Luck by Chance

Plot synopsis:
Young actor Vikram Jaisingh (Farhan Akhtar) arrives in Mumbai to make it as a Bollywood film star with the help of Abhimanyu (Arjun Mathur), an actor friend from his hometown, and their mutual friend Sameer, who works in a studio props department.
Vikram befriends Abhimanyu's neighbor, young actress Sona Mishra (Konkona Sen Sharma), with whom he eventually becomes romantically involved. Sona, the mistress of small-time producer Satish Chowdhury (Alyy Khan), who for three years has promised her a leading role in his dream project, meanwhile works in regional films and bit parts.
Sona finds out that Satish has secured financing for the new project and meets him expecting him to cast her as second heroine, but he refuses saying that they need a new face and since she has acted in many regional films and other small roles she is no longer a fresh face. She argues that she can act well but he says that is not a major criterion these days in Bollywood. Sona is crying when Satish's wife enters and asks her why she is crying. Sona answers by fabricating a lie about trouble at home to save both her and Satish's embarrassment. Sona while leaving the both of them gives photos of Vikram to Satish who shows it to his wife and who in turn shows them to Romy (Rishi Kapoor).
Vikram is shortlisted for Romy's new movie. Neena (Dimple Kapadia), the mom of Nikki (Isha Sharvani)the actress cast for the movie, was a big film actress in the heyday. She sees Vikram's audition and tries to remember where has she met him before. Vikram had once approached her at a film fraternity party. Vikram is told his audition was for the lead in the film and that Neena has seen his audition. At home, he sees every movie Neena has starred in and he impresses her with his charm and knowledge about her work. Recalling past advice, Vikram successfully boosts a competing actor's ego whose overconfident acting is rejected by the director. Finally, Vikram is selected by Neena, Ranjit (director of the film Sanjay Kapoor) and Romy's wife (Juhi Chawla), despite Romy's desire to cast the other macho, hunky actor.
On set Vikram becomes increasingly crafty and manipulative, while Nikki is smitten by him and sneaks into his room one night while her mother is asleep in an attempt to seduce him. Vikram succumbs to her advances and a secret affair starts between the two; the affair becomes stronger when Neena has to leave the set on business for a few days. Vikram tells Nikki he has no girlfriend. Meanwhile, Sona arrives at the hotel where the cast is staying to surprise Vikram. Her friend who is also working on the film warns her of a blossoming romance between Vikram and Nikki. Since Vikram has stayed in touch with her, Sona doesn't take heed of her friend's warning but discovers the truth when she sees Vikram's unexpectedly cold behavior towards her. Hurt, she leaves the hotel. After coming back, Neena instantly recognizes that something is going on between them and makes them understand that it will be mutually beneficial not to let the press and public know of their intimacy.
Meanwhile, in Mumbai, news of the affair has leaked and a friend of Sona who works at a tabloid is assigned to prepare the article, which describes Vikram as a user who has shot to stardom by manipulating Neena and her daughter Nikki. The article also mentions details of when he was struggling to land a role and Sona's part in his life as the forgotten girlfriend. Neena gets very upset and yells at the magazine editor and tells Nikki to stay away from Vikram. Vikram and Nikki have a fight, and Vikram shows his frustration to Sona as he believes she is the one responsible for the article.
Eventually the film is released and it becomes a hit. Vikram rises to stardom but at the expense of his friends. At a party, he meets his idol Shah Rukh Khan, who advises him to not fall into the trappings of stardom and to always stay close to the people who stood by him when he was a nobody. He tries to get back with Sona, but she points out that he only wants to be with her because he is selfish and feels guilty. She refuses and walks out of his life. Sona soon gets good roles on television and is interviewed by a reporter for her fan following. The film ends with her telling the reporter that she is happy living the life of an independent and somewhat successful actress instead of being upset about not becoming a major movie star.

Tags: satire

Review:
Isha Sherwani plays the spoilt heroine convincingly while her on-screen mother Dimple Kapadia looks gorgeous as ever and gives her best after Dil Chahta Hai. Juhi Chawla is lovable as ever while Sanjay Kapoor surprises us with a good performance.
The tale is essentially of their own immediate environment and it is a story that is told well!The screenplay revolves around the two central characters played by Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sharma trying to make it big in Bollywood.
Farhan comes to Mumbai from Delhi, lives in his aunt's house and borrows money from all quarters whereas Konkona is in a 'mutually beneficial' relationship with some producer to get a lead role and also has a friend who is a homo-sexual, BUT wait, before you scream 'cliché' and think that this will go the Madhur Bhandarkar way, you realize that the treatment is not as sensationalistic and hovering around extremes as Madhur Bhandarkar's movies.
The same role after being rejected by other established actors and after a series of fortunate circumstances, struggle and talent is bagged by the protagonist Vikram played by Farhan Akhtar.The story of Luck By Chance is well woven.
How charmingly it captures those very real things  jealously and ego battles between friends, relatives who have the word, 'Riddance' on their mind when you live with them away from your home, of how the best of relationships break when individual interests become dominant.It is surprising to see the high degree of naturalness, intensity and charm that Farhan Akhtar brings to his character.
SRK is in a 2 minute cameo, where in a party, in an interaction with the new star that Farhan Akhtar's character has become, gives the most powerful and defining lines in the movie, lines which were perhaps not given to the dialog writers but have been his own firm values that have made him the biggest superstar of this Industry.
The difference here is that since it is Bollywood itself that is the subject of the film, writer/director Zoya Akhtar gets to indulge in some mild self-criticism aimed at a few of the weaknesses inherent in the industry.
For instance, the movie questions why nepotism seemingly plays so large a role in the hiring of actors and actresses, an inside-joke, one assumes, since Akhtar chose her own brother, Farhan, to play the lead character in this film.
Apparently, iconoclasm will take one only so far when there are box office receipts at stake."Luck By Chance" tells of an aspiring young actor named Vikram (Akhtar) who lands the lead role in what is described to us as "a big-budget thriller/musical love story." His sudden success becomes a cause of dissension between him and his girlfriend, Sona (Konkona Sen Sharma), since she is herself a struggling actress and has been unable to pick up more than mere bit parts in unimpressive films up to this point.
She also becomes jealous of Vikram's co-star, the lovely Nikki Walia (Isha Sarvani), whose over-controlling mother (Dimple Kapadia) was a famous movie actress herself in the 1970s.In terms of dramaturgy and audience attention-spans, the story could definitely use some tightening, but it does capture some of the frustration, heartbreak and disappointment of trying to make it in the "biz." It also points out the capricious nature of filmdom success, making the case that it is often nothing more than sheer luck - of being at the right place at the right time or of having that indefinable "something" that sets one apart from all others - that ultimately determines who will make it as a star and who will not.The romantic scenes are nicely played by Akhtar and Sharma, but there's no getting around the fact that the movie itself runs on for such an unconscionable length of time (over two-and-a-half-hours) that audiences (Western audiences, at least) are bound to lose interest in the story quite a ways prior to its actual completion.
This is one of the best movies that has been released so far this year and it is by an débutant, female director, who has gone on to prove her capability in directing and it deals with a simple story.A newcomer from the Indian capital, after completing a course in acting, moves down to Mumbai and tries to join the Hindi film Industry (Bollywood) and makes some friends but struggles in getting a role.Starring Farhan Akhtar, Isha Sharvani, Hrithik Roshan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Dimple Kapadia, Rishi Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap.
This is directed and co  written by Zoya Akhtar, co  written by Farhan Akhtar and the music score is by Shankhar Ehsan Loy. Special appearances by many, including Abhishek Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty, Shahrukh Khan, Karan Johar, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani, John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Ronit Roy ("Mr Bajaj" in "Kasautii Zindagi Kii" and "Mihir Virani" in "Kyunke Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" of Balaji Telefilms TV series),Mac Mohan ("Sambha" in "Sholay"), Vivek Oberoi and Aamir "Mr Pefectionist" Khan.This gives the audience an in sight into what sometimes happens when making a movie and what happens in the industry and more when it involves the opposite sex and when you are working together.
Zoya Akhtar, sister to Farhan Akhtar and daughter of Javed Akhtar, has done a superb job in her directorial debut in showing that is something believable and has also managed to show how some of the actors struggle when they first try and join the industry and the pains in being involved in a relationship.Farhan Akhtar, has once again proved that, not only is he a good director of films such as "Dil Chehta Hai" and "Don," but with his second film as an actor, the first being "Rock on," is good.
But it made a change to see Mac Mohan after such a long time.The music score by Shankar Ehsan Loy is worth listening to but the songs are also worth as well and in particular "Bhago Re" and the dance by Hrithik to it and "Jahanmein Sunate Hai." The lyricist and father of Farhan and Zoya Akhtar, Javed Akhtar, who has been a judge on the Indian TV channel, Sony, for "Indian Idol," has also given a good break into playback singing to one of the previous contestants, Amit Paul.The entry of Zoya Akhtar as a director is a definite "feather in the cap" for the industry.This is a movie that is definitely worth watching..
For the bevy of star childs as they are known (in my short foray into Indian films I have seen a number of up and coming ones), the mounting expectations that one has to deal from the public.Luck By Chance has a movie within the movie which the subplots are laid out against, and like all productions, funding is always key, as is the network that one has to find a foothold in because of the tacit understanding that it's about who you know and who you're related to, versus pure talent.
Vikram Jaisingh (the director's brother Farhan Akhtar) is one such aspiring actor who moved from Delhi to Mumbai in search of stardom, and lives with 2 other friends and their neighbour Sona (Konkona Sen Sharma) who is the mistress of small time producer Chaudhary (Alyy Khan) of Pinky Productions, waiting for her big break to star in a big budgeted movie with a tailor made role.
And adding plenty of colour to the events in and around this movie production, are the producer Romy Rolly (Rishi Kapoor) and his brother, the actor turned director Ranjit Rolly (Sanjay Kapoor) who share the spoils for most of the comedy.There are plenty of insider jokes spilt at every corner, making fun of commercial and art films, gossip rags and the sensationalizing of news.
Farhan Akhtar gives an excellent performance as the boy who innocently, then manipulative worked the system to his selfish advantage toward climbing the ladder of success, and the way it ended strongly in quite an unconventional way for a Bollywood movie, gives this film a certain gravitas in being unflinching in the messages it wants to make about the industry, where the tenacious succeed and there is not much room for sentimentalism.If you're looking for a jump point into what's on offer from Bollywood this year, then I would humbly suggest that Luck By Chance would be your best bet for an introduction to the wheelings, dealings and politicking behind the scenes by all players involved in getting the production complete, right down to generating buzz upon release, and how with luck, one's chances in life could be changed and transformed.
In fact, satire is too strong a word here: although the inanity of Bollywood plots are gently ridiculed, the movie includes some song and dance sequences of its own (disguised as belonging to films within the film); and the eventual ending celebrates a character who fails to become a star, but nonetheless enjoys success as a leading television actress.
"Write what you know" they say and it feels that she's tried to do exactly that.Hot on the heels of the last Excel Productions film, Rock On!!, Luck By Chance marks the entry of the Farhan Akhtar's sister into the world of films and it's the world of films that she decides to deal with.And rather than offering us a soup or salad to whet or appetites, she gets right into things with a thali- full of delights.The set-up of the film is efficient and the title sequence is one of the most poignant tributes to Indian cinema that I've seen in some time.
The plot-lines are many and varied: There's Sona Mishra's (Konkona Sen Sharma) struggle to become an established first tier heroine; there's Romy Rolly's (Rishi Kapoor) struggle to make a blockbuster film while balancing the airs of uppity celebrities; there's Zaffar Khan's (Hrithik Roshan) struggle to maintain some semblance of a normal life amidst extreme adulation and fame; there's Neena Wallia's (Dimple Kapadia) struggle to make sure her daughter follows in her footsteps and becomes a big star; and at the forefront is Vikram Jaisingh's (Farhan Akhtar) struggle to tie all of these plot lines together while he treats every other character as a rung on the ladder to the top.Most of the performances are top-notch.
Every once in a while a film comes , which makes you wonder why there are not more of such ventures in Bollywood.Zoya Akhtar's directorial debut "Luck by Chance" is one such movie , where , by careful viewing ( especially the second time ) , I realize that every dialogue , every scene and almost every expression of the actors is well thought of and executed.I have seen the movie twice in theaters and am now watching it on the DVD , and am dumbstruck by the performances of the lead cast.
There is a fleeting scene in Zoya Akhtar's remarkable new film Luck By Chance where an aspiring, struggling young actor Vikram (Farhan Akhtar) nervously enters a big budget movie premiere party.
Zoya Akhtar's directorial debut Luck By Chance is an insider look to the current generation Hindi film industry.
Be it Romi Rolly(portrayed brilliantly by veteran Rishi Kapoor) or the ex silver screen siren, Neena Wallia(an amazing portrayal by Dimple Kapadia).There are brilliant small cameo performances by the whos who of the industry, starting from Amir Khan to Karan Johar to Abhishek Bachchan to Shahrukh Khan.
And lastly Dimple Kapadia as the ex- screen siren who is attempting to launch her daughter into super stardom.The main protagonists of the movie, Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sen Sharma have also been explicitly brilliant.
the characterisations of rishi kapoor, dimple kapadia and her on screen daughter were really good and the actors had done justice to their roles.'fashion' showed the struggles and betrayals that a model would face in the fashion industry and now this movie shows the same of an actor (and an actress) in the Hindi movie industry.even though the story line is very much predictable it is still worth watching....
LUCK BY CHANCE taps almost every important facet of Bollywood and presents assorted characters you've encountered some time in life: An over-ambitious aspirant who knows to make the right moves; an actress trying hard to get that big break, even if she has to compromise; an icon of the 1970s who desperately wants her daughter to be a star; a producer who looks at riding on big names, script be damned; a failed actor now looking at direction to redeem his career.Konkona Sen Sharma as sona arrives in Mumbai with dreams of becoming a film star.
Right from the characters, to the individualistic scenes, to the way Director puts them in a sequence, LUCK BY CHANCE is easily one of the most cohesive scripts this side of the Atlantic Farhan Akhtar is evolving into one of the most dependable actors of his generation.
Luck by Chance is a cinema riding on line targeting rural & urban audience.Story , Direction & characters portrayed by Farhan , Konkana & Dimple do a excellent job in realistic cinema, while the other clan i.e Rishi kapoor , Juhi chawla , sanjay kapoor & the other Stars are pure entertainment.The balance is maintained very well, keeping the audience gripped in all the scenes, keeping them wanting for more.
A story of a talented, hardworking yet smart guy named Vikram(Farhan Akhtar) who comes to Mumbai and dreams of making big in B-town, where Vikram has to struggle a lot as he comes to terms among harsh realities where people treat strugglers & newcomers as minnows and somehow Vikram fits himself and adjusts well with his sweet and charming ways that might not be pleasing but still you feel sympathetic for him.
The story reveals plots that goes in the making of a Hindi flick like Hollywood inspiring stuff, hard work and abuses that assistants generally go through, starry tantrums, how people of film industry try to get their friends and relatives involved in B-town ignoring new talent to maximum limit and how shitty stuff comes along the way while a commercial project is down the line.
Other Great moments of the movie include the love debutant Director Zoya Akhtar has for bollywood, what kind of insensitive moral values the stars generally have, more importantly how the Luck factor that comes from nowhere in betweenMY RATING: 8/10.
Farhan Akhtar seems to be knowing very well what he is doing nowadays, and it would be interesting to see how Zoya, his younger sister fares as a director.To begin with, I did not find the storyline much novel from the many films about the movie industry and stardom which I have seen before.
Konkona meanwhile is someone that had always proved her acting credentials right, and she could proudly tally in Luck by Chance into her list of wonderful performances.Among others, Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia simply own their roles, while Isha Sharvani does an adequate job.
The movie moves at a slow pace and could be trimmed to make it more crispier but all performances are of top notch and some particular scenes are superbly written and directed by Zoya Akhtar.Konkona, as expected gives another fine & polished performance of her career, but the best shot once again comes from Farhan Akhtar, the actor.
This particular scene with the street kids was the most impressing one from the director Zoya Akhtar and I rate this scene among the best ones I have seen in the recent times.The next worth watching cameo comes from the King Khan, Shahrukh.
Like 'Rangeela', 'Film Star', 'Om Shanti Om', 'Khoya Khoya Chand' and, to an extent 'Page 3','Luck By Chance' is another movie that takes a look on the workings of Bollywood.
Both Farhan Akhtar and Konkana Sen Sharma do a good job as struggling actors trying to make it big.
Well Luck By Chance is precisely a subtle satirical look at the way things work in Bollywood along with being a wonderful coming of age film about the journey of two struggling actors.
And Zoya Akhtar is a name we can safely add to the list of new age Indian directors looking to Raise The Bar and make Real cinemaIt's the story of Vikram Jaisingh(Farhan Akhtar),A Delhi boy who arrives in Mumbai to follow his dreams of being an Actor.Scoffed at by his family and even discouraged by friends, Vikram realizes that to get a big role in Bollywood ,you should either already be a star or be a star's son .But he finds support in another small time actress Shona (Konkana Sen Sharma), looking to make a name for herself in Bollywood.The film charts the separate journeys of these two and the role of Luck and street smartness in building a successful career in films.Perspicacious Vikram is able to land a big break as a lead in a big production house's film after winning the Charms of a yesteryear's superstar(Dimple Kapadia) whose daughter is being LAUNCHED in that very film.Shona, on the other hand repeatedly falls prey to the Sycophantic and unethical ways of the industry while having to make do with small ,inconsequential roles.What makes the film standout is the wonderfully layered script incorporating starkly real characters set in the industry ,like the overtly superstitious veteran film producer Romi Rolly,who swears by traditional Bollywood diktats and the general satirical tone of the film,which without being preachy is able to convincingly portray the workings of Bollywood while giving us a unique coming of age story.
Farhan Akhtar's character is one such struggling actor who gets his break starring in a movie the Superstar walks out of.
The movie is full of Bollywood...oops...Hindi film industry (courtesy Neena "the-yesteryear-star" Walia) stereotypes but it's executed in a never seen before manner by a endless bunch of talented people and an intelligent director.A must watch!.
Dimple Kapadia, Rishi Kapoor and Juhi all gave commendable performances.This movie is not just about Hindi film industry, its more about people in general and how they can change to gain from situations.