Luck by Chance

The opening sequence montage is beautifully designed, paying a quiet and dignified homage to the upline and downchain support functions of the entire film industry, like the guards protecting film studios and film sets, and cashiers at the box office, with the song Yeh Zindagi Bhi as a backdrop. But this serene and muted beginning is in stark contrast to everything else that is going to unfold, where humour is largely used to great effect in cushioning the unflattering commentary on the state of affairs. For example, much has been said about story lines and sets resembling some big budgeted Hollywood counterpart, and you have a director blatantly telling his scriptwriter to adopt everything from his favourite movie. A lot of satire get tossed around, and rewards the viewer paying close attention. There's even an avenue for sight gags, and one of my favourites is the poster entitled "For a Few Rupees More".

The strength of Luck By Chance is in its strong story, characterization and dialogue. It plays on everyone's stereotypes, but yet doesn't turn its main characters to caricatures. It shows the distinct worlds that aspiring wannabe actors have to face, versus those born with luck on their side, being the offspring of famous and established stars in the movie world. It examines the struggles of the dream chasers coming to Mumbai looking for their big break, where it is established that lead roles only go to newcomers when they are soundly rejected by the stars, and the insecurities and threats that established stars constantly face, with the dealing of pressure and success, and maintaining that public icon. For the bevy of star childs as they are known (in my short foray into Indian films I have seen a number of up and coming ones), the mounting expectations that one has to deal from the public.

Luck By Chance has a movie within the movie which the subplots are laid out against, and like all productions, funding is always key, as is the network that one has to find a foothold in because of the tacit understanding that it's about who you know and who you're related to, versus pure talent. Hence the title, where one has to be at the right place at the right time staring at the right opportunity in order to get noticed amongst thousands. Vikram Jaisingh (the director's brother Farhan Akhtar) is one such aspiring actor who moved from Delhi to Mumbai in search of stardom, and lives with 2 other friends and their neighbour Sona (Konkona Sen Sharma) who is the mistress of small time producer Chaudhary (Alyy Khan) of Pinky Productions, waiting for her big break to star in a big budgeted movie with a tailor made role. At the other end of the spectrum, we have the insecure mega-star Zaffar Khan (Hrithik Roshan, whom I think is like a chameleon in being able to shape his physique at the drop of a hat) starring in his new movie with star child Nikki Wallia (Isha Sharvani), the offspring of screen legend Neena (Dimple Kapadia). And adding plenty of colour to the events in and around this movie production, are the producer Romy Rolly (Rishi Kapoor) and his brother, the actor turned director Ranjit Rolly (Sanjay Kapoor) who share the spoils for most of the comedy.

There are plenty of insider jokes spilt at every corner, making fun of commercial and art films, gossip rags and the sensationalizing of news. Upping the fun factor are a slew of cameo appearances with real stars playing themselves, and you can imagine the gasps when Aamir Khan appeared briefly in the beginning, and another Khan (I'm not revealing who amongst the three Kings, your guess) popping out to whistles from the audience for his simple role offering advice about dealing with stardom and what really matters. And to add to that if I may name drop a little, Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, amongst many others.

We follow the making of the fictional movie from start to end, and even then, there is but only two prominent musical numbers which arise from that fictional movie alone, one of which we get to see Hrithik Roshan showcase his slick moves in a big top number. The second half of the film might have sagged a little as more attention was placed to the three way romance between Vikram, Nikki (check out that seduction scene that seems to have taken a leaf out of Russian Dolls) and Sona, and how success can get into one's head and the transformation from humbleness to jerk. Farhan Akhtar gives an excellent performance as the boy who innocently, then manipulative worked the system to his selfish advantage toward climbing the ladder of success, and the way it ended strongly in quite an unconventional way for a Bollywood movie, gives this film a certain gravitas in being unflinching in the messages it wants to make about the industry, where the tenacious succeed and there is not much room for sentimentalism.

If you're looking for a jump point into what's on offer from Bollywood this year, then I would humbly suggest that Luck By Chance would be your best bet for an introduction to the wheelings, dealings and politicking behind the scenes by all players involved in getting the production complete, right down to generating buzz upon release, and how with luck, one's chances in life could be changed and transformed. Highly recommended.

Are you fascinated by the place that is the Hindi Film Industry? Have you obsessed about the superstars there and religiously followed what's happening in their lives? Have you ever wondered how this Industry works? Have you ever secretly harbored ambitions of being in this dream land? If yes, what are your chances of surviving and making it big? Zoya Akhtar's maiden directorial venture 'Luck By Chance' is a thumping answer to these and many more questions!

If Om Shanti Om was a take on Hindi Cinema of the 1970s then 'Luck By Chance' is a highly authentic take on the Hindi Film Industry in the modern era. It's a fantastic behind the scenes journey into this dream land known as Bollywood. No wonder that this authenticity could have only come from one of the well known families of the Industry - the Akhtar family, who are the makers of this film. The tale is essentially of their own immediate environment and it is a story that is told well!

The screenplay revolves around the two central characters played by Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sharma trying to make it big in Bollywood. Farhan comes to Mumbai from Delhi, lives in his aunt's house and borrows money from all quarters whereas Konkona is in a 'mutually beneficial' relationship with some producer to get a lead role and also has a friend who is a homo-sexual, BUT wait, before you scream 'cliché' and think that this will go the Madhur Bhandarkar way, you realize that the treatment is not as sensationalistic and hovering around extremes as Madhur Bhandarkar's movies. Luck By Chance is subtle but highly effective!

The two lead character's lives take us inside and up-close to the scenes behind the camera. We have the Desi producer played by Rishi Kapoor, a yesteryear's starlet (Dimple Kapadia) who is launching her talentless daughter (Isha Sherwani) and apart from these characters we have the who's who of Bollywood playing themselves. Luck By Chance is a casting coup!

The film is an unabashed take on Hindi Cinema and it does not hold back from mocking it. We have one director saying "What the hell do I have to do with the script, I am not making the film for a film festival!" The same director hands over a Hollywood DVD to the film writer and tells him to Indianise the story! It also shows the corporate culture setting into bollywood, the corporates who want to model themselves after the Hollywood studios and describe the script as the main property only to change their stance later and determine whether to finance or not on the basis of which super-star is playing the lead! Hrithik Roshan is a sport, who in an extended cameo charmingly portrays the character of 'Zaffar Khan', a bratty superstar who walks out of a film and creates enormous trouble for the veteran producer. The same role after being rejected by other established actors and after a series of fortunate circumstances, struggle and talent is bagged by the protagonist Vikram played by Farhan Akhtar.

The story of Luck By Chance is well woven. It wonderfully depicts the journey of each of the characters. The negative shades in each of them are shown, not in implausible extremes, but in a true to life way. How charmingly it captures those very real things – jealously and ego battles between friends, relatives who have the word, 'Riddance' on their mind when you live with them away from your home, of how the best of relationships break when individual interests become dominant.

It is surprising to see the high degree of naturalness, intensity and charm that Farhan Akhtar brings to his character. It's an A grade performance which makes you speculate that a few years down the line, Farhan will be known as an actor who also directs and not vice versa. Konkona playing the female lead has a role which was perhaps written with only her in mind and she does an excellent job. The veteran Rishi Kapoor shows us what an enigmatic force he still is behind the camera! Playing the veteran producer his is the most endearing character in the film! The rest of the ensemble cast – Dimple Kapadia, Isha Sherwani, Juhi Chawla, and Sanjay Kappot do justice to their roles. A special compliment goes out to the guy who plays Farhan's friend. The flame of jealousy and complexes that this character is meant to convey are tough to depict but he succeeds effortlessly.

The cameos are brilliantly pulled off, with Aamir and SRK shining in their separate parts. Aamir is shown shooting for a period film in a brilliantly setup set and you wish that such period movies were actually made by the Hindi Film Industry. SRK is in a 2 minute cameo, where in a party, in an interaction with the new star that Farhan Akhtar's character has become, gives the most powerful and defining lines in the movie, lines which were perhaps not given to the dialog writers but have been his own firm values that have made him the biggest superstar of this Industry.

As always, Excel Entertainment brings excellent production values to the film in each department. The music composed by the trio of Shankar Ehsaan Loy surely doesn't disappoint and it slowly grows on you after watching the movie. The track 'Yeh Zindagi Bhi' stands out.

Lastly, hats off Zoya Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar for making a film that they knew at the very outset will appeal to only a niche audience. It is this experimentation and willingness to experiment that is required in this Multiplex era.

Luck By Chance is a feast that is a must see for people who are in awe of the Indian film fraternity.

"Luck By Chance" has most of the hallmarks of a typical Bollywood production: shimmering visuals, eye-popping colors and costumes, and gorgeous young performers all placed in the service of a slick-fiction melodrama, punctuated by elaborately choreographed song-and-dance numbers that play like glittery shampoo commercials on steroids. The difference here is that since it is Bollywood itself that is the subject of the film, writer/director Zoya Akhtar gets to indulge in some mild self-criticism aimed at a few of the weaknesses inherent in the industry. For instance, the movie questions why nepotism seemingly plays so large a role in the hiring of actors and actresses, an inside-joke, one assumes, since Akhtar chose her own brother, Farhan, to play the lead character in this film. It also makes fun of the fact that no self-respecting mainstream Indian film would be caught dead without at least a half a dozen musical sequences, even though they are rarely germane to the plot or integral to the theme. That doesn't, however, keep the makers of "Luck By Chance" from fulfilling their mandated quota of said sequences. Apparently, iconoclasm will take one only so far when there are box office receipts at stake.

"Luck By Chance" tells of an aspiring young actor named Vikram (Akhtar) who lands the lead role in what is described to us as "a big-budget thriller/musical love story." His sudden success becomes a cause of dissension between him and his girlfriend, Sona (Konkona Sen Sharma), since she is herself a struggling actress and has been unable to pick up more than mere bit parts in unimpressive films up to this point. She also becomes jealous of Vikram's co-star, the lovely Nikki Walia (Isha Sarvani), whose over-controlling mother (Dimple Kapadia) was a famous movie actress herself in the 1970s.

In terms of dramaturgy and audience attention-spans, the story could definitely use some tightening, but it does capture some of the frustration, heartbreak and disappointment of trying to make it in the "biz." It also points out the capricious nature of filmdom success, making the case that it is often nothing more than sheer luck - of being at the right place at the right time or of having that indefinable "something" that sets one apart from all others - that ultimately determines who will make it as a star and who will not.

The romantic scenes are nicely played by Akhtar and Sharma, but there's no getting around the fact that the movie itself runs on for such an unconscionable length of time (over two-and-a-half-hours) that audiences (Western audiences, at least) are bound to lose interest in the story quite a ways prior to its actual completion. That's a shame because there's much that is likable and charming about "Luck By Chance."

The empathy for the everyday actress, the one who does not get to become the star - that is the USP of this movie. A very intimate portrayal - loving her just the way she is, with her weaknesses and her faults and still a basic goodness that she is able to keep intact, embellished with the confidence, courage and self respect that she finally finds.

A satire about Bollywood, and the struggle that young talent has in a nepotistic world, certainly sounds intriguing. But when the talent is mainly defined by beauty and ambition, it's hard to feel too sympathetic, particularly over the full course of what is a decidedly long film. In fact, satire is too strong a word here: although the inanity of Bollywood plots are gently ridiculed, the movie includes some song and dance sequences of its own (disguised as belonging to films within the film); and the eventual ending celebrates a character who fails to become a star, but nonetheless enjoys success as a leading television actress. Fundamentally, this not a story about real failure at any level, not one character is poor and not one young character is ugly, or indeed, even ordinary looking. A harsher, funnier tale might have been told.