The sister shines too.
Following the footsteps of brother Farhan who debuted as director with the brilliant Dil Chahta Hai, Zoya Akhtar comes up with a credible first venture in the form of Luck By Chance.
One more look (there have been other attempts before) at the lives of strugglers trying to make it into the big bad world of Hindi cinema, the execution is good. Farhan Akhtar and Konkona play the lead strugglers, while Isha Shravani is the star child who has everything handed to her on a platter. Not many idle moments, the film engages you with the story, the dialogues, and a decent pace.
Farhan is an unconventional hero. While he is very talented, I am sure, he is not your serious hero material. Face, height, voice are all ‘not right’. But he manages to make up for that, with his sincerty. Konkona of course, is one of the best actresses on the Indian screens right now. She slips into the character beautifully.
To accommodate Isha’s acrobatic skills, they unpretentiously brought in a full fledged circus scene!! The “oldies” did a good job.. all of them – Rishi Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Dimple Kapadia. They prove that they are good actors and are able to come back and get noticed all over again. Dimple is ravishing still, although it appears that some cover up job was needed to get her there. On the other hand, I am so impressed by Juhi Chawla. She has maintained herself so well, and she keeps coming back in the 1-2 films a year, with meaningful work. I wish they write a good script for her in a central role, like they are doing for the Big B.
There were a lot of special appearances. Most of them were people who have worked in Farhan Akhtar’s films in lead roles. What a coincidence?! Shah Rukh, Kareena, Boman Irani (Don), Hrithik (Lakshay), Aamir and Akshay Khanna (Dil Chahta Hai).. all returned favors 🙂 And then there were others – Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham, Abhishek (he is the special appearance favorite of Hindi cinema), Karan Johar.. and I might have still missed a few.
A good film to go to, especially considering the drought of good films right now.
Random Musings 