It was scheduled on the day of the blasts that rocked Mumbai July 13 and cancelled at the last moment. The “Murder 2” success party finally happened July 23 at The Enigma in J.W. Marriott. Keeping the theme in mind, the Bhatts even “stabbed” the celebration cake rather than cut it together. 

Though Jacqueline Fernandez walked in late, she was in time for the formal ceremony as well as the group photographs. She sportingly even sang the “mukhda” of the song “Aa Bhi Jaa” on the request of a scribe. However, Prashant Narayanan, the main villain of the film, came in much later with his wife. On the dais were Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt, leading man Emraan Hashmi with Jacqueline, director Mohit Suri and writer Shagufta Rafique.

Spotted later in the crowd in the pub were also co-music directors Sangeet and Siddharth Haldipur, T-Series chiefs Bhushan Kumar and Krishen Kumar, actor Bikramjeet Kanwarpal (who plays the Goa police chief in the film) and co-lyricist-composer-singer Harshit Saxena. Kunal Deshmukh, singer Anusha Mani, Vikram Bhatt and family members from the Bhatts, Emraan’s and Mohit’s clan like old-time actress Purnima and Smilie Suri were also present. 

And yet the party was nowhere as interesting as the celebrations held for “Yamla Pagla Deewana,” “Haunted” and “Delhi Belly.” In the last case, the formal address-the-press routine was a short formality, while in the earlier ones there was no such routine and guests and media were freely interacting. The “Murder 2” question-answer routine was replete with inane queries and the only remark of consequence was Mahesh Bhatt’s light statement that Emraan’s only bad quality was his “kanjoosi” (miserliness) and that he had not so much as gifted Mahesh or Mukesh a BlackBerry in return for all the films they had given him.