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.

For ages in India the films were over the top unrealistic affairs. This film was one of the first films in mainstream cinema to incorporate realistic dialogue, acting and characters. One of the first dark comedies and one of the best.

It's a story of a common thief and his merry ways. The performances are superb. The editing and direction is great. Music is good too. A film which will achieve cult status.

Dibakar Banerjee, director of the cult film(if i may say so) Khosla ka Ghosla, is back with another comedy. Unusually titled Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, it is indeed quite different from the regular bollywood fare.

True, this film isn't as good as Khosla, but it definitely has a lot of things going for it. This film is a splash of colour, and is set in Delhi, just like its predecessor. Dibakar once again succeeds in capturing the essence of this decadent city, and the old-world charm it carries.

The film has its special moments, like the scene where lucky meets the card-seller girl. The innocence and the humanism is not lost, and one can almost feel oneself in the midst of the action.

Paresh Rawal plays three characters, analogous to Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove, and does a fine job. Although his character of Dr. Handa was a little too absolute-evil types, the others showed shades of gray, and were executed well by Rawal.

The dialogue is witty and funny, and resembles elements of the same in Pulp Fiction, one is inclined to think.

The film does lose its way in the second half (the entire vacation episode), the story becomes a bit of a drag, and the ending carries no surprises, but as a whole, the film does well to keep its spectators glued to the screen.

However, i must say, that most of the shortcomings of the film come to light only when it is compared to global standards. If one is talking about bollywood, and the trash it churns out regularly( Dostana, Yuvvraaj), then this film is truly light years ahead in every possible department.

Its a sad truth in Bollywood, that talent dies a poor man. The ones with absolute power in the industry (Amitabh Bacchan, SRK, KJo) are mortified of experimentation, of serving up anything that hasn't been dumbed down to the average IQ of an American, to the Indian audiences.I yearn for the day when independent and original thought is given credence and respect in Bollywood. Agreed, that this film isn't stuff of legend, but its a start, and a symbol of defiance. And that is why it should be given even more credit than it deserves.

Stylish, Witty, and Entertaining, this film is a must watch for all the people out there who have been suffering brain damage at the hands of Karan Johar, RGV, Yash Chopra and co. I give it an 8/10, mostly due to the brilliant first half of the movie. On the whole,well done Dibakar moshai!

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.

All I want to say is critic's bashed this movie and said this was a average flick, but don't go by critics and just enjoy this movie which is set up in a really nice pace.

It traces the story of "Lucky" a boy from who his teenage learns to become a master in stealing.Abhay does a damn good job as "Lucky" and kudos to "Paresh" who brings a new sense of freshness to every characters he plays. The voice modulation in each of the characters is great by paresh.The story is damn good right from the scripting to editing.Every character in this one are the kind of people we see in day to day life like "Lucky" who thinks or must say does what he likes doing best. If u want to watch a good movie without our so called stars, Just watch this flick.It will be etched in your mind for sometime. Must rate it 9/10 and kudos to the director for making such a movie which has a really fresh feel.I am more for this kind of stuff .Enjoy "LUCKY"...