STARRING
Emraan Hashmi, Samir Kochhar, Sonal Chauhan, Vishal Malhotra, Jawed Shaikh and others.
DIRECTOR
Kunal Deshmukh
STORY
The story of the film revolves around the life of a small time card player Arjun (Emraan Hashmi) who wants to make big money very quickly. The desire of making quick money becomes a necessity after he meets Zoya (Sonal Chauhan) in a mall. He now becomes a bookie and soon progresses to become a runner for the dreaded mafia. Finally, Arjun becomes involved neck deep in match fixing and sees meteoric rise of his power, prestige and money.
But this unusual rise and success story of Arjun draws the attention of police force (Samir Kochar) who suspects some foul play. A point is soon reached when Arjun has to choose between his love Zoya or ill gotten moolah. How Arjun copes with this complicated situation and how the don (Jawed Sheikh) responds to him forms the remaining part of the film.
The script is especially gripping after intermission and continues to hold the interest of the audience till the climax, which is brilliant. The second half of the story has several turns and twists which make the whole experience very interesting.
PERFORMANCE
Emraan Hashmi in the character of Arjun has given a spirited performance and seems to have come of age with this film. His performance as a bookie and interaction with cricketers is brilliant. No one can forget his portrayal of vulnerability and helplessness in the climax sequences. Sonal Chauhan, who plays the part of Zoya, looks gorgeous. Though initially not very impressive but the beautiful lass does show some spark at the later stages.
Jawed Sheikh plays the character of don with élan and looks comfortable in the role. Samir Kochar, as a police officer, essays his part brilliantly. Vishal Malhotra and Shakeel Khan are passable. Abhimanyu Singh and Vipin Sharma do justice with their respective characters. Others provide able support to main cast of the film.
The direction of Kunal Deshmukh is brilliant and he is successful in keeping the audiences interested in the film till the very last. The execution of climax sequences is just superb and speaks volumes about the mastery of Kunal over his craft. The debutante director has the potential of becoming a master story teller.
The music by Pritam is good and the numbers ‘Zara Sa’ and ‘Jannat Jahan’ are certainly going to be very popular with the masses. The beautiful landscape of Cape Town has been captured brilliantly by cinematographer Manoj Soni. The dialogues by Sanjay Masoom are good while Raju Singh’s background gels with the mood of the film.
STARDUST VERDICT
Emraan Hashmi’s excellent performance and the subject of cricket, match fixing, bookies will help it stand its ground at the box office even during the ongoing IPL cricket mania. Above average fare at the box office.
