Luck By Chance- Review

I have never been this close a follower of the Hindi films as I ‘am right now, that I have started feeling a bit guilty about it alltogether. Lately, I had a few real bad experiences at the theater in the form of some bollywood blockbusters which led me to this above mentioned guilty feeling. I wouldn’t have cared to go to the theater for another hindi movie now, if not for all those great reviews everywhere, the good mouth publicity, the ’Akthar’ factor and everything that differentiates this cinema. So, last day I watched ‘Luck By Chance’, and yeah, I was not disappointed. Not a bit!

The safest and perhaps the most appropriate option before any filmmaker on his/her debut is to make a movie on a subject which is very much familiar to him or her, a subject on which he or she has got an immense grasp and a direct involvement. Zoya Akthar has hit bull’s eye just doing that. The movie, ‘Luck By Chance’ is so much of a first person account on the hindi film industry, by someone who was born and bought up in the midst of all those glamour and glimmer, that the entire movie looks almost cent percentage authentic. And perhaps the most important point is that it is not as authentic as it appears. The director apparently knows too much on the subject she is sharing with us. The perfectly executed comical inside commentaries in the movie becomes such an important aspect of the film’s narrative, that it really holds the entire movie together.

But despite everything else, I wouldn’t have loved this movie this much if not for the nearly flawless performance put on by the entire cast of the film. Rarely do you get an opportunity to see such solid acting here in the bollywood. The comicalness, the fun is mostly in the manner how  the actors perform it and not it any dialogues or goofy filmy situations. Konakana Sensharma is sensational as Sona, an aspiring actor, who is struggling to find a place in the industry. It is with such great essence that Konakana actually brings out every tiny little gestures of the central character sona alive on the screen. Rishi Kapoor is hilarious as the big shot movie producer, Romy Rolly. Even Juhi Chawala, in a comparatively smaller role as the beloved wife of Romy Rolly, shines where ever she appears. Farhan Akthar’s performance as Vikram Jaisingh is nothing exceptional. But he too manages to avoid any serious flaws. He delivers such a plain performance, that’s neither too great nor too bad. The script is straightforward and a very well thought out one. Cinematography was fine generally, though at times the visuals seemed largely influenced by the commonly followed prototypes. The songs were incorporated beautifully in the movie that they had a separate beauty in the film. The Bgm used is also very light but is quiet effective.

At the end, Luck By Chance is not an unconventional experimentation of cinema or a pattern breaking attempt on storytelling. It’s just another hindi film, with all those commercial aspects carefully included, like all those fast dance numbers and the celebrity cameos. It follows the very conventions of a normal bollywood movie. But still it’s a good movie. And that’s the point!

8/10