Zoya Akhtar’s much awaited directorial debut is finally ready for public consumption, and the wait seems to have been worth it. The debutante has managed to capture, with brutal honesty and sharpness, the functioning of the Hindi film industry, stopping just short of making a caricature out of events and characters, which speaks a lot for her control over her subject and the film’s content. While, in a sense, there is little about the industry that those on the outside do not know in these days of 24×7 media coverage, but the director still manages to spin a poignant and yet brutally honest tale about the angst of a struggler and the workings of the industry. In a certain sense, Luck By Chance is also a coming of age film. It is about growing up, looking at life anew and moving on, just as the female protagonist Sona does at the end of the movie.
Zoya’s film begins with Vikram Jaisingh’s (Farhan Akhtar) struggle to become an actor and ends with Sona’s (Konkona Sen Sharma) coming of age. Both their paths cross each other for a while, each enrapt in their personal struggle to touch the stars. For a while the two manage to share their dreams and aspirations together, but luck was not on their side. Luck, maybe by chance, gives Vikram one of the biggest breaks possible and he soon finds himself being launched by one of the leading banners of B town, cast opposite the daughter of one of the leading divas of the silver screen. All too soon, he learns to play the survival game, driven by his ambition to become someone. And in his journey towards stardom, he dumps his junior artiste girlfriend as he charms his way into his heroine’s (Isha Sharvani), and her mother’s (Dimple Kapadia) heart.
The film encapsulates Vikram’s journey towards stardom and ends with him having reached his destination. But as a superstar tells him, Shah Rukh Khan, playing himself, his journey from now on becomes even more perilous as his future success would depend on the kind of roles that he chooses henceforth. His first role, akin to his destiny, chose him, and now it is his turn. Vikram makes his way back to Sona, but she seems to have grown up somewhere in this time spent apart. Already having had her share of disappointments in her career and her personal life, she has managed to pick herself up and move on. There is something endearing about Sona’s gritty courage behind her vulnerable façade. A true survivor, film ends with her making her way to Film City for a shoot. The ambitious Vikram has realised by now, that his new found stardom is just the beginning of another journey, one that he embarks on, with full knowledge about himself and his choices.
Zoya does a brilliant take on the film industry, its producers, its wannbe directors, superstars, their tantrums and the exploitation of aspiring young actresses, like Sona Mishra from Kanpur. The depiction, like we said earlier, stops short of being a caricature. She presents the world just as it is, flaws and warts included. And like Sona Mishra, in the end, one ends up loving the world. Zoya displays a certain sharpness, in the manner in which she narrows down on detail. Nothing seems to escape her eye.
The first half of the movie unfolds at a leisurely pace as the film takes its time to introduce the cast of characters and the inner working of their mind. But it soon picks up pace as the events in the life of its characters gather momentum.
One of the most brilliant characters in this movie, is that of the ambitious Punjabi producer, Rolliji, played by Rishi Kapoor. The veteran actor really infuses his character with so much colour and energy, that he steals the scene from everybody whenever he is around. The actor is believed to have taken great interest in his character and even worked on the character’s styling, very closely with the director. He is a marvel to watch. Despite playing it over the top as the exuberant loud Punjabi producer, Rishi manages to draw that invisible line and never lets his character become a caricature. The difference is his serious approach towards his character and the manner in which he layers it with mannerisms of speech and movement. He is very well supported by Juhi Chawla, who plays his wife and Sheeba Chaddha, who plays the wife’s sister. Aly Khan as the brother in law, too puts in a good performance. Sanjay Kapoor surprises with his performance as a wannabe director.
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