Without happiness our life is meaningless. Our efforts may not reach desired results. Here we wish for happiness to come and enrich our life. Happiness always looks for bond & relation. We are ready to offer it then and there, but happiness in itself looks for safety and security as well. So we, the desire is been asked to bring more to make happiness satisfied. The value system warns happiness that the desire is going out of our hand. The desire escapes the test by values. Confidence with experience moves our desire. We bring the beautiful and valuable products to bring happiness home. Greed on the other hand invites desire with open hands and desire by now is already its victim. Happiness now wants desire back home and ready to settle with what is available at hand. However desire is already on a momentum. Happiness tries to lock desire in relations tempted by the offers by the law. Greed however doesn’t leave desire. It shows a Heaven (Jannat) and desire is after the heaven. Evil thoughts get pregnant and it delivers sin. When sin grows and matures it brings death with it. In the process, happiness finds the meaninglessness of greed and desire.
Now, replace Happiness with Zoya (Sonal Chauhan), Desire/we with Arjun (Emraan Hashmi), relation as a diamond ring, greed as underworld don inclined in betting, terrorism and all, Value system as Arjun’s father, Law a police inspector survived the temptations of corruption and a known friend of Arjun’s father. If you can reread the first paragraph with the clue from the second para, you will love watching this movie. If not…hmmm…let me try to tell the story.
Arjun is always after quick money. His father was a good servant but failed to meet his even small ambitions. He entered in card games and gambling but he always end up at lose. He observed that he is missing a girl in his life. When he meet Zoya in a mall dreaming for a diamond ring Arjun got mad in love with her. Arjun however got a good knowledge and sixth sense on how a cricket game may proceed and to escape a dangerous situation he start betting. He turns very successful and charm his sweet love Zoya (who was working in a call centre). He however didn’t disclose that he get money out of betting. His father advised Zoya that he is telling lies but Arjun survived her suspicion. The betting success got him famous in betting mafia and he was taken by the underworld Don (Javed Shaikh) to South Africa. His knowledge and sixth sense made him the trustable pillar and he becomes the match fixer for the Don. But the law doesn’t leave him. See the film to watch how the story turns onscreen. Similar scenes as that of Bob Woolmer’s death are featured as well in the film though it is not the concentration.
The story when we approach it philosophically looks great and I thought had the director care a bit more and presented it in a different format it would have been a great piece of art work. However, as things stand it fall short the criteria for art films and end up as an average plus commercial film.
The first half I will say was excellently shot and the picture was heading exactly to fit as a first part for ‘Gangster’. The ending scene too reminds us of ‘Gangster’. However the movie doesn’t meet the standards of excellence and end up as a good film which failed in few important sectors.
The film had a good intention but the screen play of the movie was faulty. Dialogues however compensated to a great extend and which bring laugher with sarcasm in frequent intervals. The script is not perfect and in many scenes the writers chose for an easy conclusion. For example the way Arjun turns to be a bookie and the circumstances leading to the climax lack basic logic. However, the film well analyse how a person turns to a gambler blocking questions of morality. It also discuss the merrit of it but show its demerrits onscreen through the story.
The main actors are a major let down when it come to performance. Emraan Hashmi who had given some good films failed to perform this time. The new comer Sonal Chauhan though looks cool, fail to perform big time. The film was a perfect one to cast Shiny and Kangna again but the new pair failed to perform. The sub casts are good.
Cinematography is simply brilliant most of the time. There are at least few scenes which one will say waw! However, it falls short in close shot scenes, especially during climax.
Songs are superb. Like the songs in Gangster they flow with the movie to give the feeling and enter straight into our heart. Cinematography however is only average.
The connection to cricket and few good old memories from Indian cricket history, add some fun. Realities exist with the cricket and its associated ’business’ give some good thoughts.
Till half time the film excited me and I said, ‘waw’! I am watching an excellent film’. However, the second half with all the quick twist and turns let my expectation down. If you are looking for a film at least once in two weeks or so the film will be a good watch, but not a must watch. No need to say it is a serious cinema. It is getting a mixed response as of now.
My rating: 3.25 stars