Emraan Hashmi is back, playing a character that becomes the victim of his own ego, karma and the system. Director Kunal Deshmukh takes the helm once more to a story written by Shagufta Rafique that centres around Hashmi’s character of Sonu Dilli. Set in Delhi, Sonu is a small-time, cocky gun dealer.

A small time accident lands him at the clinic of doctor Jaanvi (Esha Gupta) and its love at first sight for Sonu. He lies to Jaanvi about his real work, first to win her over and later to protect her. But he knows that one day the truth about his criminal ways will be his undoing.

At the same time Hashmi is being bullied by cop Pratap Raghuvanshi (Randeep Hooda) to become an informer and lead the police to the leader of the gun dealer network. Pratap entraps Sonu leaving him with no choice. Try as he might to reform, Sonu realizes that he is damned if he does, and damned if he does not.

Had Deshmukh tripped the length and cut out some build up, Jannat 2 could have been a racy thriller. Instead it’s predictable and verbose. The only ace in the deck is the unexpected friendship and camaraderie that develops between Raghuvanshi and Sonu. This is in large part due to the performances by both Hooda and Hashmi – both are confident and consistent. Gupta’s inexperience is evident. She brings nothing to the part of Jaanvi.

The action sequences, cinematography and locations are worth mention but mentioning these is like grasping at straws in a film that is otherwise tiresome and just about guns, gaalis and gaana, which is not enough for a 2 hour 20 minute long film.

Rating: **