Luck

Please don't mistake the title for the fate of any of the characters, from the movie 'Luck'. It was just an ode to people who had to go through the ordeal (which might just find stark, blunt resonance with the worst of nightmares, that one might have to face in movie hall) of sitting through the 120 minutes of the movie luck.

Right from the opening sequence, where Sanjay Dutt, defies death by running across some 6-7 moving trains which travel with amazing sync through the moment when fully loaded guns fail to fire on a few handpicked lucky heroes and villains to the scene where a bullet rushes through the exact position where an ordinary human being was supposed to have his heart, only to find out "alas ! it is the lucky hero and his heart is placed in some remote area of the body which usually holds something else ! duh !

Then you might ask, for what I gave the movie a 4 out of 10. Well its for the guts of Sanjay Dutt,Imran Khan and Midhun Dada for betting that this is going to work. Shruthi Hassan, I felt, was a different face, from the usual Bollywood heroines. Sanjay Dutt does no justice to what he is capable of, by reprising the roles he did in Musafir, Dhamaal , Dus Kahaniyan and so on!And yes, its also because I did shell out a few bucks to go over to the theater to watch it and would feel that I just threw it away in the wind if I don't give it at least a 4 :) So do you want to be lucky??

Indian Cinema has unarguably proved its mastery over the genre of drama and comedy in the past decades. But if we look upon the thrillers made in our part of the world, then there is still lot to achieve as per the International Standards. "Luck" also falls in the same category of thriller movies based on weak scripts relying heavily on its huge star-cast and exciting action sequences. In fact, here we have a movie, made only on an idea of human life being used in the betting mafia and has no basic script heading towards any particular event.

The movie starts off excitingly, introducing Sanjay Dutt as the Don of betting trade participating in a dangerous death race himself. And then the background narration (by Danny) unfolds the entire star-cast with their different individual sequences. Actually, these are those needy people, chosen to play the dangerous life taking games arranged by the betting Don. But surprisingly this introduction chain exceeds its desired limits and continues till we reach the Intermission. In short the first half is only about the Introductions and has nothing in terms of story or content.

So, all expectations are set for an engrossing second half, showcasing a grand thrilling event and a great exciting climax. But sadly nothing goes as expected and we are only made to witness some unexplained and uninteresting sequences leading to nowhere. Usually in a script where few characters are brought together for a purpose, everything moves towards a specific event or a plan which has a great excitement value. But in "Luck", there is neither any striking spectacular event nor a crescendo kind of impact, building towards its climax. The writers are only interested in talking about the idea of betting mafia playing games involving human lives and that's it.

In order to give it an International look, director Soham, emphasizes more on the glossy and technical aspect of the project and less on its lackluster content and storyline. As a result, the movie based on a groundless script, gives no opportunity to any artist in particular to prove his art. In fact, one wonders why veteran artists like Sanjay Dutt and Danny opted for this movie with no great roles written for them. Sanjay, though looks great as the Don, has got nothing new to deliver other than the usual Bhai stuff. Danny is simply, mis-cast as the Sutradhar or the person responsible for getting every player together.

Imran, with a great fan following should be more careful in choosing his projects as this will be his second movie in a row, which fails to impress. Shruti Hassan, who comes just before the intermission, has got great screen presence, but should work on her dialogue delivery as she sounds uncomfortable speaking her Hindi lines. And there was really no need of her Bikini act in the movie as "the script never demanded it".

Mithun Da is completely wasted. He unconvincingly uses his famous dialogue "Koi Shaque" from "Ghulami", which simply fails to generate the similar impact as in the original. Above all, both Ravi Kishan and Chitrashi are able to impress the most with their splendid performances. Among the songs added for some glamour value, only "Aazma Luck" impresses to some extent. Background score on the other hand serves the purpose perfectly. Cinematography brilliantly captures the well directed action sequences both in the air and below the water. But their brilliance goes in vain, in absence of a good storyline and captivating writing.

So, for thrillers fans, the movie may be below their expectations, with no great excitement or special unique points to mention here. And if you are a real movie buff then you surely must have seen many better flicks in the same genre before.

Now here's the thing about action films. Most of them aren't particularly smart, but you're willing to overlook that if they make for a dramatic and thrilling experience. The problem with Luck is that it's neither smart nor spectacular. Sanjay Dutt stars as Musa, a gambling kingpin who's made a fortune in human betting. His faithful henchman Tamang (played by Danny Denzongpa) is entrusted the job of travelling the world and recruiting the luckiest people he can find to participate in a Fear Factor-style series of dangerous challenges, while loaded gamblers place bets on them. Lured by the promise of a fat cash prize to the one who survives all challenges, a motley bunch of misfits – including Imran Khan, Mithun Chakraborty, Ravi Kissen, Shruti Haasan, Chitrashi Rawat, and a handful of your staple foreign extras from Colaba Causeway – volunteer to jump off helicopters and enter shark-infested waters. Borrowing his premise and key scenes quite liberally from a handful of films including Spanish thriller Intacto, French cult-favorite 13 Tzameti and Hollywood B-movie The Condemned, writer-director Soham Shah delivers a mangled mess of a picture that fails to engage because the characters are all stereotypes and you really couldn't care less if they lost their lives in those dangerous stunts.To be honest, I can think of many reasons why Luck is a dumb film, and chief among them is the fact that there's more bak-bak than dishoom-dishoom, even though it pretends to be an action-adventure. What's worse, every single character in Luck speaks alike, rattling off metaphors, using the third-person and generally dishing out the kind of filmi punchlines that went out in the eighties. The incredibly gifted Danny Denzongpa is saddled with the film's corniest lines including my personal favourite, a dialogue he delivers to a morose Imran Khan. It's priceless, and the film is packed with such gems. The action scenes are all designed to look so cool, there's no nail-biting tension or even a hint of realism when the characters risk their lives in those dare-devil stunts. In all fairness, only one sequence grabs your attention – the film's opening set-piece in which Sanjay Dutt and a handful of others run blindfolded across railway tracks, dodging oncoming trains is a scene to behold. Constructed from a screenplay that relies too heavily on coincidences to take the narrative forward, Luck is ultimately a tiring watch. Of the cast, only Ravi Kissen succeeds in making a real flesh-and-blood character out of his loosely written part, and Mithun Chakraborty and Chitrashi Rawat do the best they can with their half-baked roles. Imran Khan can't rise above the flawed material which doesn't allow him scope to do more than arch his brows, and camera-friendly newcomer Shruti Haasan delivers dialogue with deadpan expressions. Yet it must be said that at least each of them tries. Unlike Sanjay Dutt, who sleepwalks through his scenes again, without making the slightest visible effort to contribute anything of consequence to the film. Luck is often unintentionally hilarious for the clunky dialogue, and particularly for the ridiculous climax scene which is unquestionably the silliest you've seen in years. Indeed only a stroke of good fortune could save this one.

Luck starts off a good note. The style, action and execution is heavily inspired from Dhoom 2 and Race. Sadly its ends up as an overdose of it. The storyline is good and indeed had the potential to join the league of yet another stylised thriller.

For starters, the "game show/betting" should have been given more screen time for the concept to sink into the audience. Too much time was devoted for Imran Khan's background and too little for a few.

π Imran Khan:: Attempting for a chocolate-hero-to-action-hero makeover too-much-too-fast. Chaacha Chowdhary's inputs required desperately.

π Shruti Haasan:: Lookswise has an uncanny resemblance to Sonali Bendre. In terms of launchpad, Luck is no-doubt a very bad choice in every aspect. Be it too much of skin show or entry into the storyline just before interval. Kamal Hasan's tag/ genes can be too much of weight to bear and it shows. In terms of performance it feels that she is delivering more than warranted. Nonetheless, has a great screen presence.

π Sanjay Dutt:: Sometime ago, he wanted to attempt sequel to Kaante and perhaps the idea has eventually translated into Luck. There are too many similarities as well - for instance the entire assemble in Kaante is orchestrated by Sanjay Dutt. Anyways, in Luck there was no meat to his character.

π Chitraashi:: The character got dwarfed amongst the biggies.

π Mithun:: His track was a straight-lift from "Major" Kaante. Koi Shaq?

π Ravi Kishen:: Desperate attempt to copy Anthony Hopkins, albeit failed one.

π Danny:: Passable.

π Rati & Rupa Ganguly hardly had any presence.

Mr. Renzil D'Silva (Rang De Basanti), you were absolute let-down.

Soham, it obvious that you failed to learn "all-that-it-takes" from the master.

PS:: There is no normal sentence in the movie, every character barks "dialogues".

Luck has an impressive star-cast full of talented actors--established and new--whom we don't get to see too often. The movie has a unique, twisted storyline where Sanjay Dutt plays a don who runs an underworld betting organization that puts money on certain people's luck. These people have been hand-picked from around the world based on their "luck," which uncannily puts odds in their favor in major tasks, challenges, obstacles, or games. Players get a high gambling on the lives of these "lucky elite" who participate in suicidal tasks.

The film's USP is definitely its amazing action sequences. What is even more surprising is that the stars did actually perform several of the stunts themselves. Skydiving, swimming among shark-infested waters, and running on a train are just some of the beautifully captured scenes in marvelous African locales. Cinematography and special effects are great. Music is quite good too, accompanied with nice videos.