Luck By Chance
Starring- Farhan Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma and pretty much the rest of Bollywood
Director- Zoya Akhtar
Running time- 156 mins
Rating- ****
Tribute to Indian cinema can either be full of cliches as seen Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’s hit song or . However a real Bollywood has not yet been since the 1994 blockbuster Rangeela. Who better to bring that cinema back than a debutante director with star parents, a star brother/director and close interactions with the whole industry?
Zoya Akhtar brings us Luck by Chance. Cinema with all its charms, glory and realities- none melodramatic rather subtle with none of the starcast going to histronics.
The story about budding actor Vikram Jaisingh (Farhan Akhtar) who by chance gets a call from producer Romi Roly’s office. Roli (Rishi Kapoor, absolutely hilarious) usual hero Zafar Khan chooses a Karan Johar movie over Roli’s love story and walks out. With no other actor avaible, he goes in for a newcomer. Vikram lands the lead role due to his charm and appeal to women, as decided by the pretty … (Juhi Chawla, delighful) in love story starring opposite pretty bimbette Niki Walia (Isha Sharvani, charming and completely gorgeous). Her mother Neena is the yesteryear diva (who better than the ever-youthful Dimple Kapadia for the role) who along with her daughter has the hots for Vikam. Little do they know, he is already seeing struggling actress Konkona Sen Sharma stuck with side roles and ad films. But does fame make Vikram forget those who supported him when he was no one?
If Ram Gopal Varma used his three lead characters to successfully describe the industry, Zoya goes all out bringing the whos who of the industry together. If Farah Khan got 31 stars for one star, Zoya coos even the most reluctant stars (Aamir Khan cameos in the film’s first five minutes) to the unknown (writer Mushtaq Sheikh responsible for Om Shanti Om) to the cameo-friendly (Abhishek Bachchan for atleast five minutes is a must in every movies nowadays). The two main actors- Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sen Sharma are top-notch and even amongst an A-list starcast hold their ground.
The strength of Luck By Chance is that its main theme of representing the Indian film industry is done by the best in the industry themselves. The script however does go weak towards the last half hour becoming preachy and the end is highly abrupt.
Do watch the movie, get a glimpse behind the scenes of India’s most sought after industry. Finally, Bollywood is captured for what it truly is.
