Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

Dibakar Banerjee's 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!' is one of my favourite Hindi films of recent years. A dark satirical comedy revolving around a young thief, it is amazingly enjoyable and fresh and can provide a spectacular watch for the entire family. For all the smart-alecks, Banerjee does not try to glorify theft or anything of this sort but instead makes sure the viewer does not take it seriously and just enjoys this energetic and engaging, though a somewhat slow paced film. This is the comic, albeit a bit sad, story of a thief named Lucky which follows his experiences while looking for different people to rob and his subsequent attempts to quit the 'profession'.

'Lucky' is extremely Indian in its depiction, humour and heart. Banerjee skillfully captures the unique atmosphere of Delhi and its simple yet colourful lifestyle. The film is reminiscent of those classic comedies made by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and his style. It is totally realistic, and is aided by an excellent script, brilliant and witty dialogues, hilarious situations and many uplifting moments. One must note that the first portions of the film, revolving around Lucky's adolescence, are superbly portrayed. The romantic story between Lucky and Sonal, the lovely girl he falls in love with, is also extremely alluring.

The film is not your run-of-the-mill masala comedy. The comedy lies in the writing and the script. It does not even have song numbers for the actors to lip-sync, and you can only hear one song playing over certain montage sequences from time to time. And which song? A famous Kishore Kumar number which was taken right from an old Hindi picture of the late 1970s (Mahesh Bhatt's Lahu Ke Do Rang, to be specific). This, along with other such aspects as the great cinematography, the editing and the settings, perfectly contributes to the film's nostalgic and simple feel which will certainly be identified with Banerjee's style of film-making in coming days.

With Lucky, Abhay Deol ultimately became my favourite actor of the current generation. He is outstanding from start to finish and injects charm and energy into his character, which make it interesting and memorable. Manjot Singh is also fantastic as the young Lucky. Neetu Chandra is also likable as his love interest. Paresh Rawal plays three different characters in the movie. As funny as it sounds, the three characters have absolutely no connection in the story, and Rawal plays every role excellently, though I liked the character of the doctor the most. Richa Chadda, Archana Puran Singh and Kalpana stand out in smaller comic parts.

What else can I say? Lucky is an intelligent and humorous movie. It is stylish in its own way, it is feel-good, romantic and effervescent, and for me, it is also addictive! I can watch it again and again and still be totally entertained. This is a film that really can make you feel good. Way to go, Mr. Banerjee and Mr. Deol.

Simply one of the best characterization and caricature of Delhi-ites on big screen. The only other contender comes to my mind is Khosla ka Ghosla by the same director - that tells me the director is very familiar with Delhi and its lingo, culture, Punjabi-Hariyani laced Hindi! If you have ever lived in Delhi, you can relate to all the characters. Period! And that in itself will make the movie a fun-watch.

Abhay Deol - I consider him the most capable of Deols. I am neither a big fan of the 'action hero' Sunny or Bobby (what's his genre btw?). But this Deol knows his strength and plays by that, and experiments with new characters each time. His acting makes up for all the muscles Sunny has or all lack of dancing skills of Sunny or lack of any skills of Bobby.

The young Lucky played by Manjot is an absolute delight. Paresh Rawal is adequate, somehow I feel a Boman Irani could have been a better fit. I missed Ranvir Shorey or a Deepak Dobriyal in the movie, these guys are so Delhi-ish that you can create a character for them in such a movie.

A word about music:... I think Dibakar Banerjee has a good ear for the Funjabi music. Like 'Chak de phatte' from KKG, this movie has few tracks, which are just fun Punjabi-Hiphop-Techno tracks! Sorry, I haven't checked the music credits yet, but the SuperChor is a cool gangsta-rap style track, while Jugni and Oye Lucky have nice raw Punjabi touch with some modern instrumentation. I would hate to call them Bhangraa, because they are a bit different. Although none of the songs are of 'Chak De Phatte' caliber, but are more than adequate.

Overall, a fun movie to watch - as long as you can follow the Delhi-sense-of-humor!

I still give it 8/10 because the script loses pace somewhat towards 3/4th of the movie. It should have been an out and out comedy like the way it started and ended.

Oye Lucky Lucky Oye directed by Dibakar Banerjee is an excellent comedy movie.

Based on a real life incident,Oye Lucky Lucky Oye is a smart,brilliant comedy film which test your intelligence.

Story: Inspired by the incredible true story of Lucky Singh (Abhay Deol), an extremely charismatic and fearless confident man and thief who socialized with the rich, famous and influential of Delhi society and then proceeded to rob them blind. He was strongly detested by the police and had stolen millions by the time he was caught. A modern day Robin Hood with a twist, he robbed both the rich and the poor without prejudice. Nothing was too big nor was anything too insignificant to escape his attention. The film opens with his trial and charts his rise from the projects of crime ridden suburban Delhi to the very heart of the corridors of power. Along the way he makes lifelong friends, falls in love an manages to outwit the entire law and order machinery.

The writing is smart.

The direction is fabulous.Kudos to Dibakar Banerjee! The dialogs are the high-point of the film.

Another reason why Oye Lucky Lucky Oye rocks is because of its award-worthy performances.Abhay Deol is amazing.But the scene stealer,here is,Paresh Rawal who essays the role of three different characters excellently.He is brilliant.Neetu Chandra in a small role is good.Manu Chandra as Lucky's friend is excellent.Archana Puran Singh is good too.Manjot Sinh is funny.

All in all,Oye Lucky Lucky Oye is a must-watch because it is one of those few films which really tests your intelligence.I am giving it a eight on ten.Must Watch!

I think this is one of the most entertaining movies come out of ' uninspiring ' repetitive crap very refreshing, down to earth, Witty and above all shows some real 'people' not everyone's cup of tea.

Looks like the script writer and the director himself has done some groundwork in terms of characters and the persona they bring on the table.

why can't we get more of these kind of movies out of Mumbai. I think there is a refershing change on the way, otherwise watching 3 hour marathons.

Lucky's character seem to resonate with the big divide, where Well done to the entire team.

Director Dibankar Banerjee comes up with another excellent movie with Oye Lucky.. after Khosla. If Khosla was good this one is even better. Abhay Deol has carved a niche for himself with films like Ek Chalis, Manorama, and now this one. Brilliant script was supported by brilliant acting. I am really happy that Bollywood has started making films the Hollywood style. The still photographs used in the movie was something new to Bollywood and it suited the script perfectly. Abhay Deol is turning out to be a good actor and he now can be placed in the category of his illustrious cousins. Manjot Singh and Manu Rishi made an impressive debut as Young Lucky and Bangali respectively. The humor of this movie was of utmost quality. a really good script supported by some brilliant performances by the now legend Paresh Rawal, Abhay Deol and others. A must watch for everyone.

The scenes that I enjoyed especially were of Young Lucky and his father.