts base to South Africa working for a match-fixing mafia head Abu (Javed Sheikh) who is perpetually stationed in a stadium. Abu is distinctly demarcated as the desperado as his unlawful activities are extended to terrorism funding. Arjun is given a relative clean chit on the pretext that match-fixers are not murderers.

The following story is stuffed with clichés galore. Arjun earns easy money through his illegal means. Zoya disapproves of Arjun’s immoral ways but unapologetically resorts to strip-dancing in night clubs!!! In between there’s a burger-bite hungry inspector on the constant trail of Arjun. A Bob Woolmer look-alike too surfaces in the climax though with little significance as the writers take liberty to manipulate his murder to their own benefit. And the film opts for a hurried end distinctly derived from Mahesh Bhatt’s Naam.

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.
Source: Economictimes