RELEASE

MUMBAI: It was a high energy evening at Bandra's all new Trafalgar Chowk restaurant as the entire cast and crew of the Bollywood movie Jannat, which releases tomorrow worldwide, participated in the Gambler's Night, a pre-release party for the cast and crew presented by Radio One, 94.3, "The Station for the Fataafat Generation". Emraan Hashmi, Sonal Chauhaan, Kunal Deshmukh, Vishesh Bhatt, and Mukesh Bhatt were all present to ensure an exciting event on the eve of their film Jannat's release. Also adding glamour to the evening were Shaad Randhawa, Shakeel, Sameer Kochhar, Vipin Sharma, Abhimanyu Singh and others. Also spotted looking gorgeous with their beaus were Shilpa Shukla and Shubhi Mehta.

Sonal Chauhaan's cut a cake for her birthday and Kunal Deshmukh, Emraan and she clinked champagne glasses as they toasted the two occasions that fall on May 16 this year - Sonal's birthday and the release of Jannat.

The station ran a contest that allowed listeners to instantly win passes to the party, tickets to the movie, music CDs as well as opportunities to meet the stars and cast of the movie. The contest began on the 12th of May, 2008 and ran for three days, with calls for entries through 30 second spots on Radio One playing through the day, press ads in MiD DAY as well as through mailers to members of Club One. The winners were selected by a randomizer, and 10 couples were invited to participate in this fun evening, while a 100 tickets and CDs were given out.

Says Raj Gopal Iyer, Station Head, West, Radio One, "Radio One's audience is mostly made up of urban professionals. Our research shows that music, bollywood and cricket are big points of interest for this group. Jannat's music is a chartbuster, the theme revolves around cricket, and there's a lot of interest in the movie at the moment. So it's a perfect fit for our brand."

Adds Vineet Singh Hukamani, CEO Radio One, "Today's generation of radio listeners, is very clear about what it wants and wants it instantly. That's why Radio One is positioned as "The Station for the Fatafat Generation" and all our events follow this theme."

Participants had to be a minimum age of 21 to qualify for passes to the party, which was based on the theme of the movie, in which Emraan Hashmi plays a bookie. Each person who entered the venue was given a leather pouch with 5 blue coins that he/ she could use on any of the games of chance that had been set up in the restaurant's lovely alfresco area. If they won, they were given a pink coin in return. Every half hour, the party coordinators would check to see who had the maximum number of pink coins, and that person won prizes such as autographed CDs, movie tickets, dining vouchers from Trafalgar Chowk and Radio One goodie bags. Emraan and Kunal seemed to thoroughly enjoy the games.

Trafalgar Chowk, which has been recently taken over by a new management, has also introduced a whole new menu refurbished its interiors including a first-of-its-kind, state of the art Sony Playstation Karaoke Lounge. It was selected as a venue because of its ample space, excellent ambience, easy accessibility as well as the distinct areas which the space was divided within the restaurant. People enjoyed the games of chance were set up in its charming alfresco area. Emraan Hashmi and Director Kunal Deshmukh of Jannat also tried their hand at the games.

The evening also saw a celebration of Actress Sonal Chauhaan's birthday which is on May 16, the day the movie releases. The movie, which is a love story set against the wall paper of match-fixing and betting, premiered in Pakistan on May 14, becoming the first Indian movie to do so. Celebratory events around the premiere were illuminated further by the presence of cricketing stars such as Imraan Khan and Wasim Akram. Also, the latest revelation of cricketer Marlon Samuel's betting-related two year ban has increased the relevance of the movie in today's multi crore cricketing scene.