Jackpot Review

One Line Review: A wacky narrative that juggles to entertain viewers, but end up by offering mere scintillating comic one-liners.

Positive Points: Peppy music, Brand new look of Naseeruddin Shah along with his stunning performance, Witty one-liners.

Negative Points: Poor character performance by Sunny Leone, Flat direction, Weak screenplay, Non-engaging script, Lack of realism at certain points.

Plot: The scene opens with a House Boat and suddenly a gunshot is heard and the boat starts sinking. A person's body from the boat falls in water and it starts drowning. Apart from this, one can notice a briefcase marked with Jackpot on it and multiple hands try to grab it. Post this scene, the camera takes us to the incidents happened ten days before. With the paradise of casino, Goa at its backdrop, the tale spins around a much popular boat casino called Jackpot. This bustling casino works round the clock 24x7. One day, this casino witnesses a visit by a group of young friends, who arrive with a solid plan to play a con game to win 5 crore Jackpot. All sails well as per their wish and an entry of a woman with gun, Maya (Sunny Leone) and Francis (Sachiin Joshi) change the whole picture. Though Maya appears to be naive, in reality she is the beauty with brains, who has a high degree of street-smartness. However, Maya is honest with Francis and his gang. Francis is a typical Goan guy with lots of love for his family and leads a laid-back life. This man with good heart knows an array of magic and card tricks. All goes well in his life, until one monsoon that compels him to make an effective plan.

The entry of Maya and Francis turn the whole game of the youngsters upside down. Within some time, this group of friends come to know that they have fallen prey for a reverse con game at the hands of those people to whom the youngsters were attempting to con. The flamboyant casino manager, Boss (Naseeruddin Shah) knows the plan inside out, but he is so much mesmerized by the charm of Maya that he cannot utter a word or cannot take any action against the tricky con game played by Maya and Francis. While playing the con game, five gang members split up and commence suspecting each other, thereby turning enemies of each other for moolahs. The things start worsening and the dodgy game proceeds.

Direction And Other Technical Aspects: It was the director Kaizad Gustad, who offered a break to Katrina Kaif in his film 'Boom'. And now, this time, Gustad attempted to present the adult-star Sunny Leone in never-seen-before antagonist role in his film 'Jackpot'. This thriller with comedy quotient had nothing new to offer to the audience, but it introduced an ultra-modern way to narrate the tale. By looking at its storyline, the film can also be called as the murder mystery, in which the murder appears first and then comes the plan behind it. Although it was a glitzy, wild chronicle full of greed, love, faith and money, it could not delight the mind due to loopholes in the story. At certain points, the tale seemed somewhat confusing and it was hard to capture the ongoing happenings in the film. The direction of the film went haywire and faulty. Presenting Naseeruddin Shah in a brand new avatar with scanty hair and weird appearance seemed somewhat spectacular. The veteran star Naseeruddin Shah left no stone unturned to sail the film well with his fine talent, but his attempts go in vein with unattractive storyline and dearth of fresh and unique content in the film. Every character in the film showcased a crazy side of their personality in the film, which seemed different to see.

The queen of seduction, Sunny Leone, being the ultimate selling point of the flick, was expected to set high temperatures, however when it came to acting, the bombshell went totally flat. The cameo done by Sunny's husband Daniel Weber also could not create wonders. The steamy scene between Sunny and Sachiin scorched the screen to some extent. What captured the attention in the film are the catchy and sharp comic one-liners. In all, the movie is too far from being called as an intelligent entertaining thriller. The art direction was good with great quality background score and good editing.

Performance: The prime attraction of the film Sunny Leone became a part of the glitzy showbiz world by being an actress. However, Sunny could not please with her acting skills. The bombshell had got to play a meatier role of a femme fatale in this film, but she could not provide justice to it in a right way. The entrepreneur turned actor Sachiin Joshi played the male lead and his performance can be called as average. Naseeruddin Shah, the fine talent dipped in huge experience, attracted the eyeballs with his eccentric colourful look as the Jackpot casino manager. The veteran star has performed a very well job in the flick by playing his part with utmost perfection.

The other actors like Makarand Deshpande, Bharat Niwas and Sumit Kumar lent a good support.

Music: The music of the film composed by Toshi Sabri and Sharib Sabri made the film bearable. As the film is set at the backdrop of Goa, the songs are peppered with Goan flavour. The romantic number "Kabhi Jo Baadal Barse" sounds soothing and tuneful. The track "Full Jhol" composed by Mika Singh is peppy and goes well with the tale. "Eggjacktly" is the track that again stands out of the crowd. The other songs like "Bol Bugger Bol", "Jackpot Jitna" and "Now You See, Now You Don't" are melodious.

Final Verdict: The film can be tagged as a sheer con game with very low degree of entertainment element, but with a good music. If you are looking for an out and out entertainer with lots of spice, don't opt for this one, as you will get a zilch. One can see it for watching Naseeruddin Shah in a new funky look and of course, the hottie Sunny Leone!