Whose Bad luck??. Review on Luck

Being an action movie buff, there were two films I was/am really looking forward to **"Blue" and "Luck".

*Our film industry keeps saying that we have "truly arrived" in terms of technology/action scenes in our films. Out of the world/on par with hollywood action sequences - things like that are being promised time and again. I agree some movies do have it in them to enthrall the Indian audience, but not all.

Lets talk about the recently released **"Luck".

*The Plot:- **It deals with the betting industry. The kingpin being **Moussa Bhai(Sanjay Dutt in yet another Bhai role). **Moussa has hell lot of faith in his luck and has comfortably escaped death on numerous counts in his life. Playing with danger which started as passion is now an addiction for him.

Earlier he used to bet on his luck, but now he runs a huge empire. He gets contestants from all over the world and takes bettings on them. The Game these contestants are made to play are designed solely on their Luck and to test it. Failure could lead to deadly consequences. And his trusted lieutinent in this business is **Tamaang(Danny)*

Next we are introduced to an array of characters - **Ram(Imraan Khan), Raghaav(Ravi Kishan), Retd Major Jawar Pratap(Mithun da), Shortcut(CHitrashi Rawat) and Ayesha(Shruti Haasan).** Some of these contestants are in dire need of money - either for paying off debts or for Wife's treatment. Some need money to lead a luxurious life, buy a lexus. Some are for just the kick of it. And for some, the motive is unknown .

All these are assembled and brought to the scenic **South Africa**, where Moussa takes them through a dangerous journey. A journey where danger and death lurk in each and every game.

A slew of stunts - Jumping from a chopper, underwater with sharks, action on a moving train with Land Mines.etc follow next. And the "Luckiest" of all wins the prize money.

*Analysis:- Luck** starts with a bang for sure.The very first sequence does set the mood. However, the following sequences where the characters are introduced do not engage you, barring a few individualistic scenes involving Imraan and Danny.

You expect the film to reach thrilling heights once all the **contestants move to South Africa** and Moussa puts them through the dangerous tasks. But the sequences in this hour do not enthrall you completely. The sequences range from aveage to plain bad in this hour. It just seems you are watching an **extended episode of one of those reality shows(Khatron ke Khiladi etc) minus all the thrill.

In fact the chopper sequence does not excite at all. The SFX looks shoddy. Same goes to the underwater scenes. Not at all convincing. The sharks sometimes look fake. Of course there are few individualistic scenes which leave an impression but they are very less:-

*1. The very first train action sequence.

1. The lighter scene at Swamy's(Srinivas Rao or more popular as Selvar Mani of Sarkaar) den.

2. Hospital Scene after the underwater sequence.

3. The final train action scene(to some extent).

Take out these few minutes of the film and it becomes a boring exercise for the audience.

Overall experience doesn't leave you satisfied.

Performances - **Sanjay Dutt** sleepwalks through his role. He has nothing new to do. We have seen him in countless such roles.

*Imraan** looks stiff and uncomfortable sometimes. He is not at all in form. Definitely he can do better. Would like him to choose his scripts more carefully.

*Chitrashi** provides some sparks and is fine.

*Ravi Kishan** hams and looks to have taken acting lessons from Manoj Bajpai before coming on sets.

*Shruti Haasan** - I guess too much is expected of this gal. The problem is, she comes in too late in the film and has pretty less to do. She is pretty, infact very pretty. But she cannot emote onscreen and looks wooden. Shruti if you want to survive in this industry, you would need more than **Luck:)*

*Mithun** as usual is fine and does a neat job. So does **Danny**. But it pains to see such good actors in a film like this.

Other actors get no scope.

Music by **Salim-Suleiman** is fine. **"Aazma Luck"** is a good track but it's played in background so many times that you get irritated. Other songs are okay.

Background score by **Amar Mohile** is very good. A commendabe job.

Cinematography by **Santosh Thundiyil** is good. Action by **Allan Amin** is good at places and is average at some. Looks he was constraint due to the budget.

Coming to the real culprits - **Soham Shah and Rensil DSilva**. The screenplay is bad. The writing should have been much tauter. The **dialogues and sequences get repititive** after a point of time. In fact the **dialogues are so tacky** that the audience burst into laughter at various sequences. The direction is average. I dont say **Kaal** was a classic but Soham did a better job with Kaal.

Finally, if you are desparate to watch an action flick go and watch Transformers-2 instead. I dont say its a good film, but it definitely has some well choreographed action scenes.

And if you are particular about an hindi action film - better settle down for a DVD of Dhoom/Dhoom 2. Again atleast the action sequences are better there.

As for me, I m waiting for Blue and hope it turns out to be better.