Luck By Chance - Movie Review
Published: June 23, 2010
Starring Farhan Aktar, Konkona Sen Sharma, Dimple Kapadia, Isha Sharvani, Hrithik Roshan, Rishi Kapoor, Juhi Chawla
Everything clicks in Zoya Akhtar’s smart directorial debut—setting a standard in a film industry it comes close to lampooning. The ridicule is good-natured, though, even accepting of the way things work in Bollywood, and while the characters represent showbiz clichés, they are subtly rendered—for the most part. And the ones that aren’t are ridiculously fun.
Talent runs in Akhtar’s family—she’s the daughter and granddaughter of poets and screenwriters. She’s also the twin sister of filmmaker Farhan Aktar, who had an equally impressive directorial debut with the acclaimed Dil Chahta Hai (2001), which he helmed at the tender age of 27. She cast her brother as the lead in Luck By Chance (on the heels of his promising acting debut in 2008 in the award-winning Rock On!!)—and he serves her well here as Vikram, an aspiring actor in Mumbai.
Vikram hardly struggles while pursuing his dream—he lives with his wealthy aunt who lends him money when the allowance he gets from his father isn’t enough. His new friend Sona (Konkona Sen Sharma), on the other hand, is on her own. She ran away to become an actress, and she’s established a toehold in the business with bit parts. Her big break is imminent, she’s convinced, because her married-with-kids director-boyfriend keeps promising her so. Vikram and Sona are surrounded by others at the bottom of the entertainment food chain—a bitter stage actor, a flamboyant gossip columnist, and ambitious production assistants—all green with jealousy over their friends’ tiny successes.
Akhtar casts her sharp, critical eye on the top of the hierarchy as well. Even though she and her brother are the beneficiaries of nepotism, that doesn’t stop her from poking at fun at how rampant it is in Bollywood. Pretty, vacuous Nikki (Isha Sharvani), the spoiled daughter of famous actress Neena (played by famous actress Dimple Kapadia, whose real-life daughter is actress Twinkle Khanna) is making her debut opposite superstar Zaffar Khan (played by superstar Hrithik Roshan). But Zaffar backs out of the film, to the consternation of the director Rommy Rolly and his wife Minty (played with campy relish by Rishi Kapoor and Juhi Chawla), and Vikram gets a chance as rare as it is in real-life.
The film is full of cameo appearances by actors playing themselves, including Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna, Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukerji, Dia Mirza, Ranbir Kapoor, and Kareena Kapoor.
Luck By Chance is rated Must See.
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