Popular Posts

Saturday, January 31, 2009

'Luck by Chance'



Lucky us.... I mean us viewers.... that movies like 'Luck by Chance' are being made! Zoya Akhtar seems extremely confident of the material and she has done a superb job as the director of the film that takes us on a ride, not too cerebral but engaging to the fullest, of the bylanes and alleyways of the Mumbai film industry. Experienced largely through the travails of the two protagonists, Sona (Konkona SenSharma) & Vikram (Farhan Akhtar), we are game to many an insider's tale of the shimmering-from-outisde & black-from-outside tinsel town. The premise does not have much newness, but the treatment surely does. The smart, stylish screenplay is sure to hook us, even though the flow seems a little self-indulgent at times. The 'filmy types' that have been done to death in umpteen movies haven't thankfully been rolled through overtly cliched routines. The cameo appearances by the high-profile celebs of Bollywood (from Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, John Abraham to the likes of Manish Malhotra, Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap, it has a whole gang of A-listers!) do boost the film's marketability and also do rescue it from any possible dullness on account of predictability. Rishi kapoor, Dimple Kapadia & Isha Sharvani have been perfectly cast in the supporting roles. Last, but not the least, one must pat Hrithik Roshan in the back for a role that few stars would have risked taking up. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy are impressive with their original score yet again, and so are all the crew-members of the film, who have put their best efforts to add to the film's ambience.




7 comments:

LoverBoy said...

A film like 'Luck By Chance', with its multi-layered nuances, is all about the writing but it has also been ably supplemented by the brilliant performances. If one is a keen Bollywood watcher, like me, one would surely follow all the subtleties in treatment and be appreciative of the same.
Long after the curtains came down, I was left reflecting on the pros & cons of the characters' choices and their self-made 'destinies'.

Even if one is averse to serious kind of films or subjects, one can certainly be entertained by the film at simply the superficial level.

My favourite supporting character is that of Rishi Kapoor. He plays the over-the-top Bollywood producer Romy Rolly with absolute perfection. His scenes perfectly capture the subtlety that this film is bursting with.

Dimple Kapadia too has been perfectly cast in the role of the yesteryear siren who now grooms her daughter and is referred to as a “crocodile in a chiffon sari” (by Romy Rolly in a fit of frustration). One of the highlights of the film is undoubtedly Hrithik Roshan, who plays the role of the insecure star with such skill and ease.
The icing on the cake, for me, was how Zoya Akhtar has ended the film, not just because it's different but because it makes such a strong statement and has rounded off the theme of the film very well.

Mayukh Lahiri said...

In the film "Luck By Chance" the director has handled the longish list of cast in a very skilled way. And the viwers, be assured, you are not going to watch a movie like 'The Burning Train'. There was a time when even the common domesticated Bohemians would not head towards the Industry, but now the scenario has changed a lot a lot of youngsters from petty middle class families are hitting the silver screen with their brilliance in acting and most of us belong to that class. So, this is very much our own story.

Farhan Akhtar, once again, has proven his talent after his magnificent performance in 'Rock On!!'. Konkona Sen Sharma, as usual, has continued her dream run which she started in 'Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'. Hrithik Roshan should be spelled with special respect as he has shouldered the onus of such a risky role.

The other veteran stalwarts of the film industry like Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia have played their part in a superb manner to project their respctive roles properly.

There are some negatives too to say about the film-- Juhi Chawla was not allowed to show her actual power as an actress. Perhaps, the need of the role was too little to fit her. A better musical diection was expected from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy but in this case also they could not express their usual self except the songs like O Rahi re and Sapno Se Bhare Naina. The song Sapno Se Bhare Naina, undoubtedly, is one of the finest examples of fusion music ever used in Indian films.

On the whole, it is a must watch film, especially for Gen Y. It is not a film to provoke the intellectual thought but surely a package to empathise yourself.

Unknown said...

After the terrific success that Farhan Akhtar had achieved as an actor in 'Rock On!!', here is one more film that makes him assert his presence as an actor. And that itself is a merit of the film 'Luck by Chance'. Many at the multiplex that I had gone to see this film had turned up just to see Farhan Akhtar in his second outing as an actor, knowing almost nothing about the kind of film that they had come to see, and they came out applauding him once again, which isn't a mean achievement for a director turned actor.
Luckily, for us, 'Luck by Chance' is much more than Farhan's impressive stint as the male protagonist; it is indeed a film that stands out on its own. 'A Cut Above', borrowing NDTV reviewer Anupama Chopra's words, the film genuinely impressed me after as a viewer, for having made a bold, though quite subtle, statement about the bleak 'dog-eat-dog' world of the movies.

aniruddh said...

'Luck By Chance' has been rightly hailed for being the contemporary tale that it is, set in a world desperate to escape its own reality. The film offers us a slice of Bollywood life, in which Luck, aka Kismet aka Naseeb, plays a huge role. Here, notions of superstition, fate and destiny underline every phase of life, as grand desires and opportunities converge to form strange tales of success and despair in an aspiring actor's career. In such an unpredictable climate, the protagonists' paths criss-cross and in the end-note, life is all that one makes of the successes and the failures that come life's way.

Unknown said...

LUUCK BY CHANCE is really a cool movie. It is an entertainer. Although, paradoxically, it lifts the mask off our biggest entertainment industry. Farhan Akhtar & Konkona Sensharma have been so perfectly cast, I completely agree with you... so are the other secondary characters. The situations just come alive and make us laugh, make us cry.

sakagaze's laziest student said...

I just saw that movie.
I liked it a lot - especially the ending. That was so unusual and unexpected. Your review was the one thing that motivated me to watch the movie.thank you!!!!!

starry-eyed said...

Konkona was excellent in the film.