The fascination with gangster movies has been immense worldwide. On this side of the Atlantic, several gangster films have left giant footprints on the sands of time. Films like DEEWAAR [Yash Chopra], DHARMATMA [Feroz Khan], NAYAKAN [Mani Ratnam], ANGAAR [Shashilal Nair], PARINDA [Vidhu Vinod Chopra], AGNEEPATH [Mukul Anand], SATYA and COMPANY [Ramgopal Varma], VAASTAV [Mahesh Manjrekar], GANGSTER [Anurag Basu], D [Vishram Sawant] and SHOOTOUT AT LOKHANDWALA [Apoorva Lakhia] have tremendous recall value to this day.
Since there's tremendous speculation in the media that ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI chronicles the lives of Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim, the curiosity to watch the film increases manifold. Of course, I am no one to comment if it's actually based on their lives or merely borrows a few incidents from their lives or is pure fiction, but as a cinematic experience, I couldn't help getting transported to the bygone era, getting sucked into a world I had no clue of. 
ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI is a power-packed drama that makes you thirst for more. You rewind to an era of romance, smuggling, cabaret and mafia, but director Milan Luthria and writer Rajat Aroraa ensure that there's no sleaze or bloodshed-n-gore. In fact, there's hardly any violent sequence in the movie, except for one when Ajay hammers a cop during a naaka-bandi. 
On the flipside, the story begins with Randeep attempting suicide, but the writer should've cited the reason that prompted him to take that drastic step. Sure, there's a mention at the start, but it doesn't register well. Also, you are keen to know the chain of events that drove Randeep to suicide. Also, the pace slackens in the middle of the second hour, but picks up dramatically when Ajay returns from Delhi and confronts Emraan. Besides, how I wish the film had a shorter, mass appealing Hindi title to attract more eyeballs and a big jump in footfalls [at single screens and smaller centres mainly] for a mass appealing subject like this. 
Pritam's music is another ace. Injecting songs and that too a terrific soundtrack in a gangster film is tough. He did it in GANGSTER. He does it again in ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI. 'Pee Loon', 'Tum Jo Aaye' and the remix of APNA DESH track are super compositions, which are also placed appropriately in the plotline. Cinematography [Aseem Mishra] captures the look to perfection. Akiv Ali's editing is sharp. 
Kangna Ranaut is extremely natural and performs very well. Also, she brings so much of sensuality and glamour to her character [an actress of the 70s]. In fact, Ajay and Kangna make a wonderful on-screen pair. Prachi Desai is a bundle of talent who proves her mettle yet again. She's proficient in emotional scenes and sizzles in the BOBBY song-sequence. Besides, the chemistry between Emraan and Prachi is exciting. Randeep Hooda is top notch. Even though the film belongs to Ajay and Emraan, Randeep makes his presence felt with a powerful performance. This film should prove to be the turning point in his career. 
"Ya, my price has gone up. I won't say drastically. Right now I can quote a higher price with some justification." There's celebration in Emraan's house. "I've cut about fifteen cakes in the last one week. And I've just bought a new BMW. I was so confident about Jannat that I had it delivered to my home on the day of its release."
Emraan has even backed out of a film that Warner Brothers was to produce in association with Tandav Films (of Khosla Ka Ghosla). Here Emraan gets evasive. "I wouldn't like to comment on which project I backed out. But yes, we were in serious negotiation. I only had to sign the contract. But as is the rule in the entertainment industry, they were waiting to see how Jannat would perform. But now the ball is in my court. Since I'm in a negotiable position now, why should I sign the film at a price I was supposed to? They were playing the wait-and-watch game. Now that they've watched it's my turn."
Emraan says his price also goes up for his mentors the Bhatts. "I haven't spoken to them about my price now that Jannat has done so well. But they've always been very fair as far as the price goes. We share a professional relationship first, we're relatives later. Eventually, the film stands on its own, no matter who makes it. I only sign Bhatt Saab's films when I'm convinced about them. It isn't as if I've said yes to all his offers. I was picky earlier. I'm being more picky now."
Emraan says he was always getting offers outside the Bhatt camp. "But yes after Jannat the offers from outside are better. This is probably the best time as an actor for me." His next release is Raaz 2. "Like Jannat and the earlier films that I've done with Bhatt Saab, it tries something different. No one wants to touch the horror genre. It hasn't been explored sufficiently except in the first part of Raaz which came five years ago. I've again done the unexpected in Raaz 2. I feel the different will always work. I guess the same applies to me as an actor. I always go for the unconventional roles."
Emraan's wife loved Jannat. "She's zapped by its success. Suddenly to have your spouse blossom into a star…it completes our circle of happiness. The prolonged period of failure has been good for me. It made me realize I wasn't invincible. If people don't earn money out of you in the entertainment industry they don't want you. As simple as that."
Says Emraan, "We were warned not to release Jannat with the IPL. Biggies like Tashan and Paachvi Paas on TV had failed. I was very confident about Jannat. We got a phenomenal opening. The collections have only been going up. Eventually, a film stands on its own, and the promos helped. The past one year was really tough on me. If Jannat didn't work I'd been really frustrating. I was bitter and angry. So Jannat was a do or die project for me. If it failed I had told myself nothing else will work."
Their film has taken an opening which, as per prominent distributors and trade insiders, is at par with that of this year's biggest success Race. In the process, it has supposedly also matched the records set by Welcome, the biggest hit ever of Akshay Kumar.
"Yeah man, I can't believe the kind of numbers which are being thrown in front me", exclaims Emraan who has been promoting his film non-stop across the sub-continent', "People from Bhatt saab's office and other distributors have been sending congratulating notes about the huge opening that Jannat has taken. After Awarapan, on which I was really banking a lot, this success is pretty timely and has acted as a shot in the arm."
Kunal Deshmukh, the first time director reaffirms, "I was there in Kolkata yesterday for the film's premiere and the response there had to be seen to be believed. Especially so, since yesterday there was an IPL match in the city and still people were thronging the theater in a big way."
"Can you believe it that it took us almost an hour to even get away from the theater once the show ended", says a visibly thrilled Emraan, "There were a couple of thousand of people inside the theatre and on the road and it was quite some challenge to get the car out of that place. Of course, I didn't mind this at all. I was charged to see the way crowds were reacting."
Talking about his Pakistan premiere experience, Emraan added, "The moment I reached the venue I was shocked to see as many as 500 odd reporters/journalists out there. For a theater with a capacity of 1500 people, there were 2500 watching the film. They were seated all over on aisles and floors. It was surreal to say the least."
Tell Kunal that though reviews have ranged from average to very good, no one has thrashed Jannat and he laughs, "Thanks goodness for that. It is quite important to see how your first film is received. Yup, critics have been overall fair though you can't stop them from nitpicking. A couple of them feel that Jannat should have spoken more about match fixing. Arrey yaar, it is entirely the team's prerogative on what story it wants to tell. One should comment on what the film 'is' rather than what it 'should' be!"
On his performance being unanimously acclaimed, Emraan says, "That's quite reassuring actually. Now I want box office success to be coupled with good reviews as well. After an opening like this, I am looking forward to how audience continues to react on the weekdays. We have taken up a big challenge of fighting it out with the IPL and we better carry on the momentum now."
The lull has finally ended! Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt's JANNAT, directed by debutante Kunal Deshmukh, has fetched an excellent start. At places, the occupancy was 100%, at places 70%-80%. Inox, PVR and Velocity, Indore had a 100% start in the first show, Fame Surat was 100%, Inox Baroda was 100%, Prasad Hyderabad was 100%, Satyam Delhi was 100%.
Emraan Hashmi has been on an experimenting mode. After being celebrated for his serial kisser status, he experimented with his image as action hero. He did Awarapan which changed his image completely. Now Mohit Suri again takes the responsibility to present him in a new avatar.
Murder, Kalyug, Zeher, Awarapan, Gangster, Jannat, Raaz 2 - Each of these films has two common factors to them - Bhatt brothers and Emraan Hashmi. Over the period of time, not just have these films (with an exception of Jannat and Raaz 2 which are yet to be released) turned out to be box office or critical successes, they have also helped both Vishesh Films and Emraan Hashmi show a constant progression.
Emraan Hashmi thrilled to receive an electric mosquito-zapping racquet on his birthdayMythology says that the place where you have a mole attracts its corresponding actions in abundance. For example, if you have a mole on your palm, you’re bound to attract money in abundance, mole on your tongue attracts sweet flow of words so on and so forth. Here is one man who we feel is blessed with not one, but multitudes of moles on his lips.
Will Mallika star in Mahesh Bhatt's next? The question started doing rounds as Mallika Sherawat recently found at a party thrown by producer-director Mahesh Bhatt, who had set to not sign up Mallika for any of his next after 'Murder' and even stopped talking with the sex bomb. Will Mallika star in Mahesh Bhatt's next? The question started doing rounds as Mallika Sherawat recently found at a party thrown by producer-director Mahesh Bhatt, who had set to not sign up Mallika for any of his next after 'Murder' and even stopped talking with the sex bomb. 
Good news for all Emraan fans out there. He is back. Back with a kiss. Emraan had earlier promised himself that he would not be doing any more liplocks again in any film post Gangster since he is soon to get married. He maintained his promise in The Killer and Dil Diya Hai. But how far could he resist the temptation? Good news for all Emraan fans out there. He is back. Back with a kiss. Emraan had earlier promised himself that he would not be doing any more liplocks again in any film post Gangster since he is soon to get married. He maintained his promise in The Killer and Dil Diya Hai. But how far could he resist the temptation?
