Jannat

The Bhatt movie factory which was used to churning out medium sized hits with smallish actors was in the doldrums for some time now. Their tried and tested formula of copy DVD, in-house actors, some controversy was not doing all that well. Several of their movies fared badly at the Box office.

And the movie that hurt them the most was Awarapan in which they had carved out a great role for their in-house actor Emran the Hashmi's. But to their misfortune, the movie which was reviewed favorably by critics bombed at the BO. Even the acting was good, Emraan doing a good job, Shriya Saran the Sivaji actress doing a major Hindi role for the first time and another Sharma chick completing the triangle.

But they didn't have any controversy to rake up this time, and to make matters worse the release clashed with a major cricket series and this hit the prospects of the movie hard. But this time, inspite of the IPL being in full swing, Jannat has done well. Perhaps the controversy about the leading lady, Sonal Chauhan gave it some sound bytes in the press.

So this is a great start for Sonal Chauhan who has acted in a few South movies (Telugu apparently) and this was her first Hindi biggie. Also great news for Emraan Hashmi and the Bhatt camp. Bhatt naturally!

Also lining for a August release is Hijack, starring the former Bhatt star in several of their projects - Shiney Ahuja.