LuckByChance

A beautiful medley of flawed characters. A convincing and heart-warming debut by Zoya Akhtar. The craft is the same, the handling is different. A befitting tribute to the many scores who come and ‘struggle’ in every sense. You do find the sepia dim light world of the ‘behind the scenes’ so fascinating and nostalgic. The names rolled were biggies but the frames of the common man striving as it were for his means for a square meal a day. After the Slumdog mania, this was a refreshing treat indeed. The cameos are delightful, everybody breezed in and breezed out. The casting couch is subtly hinted at. Besides talent, it takes patience to weather the storm and be hailed as the next big thing before becoming established as a star. Until then, you slog as the sister, the nurse, the dancer and the bleh. Konkana(as Sona) delivers a warm performance after Mr and Mrs. Iyer, Page 3 and Omkara. The concept of small town dreams getting mixed in sawdust is not new. Frankly, it’s over exploited. It’s just that city dreams have some lucky channel to see the light of day. Pure fluke.

You have a cynical friend who will always give you the ‘true’ perspective, who will laugh at your chikna pictures, who is content with keeping the actor’s spirit alive by doing a sonny’s role on TV and doing theatre in the evening. You have another friend who you want as an SBI introducer to Mahesh Bhatt and Co. and you arrange a Grandpa’s clock and you are re-affirmed friends for all times. You find a convenient neighbour turned girlfriend who is there by your side under the starry nights when your claim to fame is a finished product from Nand Kishore acting school. You get a lucky pass to a premiere and see the silver world in colored vision. The cheesiest pick-up? line ever-“ I am in this world because of you” leaves Nina Walia(Dimple Kapadia) misty eyed. The presentable elan is evident when she conducts herself as the dominating all pervading yesteryears actress turned manager of a bimbette of a starlet/star daughter Niki Walia( Isha Sharvani), who in Vikram Jaisingh’s(Farhan Akhtar) opnion “lives in a cake”. KJo sums it up well, somebody’s discard prepares a newcomer’s rise to stardom. Climbing the ladder of success is not easy. You kill some, you win some and you make strange bedfellows only to consciously repent and wail later. The gossip is sexless given by a presumed gay journo. He used her and he used her and he also used her. Many ‘hers’ and many ladders. Reconciliation is tough but the best healing power. Even then, some are born to be selfish by nature, the need to cling to people, the need to cheese off friends, the kind to be human and frail, the need to accept them the way they are. Some form of love it is, sigh!Rolly(Rishi Kapoor) as a fading producer brings a touch of those olden days when he tells his wife(Juhi Chawla) that the times have befallen especially when a gentleman's word no longer prevails, only money and big banners earn you respect.His lucky number is 5 and his wife expects him to wear the pearl to keep him calm.His younger brother(Sanjay Kapoor) is a different kind of director and so also, his producer brother-in-law,Sanjay Choudhury(Aly Khan). A pilgrimage of growth for the frayed human conditioning, LuckByChance strikes a chord when Shah Rukh Khan as SRK passes the wisdom never to abandon those who knew you in your tatters.

There is no "happies ending" ala Om Shanti Om but there is an urge to dream and dream,you might strike lucky. Sona realises that when she wins the fridge and the Mumbai skies tell the story of the new poster boy in Bollywood.