Spicezee Bureau
New Delhi, Jan 30: With two illustrious individuals like Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani for parents and an overtly talented actor/filmmaker like Farhan for a brother, Zoya Akhtar must’ve been under immense pressure as her flick ‘Luck By Chance’ hit the silver screen. You see it and you find out that ‘performing well’ would be an understatement as this ‘Lady Akhtar’ outperforms.
After all being an Akhtar is no less than a mean task, is it? Not only does Zoya prove her mettle but gives us an astoundingly real and beautiful peek into Bollywood.
‘Luck By Chance’ comes across as a pure Bollywood shuttle, which is completely in your face and shakes you with the intricacies and drudgeries of the Mumbai filmdom.
It reinforces the fact that there is indeed some sort of creative legacy associated with the ‘Akhtar’ family as Zoya too shows impeccable talent. Zoya appears to be one of the very few debutante directors who are prepared before they take the big Bollywood plunge (thanks to her past experiences).
‘Luck…’ unravels many Bollywood mysteries, all about the notorious as well as likeable superstars, plus a lot about the lesser known backbones on the filmdom, be it the
chaiwaala or the studio guard. This one too, a little like ‘Om Shanti Om’, highlights the good parts and the dark shades of the business of movies.
The flick revolves around Vikram Jaisingh (Farhan Akhtar), a Bollywood aspirant from Delhi, who leaves his hometown to make it big in Mumbai as an actor. The moment he steps down in Mumbai, he knows his struggle has begun. Sona (Konkona Sen Sharma) is also a struggling actress who has come from a small town with big dreams in her eyes and falls into the trap of a small-time producer Chaudhary (Aly Khan), who makes the most of the situation and promises her a role in his next film, in exchange for sexual favours with shades of the famous Bollywood casting couch.
Vikram bumps into Sona at his friend Abhimanyu`s (Anuj Mathur) place and that’s where their love story starts.
As the story progresses, it moves on to other characters, one of which ‘Neena’ is portrayed by Dimple Kapadia, who carries it with an aplomb! Neena is a former Bollywood diva, who is desperate to provide her daughter Niki (Isha Sharvani) a foothold in the film industry. Her immediate goal is to make Niki sign a flick with filmmaker Romy Rolly (Rishi Kapoor). Well, that does happen. Rishi plays a stereotypically superstitious producer, who always signs up big stars and the potential blockbuster he`s working on in the flick stars Zafar Khan (Hrithik Roshan), his protégé and now a big star along with Niki. All is going well till Zafar decides to opt out of the film for a better venture. And the hunt for a new face begins.
This is Vikram’s big chance but sadly, the fate holds the exact opposite for his ladylove Sona, who is shown the door by Chaudhary. Soon Vikram gets a call to audition for the lead role. How Vikram manages to get to the top and the price the duo have to pay for it is what forms the finale of the flick.
Zoya has roped in everyone from Shah Rukh, Aamir, Karan Johar, Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor, John Abraham as well as Vivek Oberoi (who looks like a bigger struggler than Vikram)!
Zoya shows great finesse and by no means does ‘Luck…’ looks like her debut. Farhan and Konkona are excellent. Rishi, Dimple and Boman have done unforgettably good.
In the end ‘Luck…’ ceases to be a great human story. It is an insider’s perspective into Bollywood right from frame one.
Three cheers for this tremendous effort.
First Published: Friday, January 30, 2009, 20:53
