Tehelka's Nisha Susan meets Kunal Deshmukh, the director of Jannat (Heaven), a Bollywood film which revolves around the life of a bookie.

Deshmukh’s two passions, movies and cricket are predictable choices for a young Indian. But at 26, Deshmukh has been able to bring both these passions together. Relatively new in the business, he has been an assistant director to the equally youthful Mohit Suri in three films. Jannat, his debut film, which releases on May 16 in India and premieres in Lahore, explores scandals from the cricketing world and readily lends itself to a Mahesh Bhatt banner. Emraan Hashmi plays Arjun, a small-time bookie who is propelled by love and greed into the higher echelons of match-fixing. One strand of the story is also a fictionalised account of cricket coach Bob Woolmer’s death.

Deshmukh says, “I have been cricket-obsessed all my life. When the Azhar story got out, my heart broke. I couldn’t bear to remember the Titan series and how much I had loved Kumble and Srinath in it.” Deshmukh, who is an advocate of legalised cricket betting, originally intended to make a movie that was steeped in betting lore. “Left to me I would have had no love story in the script at all. But Bhattsaab insisted and I decided to sound out the idea with my friends and family. I came reluctantly to the conclusion that most people wouldn’t be able to understand or want to understand the nitty-gritty of match-fixing.”

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