'Jannat', a love story that dwells on match fixing: Preview

Emraan Hashmi and Sonal Chauhan in a still from Jannat. Photo Credit: PPC

May 1, 2008 (Sawf News) - Mahesh Bhatt's Jannat, a love-story that dwells on match fixing, is set to hit theatres all over India on May 16, 2008.

The film is being released under the banner of Vishesh Films by Percept Pictures. It stars Emraan Hashmi and debutant Sonal Chauhan in lead roles, while Kunal Deshmukh is wielding the baton in director's chair for the first time.

Emraan Hashmi and Sonal Chauhan in a still from Jannat. Photo Credit: PPC

The story of Jannat, which literally means Paradise or Swarg, revolves around a man who is caught in a quagmire of crime and consumerism as he struggles to find heaven on earth.

Arjun (Emraan Hashmi) is a reckless young man with an obsession for making money at card games. A chance meeting with a girl in a mall, Zoya (Sonal Chauhan) gives him the reasons he (Arjun) was looking for to move out of his ordinary life. He steps up from playing a small-time card games to becoming a bookie.

Emraan Hashmi and Sonal Chauhan in a still from Jannat. Photo Credit: PPC

Stuck in a triangle of sorts between the woman he loves and his addiction to make a quick buck, Arjun moves on from being a bookie to a runner for the mafia. He steps into the world match fixing. Arjun switches on the limelight to bigger, faster, better, more, until his dizzying rise attracts the attention of police.

Arjun has now to choose between the love of his life Zoya, and this new found success and power. As Arjun struggles to choose between the two, the Don offers the forbidden apple of limitless wealth in exchange of his soul and draws him into his core entourage of money spinners.

Emraan Hashmi and Sonal Chauhan during the filming of Jannat. Photo Credit: PPC

Musical score for the film, composed by Pritam and available on Sony BMG, is already creating a buzz.

Singers, K K, Kamran Ahmed , Rana Mazumder, Rupam Islam and Richa Sharma have lent their melodious voices to the lyrics penned by Sayeed Quadri and Neelesh Misra.

Sonal Chauhan during the filming of Jannat. Photo Credit: PPC

In an interview, Emraan Hashmi has already cleared any doubts of Jannat being a Sports film by calling it a love story. "I play an aspirational character in this film, who for the greed of money becomes a bookie." Emraan also added that he would retain his lover boy image with Jannat.

Mukesh Bhatt too made it clear in an interview that cricket was only a backdrop of the film and actually the movie is a love story for young couples, with an issue of victims of consumerism.

The film has been shot extensively in Capetown and Mumbai.