Nothing substantive

The new Bollywood release, Jackpot is supposed to be a ‘suspense thriller’. One would naturally expect to find numerous turns and twists in the plot in such films, looking forward to an exciting hour or two in which your mind will not dither from what happens on screen. But Jackpot does not do any of these things. If the film does create any effect on the audience, it is only that of annoyance and irritation.There were two major attractions to the film before its release with regards to its cast members. Naseeruddin Shah, a man known for his superlative acting skills, and Sunny Leone, the porn star turned Bollywod actor. Sadly, neither of the two actors—not even the incomparable Shah—is able to offer anything good to the audience. The film is a disastrous, good-for-nothing waste of time.

Like most Bollywood suspense thrillers, Jackpot revolves around a few hundred crore rupees, many instances of backstabbing and quite a substantial number of murders. Maya (Leone), Francis (Sachin Joshi) and the owner of Casino Jackpot (played by Shah) play a game of Russian roulette in hopes to making that big leap towards monetary excess. The film feels like it has been lazily written from the very outset and director Kaizad Gustad (who was responsible for the 2003 debacle that was Boom) makes no effort to turn that writing into an interesting film. The concept has some calibre, to be fair, but no one related to the making of the film seems to have been able to make it worth watching.Jackpot leaves you sad and exhausted by the end; The only good thing about it being its length—at an hour and 40 minutes, the film is shorter that most Hindi movie s.The one thing I kept wondering throughout the 100 minutes I spent in the theatre was why a genius like Shah had signed on to a film like Jackpot. Shah looked quite insincere in his scenes, and the less said about the other two actors the better. Leone and Joshi are simply not made for acting, and the supporting cast seemed as shallow as the script.If suspense thrillers are to work, they need to be made intelligently; there is no mid-way here. Films like Jackpot, with no entertainment quotient and no cinematic value, are only a test of our patience. Why would anyone want to spend their hard-earned money on watching such a pointless film? There are many other things that are worth paying attention to.