Why Emraan is such a hit

With Dubai being one of the biggest hubs for Bollywood business, every star, big and small, makes a beeline to woo cinegoers in this region. Last fortnight it was the turn of the Jannat 2 team to tour the city.

The press conference started on time (surprise, surprise!), the stars were warm and friendly (naturally) and later when they visited Label 24 and attended the premiere, they drove the crowds wild.

Trade experts say the film has opened well and is on its way to becoming a hit. Certainly, the Bhatts have cracked it – despite having no big stars, huge budgets or garnering great reviews, their movies more or less hit the bull’s eye. Based on our interaction with the team, we try to decode their success formula:

REASON 1: EMRAAN HASHMI
Most Bhatt films starring Emraan has worked big time. The actor too knows what works for him – playing morally ambiguous characters and kissing scenes! At the Dubai meet, he made a rather dramatic entry carrying a gun and mouthing the opening dialogues from the film. Did it attract attention? Certainly!
“Being bad is good,” he says when we ask him why he prefers to play edgy roles. “Grey characters give me more scope to experiment and thankfully people have also accepted me in these roles.” So what will make Jannat 2 work? “Entertainment, entertainment, entertainment,” he smiles parroting his famous The Dirty Picture dialogue.

REASON 2: RANCHISING THEIR SUCCESS
Murder was a hit, they made Murder 2. Jannat succeeded, they came out with Jannat 2. Raaz had a second part too. And now they are coming out with Jism 2 starring adult star Sunny Leone. Director Kunal Deshmukh and Mahesh Bhatt candidly say it’s all about getting audience attention. “Initially Jannat 2 was called Informers but the title didn’t create any buzz so we thought of franchising Jannat to grab eyeballs,” says Kunal.

Mahesh Bhatt adds, “The next time we visit Dubai, it will be with Jism 2,” he said. (Well, don’t say we didn’t warn you!)