Hindi
It was a gamble, okay!
MUMBAI: Jackpot is the name of the floating casino in Goa as well as the five crore jackpot at stake one big night. The motto of any gambling house is that ‘The House Always Wins’ which is to say a player may sometimes win some money but, eventually at the end of the day the house is the winner. The film also stresses on the principle in which case it is hard to understand why the casino is bent on gifting a five crore jackpot to any gambler? And when one talks of big time jackpot, what is five crore when even a TV show like Kaun Banega Crorepati offers more than that?
Naseeruddin Shah is a residual hippie in Goa who sports some odd colour long hair of the kind Indian sadhus do. He owns the casino Jackpot. Sunny Leone works for his casino and has a five-year stint as the manager of a Las Vegas casino to boast of. She may work with Shah but sleeps with Sachiin Joshi, a drifter who leads an idle Goa life; his major talent is tricks with playing cards. He is a cardsharp. Tired of his idle life, Sachiin gets an itch to make some easy money and since easy money is not really easy to make, he plans a con on Jackpot. From the look of it, everybody is planning one, Sunny as well as Shah. The idea is to outwit the rest.
So far so good but this is all you manage to gather in this film as it goes into its last few minutes and the characters themselves volunteer to tell you what it was all about. One consolation is that the film is only 92 minutes long.
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Producer: Raina Sachiin Joshi.
Director: Kaizad Gustad. Cast: : Naseeruddin Shah, Sachiin Joshi, Sunny Leone, Makrand Deshpande. |
Just about everything in the plot is juvenile. Shah owns a casino worth crores where huge sums exchange hands while the casino is the only assured winner but he can’t raise five crores for a plot of land that is on offer. That he should want to deal with a street-side lad like Sachin at all whatever the bait makes no sense either. The film has been spread over 10 segments with each having its own title and the narration keeps jumping from present to flashback adding to the confusion.
There is nothing much to performances as Shah only makes loud gestures for acting, Leone is not even in the film for her acting skills. Sachiin tries not to act which is wise. Direction is poor. Musically, one song, Kabhi jo badal barse…is good.
The word Jackpot has no antonym but that is what this film would be if there was one
Hindi
UFO Cine Media Network unveils ‘India’s biggest cinema moment ever’
Dhurandhar 2 and Toxic tipped to deliver rare pan-India scale for brands
MUMBAI: UFO Cine Media Network is pitching an upcoming dual-film release weekend as what it calls the largest advertising opportunity cinema has offered in India, banking on an estimated 100 million cumulative footfalls nationwide.
The initiative, branded “India’s Biggest Cinema Moment Ever”, is anchored around the simultaneous release of Dhurandhar 2 – The Revenge and Toxic, two high-profile action films expected to dominate screens across regions and languages. Trade projections, supported by cinema measurement tool Procat, suggest the combined lifetime theatrical run could deliver one of the widest audience concentrations seen in recent years.
Dhurandhar 2 – The Revenge, an India–Pakistan spy thriller, is set to release in five languages, broadening its appeal across northern and southern markets. The franchise has already built a sizable multilingual following through theatrical runs and streaming platforms. Toxic, fronted by pan-India star Yash, is expected to draw heavy footfalls across southern circuits and beyond, buoyed by the actor’s proven box-office pull.
UFO, which operates an in-cinema advertising network spanning more than 4,100 theatres, is positioning the release window as a rare moment of synchronised national attention. Its footprint covers multiplexes and single screens across over 1,500 towns and cities, allowing advertisers to deploy campaigns at scale during a single weekend.
Executives at the company argue that cinema’s value lies not just in reach but in attention. Unlike digital or television, audiences are captive, emotionally engaged and free from distraction, they say, translating into stronger recall and measurable returns for brands. With advertisers increasingly focused on performance-led media planning, UFO is framing the dual release as comparable in scale to India’s largest broadcast and sporting properties.
Industry observers note that as theatrical exhibition expands deeper into Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, such tentpole weekends are becoming anchor moments for annual media strategies. If Dhurandhar 2 – The Revenge and Toxic deliver as expected, the weekend could set new benchmarks not only for box office numbers, but also for cinema’s evolving role as a high-attention advertising medium.
