Feb 01, 2009 05:18 PM
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Around 7 ½ years ago, Farhan Akhtar entered the foray of Bollywood and gave out his first directorial film, Dil Chahta Hai, which turned out to be Bollywood’s one of the best youthful films of all times. Now enters his elder sis, Zoya Akhtar, with her first film-Luck By Chance. The film may not turn out to be a huge grosser or a masterpiece, but it should be seen for its excellent plot, direction and performances. Go for it and have a taste of the other side of Bollywood!
The story of the movie: Sona (Konkona Sen Sharma) and Vikram (Farhan Akhtar) leave their hometown, Kanpur and Delhi, respectively and come to Mumbai to try their luck in Bollywood. Both have talent and the ability to reach the top. On the other hand, there’s Rommy Rolly (Rishi Kapoor), a big time producer who’s all set to start his new film with superstar Zaffar Khan (Hrthik Roshan) and daughter of yesteryear’s actress Neena Walia, Nikki (Isha Shervani) in the leading role. Rommy’s failed actor-brother Ranjit Rolly (Sanjay Kapoor) dons the director’s cap for the film (literally!). Everything’s going fine when suddenly Zaffar backs out of the film on the pretext that he desperately needs a break. Rommy is shocked and immediately runs behind other actors to replace Zaffar. All of them refuse to sign for some reason or the other. Eventually, Rommy has no chance but to give newcomers a chance. He selects around 40-50 strugglers for the audition. Vikram gets selected for the audition. Will he be selected for the audition? And how did he get the chance for audition?
Luck By Chance works big big time because the film mirrors a true scene on the working of Bollywood. The biggest pro of the film is its characters-they are completely real and authentic. One may have heard or there’s a possibility that there are such people in the industry, as shown in the film. Most importantly, the film amazingly throws a light on the struggling actors in the film industry. Their plight, problems and ups and downs is well executed!
The first half was just amazing! The film begins wonderfully with an overview of the work of the crew as the introduction of the film. Excellent! It’ll put a smile on one’s face! The film remains interesting and entertaining totally till the intermission point. The agony of Rommy Rolly was well shown. The best scene of the film is undoubtedly when Rishi breaks down and says “Ek zamaana tha jab film banane mein mazaa aata tha….These youngsters have no respect for elders!” Simply mindblowing scene!
In the second half, the film gets little slow. Two scenes in this hour were slightly over the top-firstly, the article on Vikram in a magazine and secondly, Rolly brothers entering a theatre to see the audience reaction and dancing! But nevertheless, Zoya succeeds in putting up a great film, inspite of these flaws! She beautifully throws light on the goings-on of the film industry, without making the film too dark or too serious or melodramatic.
Performance-wise, everyone performs their best! Even the actors in special appearance do a great job. And the actors aren’t added in the film unnecessarily. In the leading cast, Farhan Akhtar gives an excellent performance, as good as his performance in ‘Rock On!!’. Watch out for him when he praises Dimple Kapadia and his best scene was when he breaks down after a fight with his friend. He proves that he can be a fabulous actor too! Waiting for his next flick, Karthik Calling Karthik and also for The Fakir Of Venice, which was actually his first film but still hasn’t released!
Konkona Sen Sharma as usual charms with a charming performance! Though she doesn’t get much scope in the 2nd half, she maintains a steady position of herself throughout the film. Rishi Kapoor was rocking and the best performer in the film! He looked every inch a producer and performed perfectly, as per his character demanded! Excellent job! Juhi Chawla does a good job but at times, it seemed her character was unwanted in the narrative.
Isha Shervani was excellent as the girl born with a silver spoon in her mouth. As one of the leading heroines in the film, she does a fantastic job. Dimple Kapadia was great. Sanjay Kapoor springs a surprise with a fine performance! To an extent, he actually played himself in the film-a failed actor all set to direct a film, produced by his brother! Aly Khan was excellent and it was good to see him after a long time. The guy essaying Farhan’s friend’s role was perfect (was it Karan Khanna?). The actor as the journalist was the funniest in the film!
A lot of actors have done a guest appearance in the film.Hrithik Roshan shines in his 20-minute performance. It was great to see him in a role with grey shades. Shahrukh Khan leaves a mark though he was there only for a scene! Anurag Kashyap (director of Black Friday, No Smoking, DevD) was damn funny! And he acts very well and it’ll be great to see him in films too! Karan Johar, Akshaye Khanna, Saurabh Shukla and MacMohan were excellent too!
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music suited the mood of the film. Three songs which rock are Sapno Se Bhare Naina, Baawre and Yeh Zindagi Bhi. Pyaar Ki Dastaan too was a good song, and well-shot too.
Carlos Catalan’s cinematography was brilliant and wonderfully captured the behind the scenes moments! Javed Akhtar has also penned the dialogues which were too good.
Zoya Akhtar single handedly wrote the story, screenplay and directed the film. Such an offbeat subject was perfect for a person like Zoya since she’s observing Bollywood and the people associated with it since her childhood. All her experience and observations are used wonderfully in the film. Her screenplay was effective too! Hats off Zoya!!
Some of the best scenes of the film:
The opening scene (Fantastic!)
Farhan in the acting school
Rishi Kapoor breaking down
Farhan meeting Dimple for the 1st time
The intermission point
All songs (well shot)
Isha Shervani with Farhan in his room
The last 20 minutes
The scene with SRK
Farhan’s fight with his friend
On the whole, Luck By Chance is a superior film! Performances, characters, screenplay, direction-everything was top class! Go watch it and celeberate Bollywood!
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