Saturday, January 31, 2009

Luck By Chance

In case you haven't seen Luck By Chance yet, and want to see it, be warned, this may contain spoilers.

For the most part, I'd categorize this an an ordinary, okay sort of movie. It talks about the dynamics of the Hindi film industry, in ways that we've already seen in a number of other movies. Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sen have delivered brilliant performances, as always, but it felt as if the script did not do full justice to either of their roles. And I wonder what Isha Sharvani was doing in a movie like this, among people like Farhan, Konkona, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia and Juhi Chawla. Which brings me to another point. I think there were a tad too many characters in the story, and way too many cameos.

Okay, I think I'm sending out the message that it was a terrible movie. It was not. It was a simple story about life, love, and dreams. Something we all understand and relate to. And it had some really good performances, by the leading pair and by the others as well, Juhi Chawla in particular went down pretty well in a role that was unlike any other role that I've ever seen her in.

And I loved the last ten minutes of the movie. I loved the way Konkona tells Farhan that she does not want to get back together with him, because she knows that he's a selfish guy, and that it's not is fault, that's just the way some people are. After that, the way she declares that she is happy with her life and career, even though she did not achieve her original dream of being a Bollywood star, is really touching. She says that, each morning, she doesn't just go to work. She goes out and does something that she likes doing. How many people in the world can claim to be doing that? Those last ten minutes made the rest of the movie worth it all, and made me feel thankful that I did not walk out in the middle of the movie like I wanted to do at one point. I liked Konkona's character a lot at this point, when she realised that a girl does not necessarily need a guy in her life in order to be happy, she basically needs to be able to support herself independently and find something that she likes doing, and do it.

And yes, after watching the movie and hearing the songs, fitted into the right situations, the songs have acquired a fair amount of appeal, especially the O Rahi Re number, which was used in the last ten minutes.

On the whole, an average movie, but if you do go out to watch it, don't walk out in the middle!

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