Review: ‘Jannat 2’ is lukewarm on the entertainment factor!

Zeenews Bureau All through ‘Jannat 2’, it seems as if Nicolas Cage’s ‘Lord of War’ is present somewhere in the background. The film revolves around the hitherto unexplored-in-Bollywood territory of arms trafficking, and doesn’t qualify as anything but absolutely average. Emraan Hashmi is seen as Sonu Dilli KKC, i.e., Kutti Kameeni Cheez, and is as tepid in the film as his sobriquet sounds. His dialogue delivery needs a special mention. His zeal to portray himself as a street-smart Dilli lafandar doesn’t allow him to stop and breathe between the words he utters. While the prequel dealt with bookies and match-fixing in Cricket, this one sees Hashmi facing the consequence of his own sinister deeds. Sonu runs, what he calls, a ‘bi-ness’ of selling and renting guns to people. His motto in life is to make it easier for people to kill each other by supplying guns. The driving factor behind Sonu’s business is the fact that people would kill each other with any weapon they find, and he works to make the lives of people a bit more convenient. Randeep Hooda pulls off a stunner in the guise of ACP Pratap. A maverick cop, Pratap sets out to bust the nexus of the arms racket, and in the process manages to convert Sonu into an informer for the police. Pratap’s informer is then compelled to delve deeper into the terrains of the illegal arms manufacturing and selling. Amidst this hullabaloo, Sonu falls for Jhanvi (played by Esha Gupta), a doctor who works at an exceedingly cash-strapped government hospital. The narrative moves forward with a decent pace to show how Sonu works hard to transform himself from the ‘Kutti Kameeni Cheez’ that he used to be to a better human being. In order to embrace a decent living, Sonu signs a deal with ACP Pratap, and helps him to plunge deeper into the arms racket. The swiftness of the plot is a blessing, and helps in obliterating the mundane parts of the movie. Kunal Deshmukh’s second project, however, could have done with a lot more as far as action sequences and the climax is concerned. The film reaches a zenith which is pretty unpersuasive, and doesn’t do much about gluing the eyes of the audience to the screen. Esha Gupta’s sizzling on-screen presence adds to the glamour of the film, and one wonders whether the debutante will be able to make it big in Bollywood. Or will she, like the many other Vishesh Films’ discoveries before her, vanish into oblivion. Only time can reveal that. The soundtrack and the background score of the movie deserve a standing ovation. Emraan Hashmi has done it yet again. He has proved that his presence in a film can do wonders for its music – notwithstanding the place where his movies ultimately end up going to! Watch ‘Jannat 2’ for its catchy numbers (better still, buy a CD!). And since there aren’t many options this weekend, you can count that as a reason to go watch the movie! Ratings: Two cheers for this one!