Luck By Chance

I carried 2 movies for my Kolkata trip - Luck By Chance and Namesake. Both I have watched earlier. Both are my all time favourites 
And then I realized Air India has Luck By Chance and watched it there instead.

I don't remember the first time I watched this flick but have seen it soooo many times since. It is Zoya Akhtar's best movie and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. Yep... better than ZDNM. And it is the most accurate and realistic portrayal of Bollywood. Is Bollywood as fickle as we hear it is? Yes... it is... mostly. 


The movie stars Farhan Akhtar, Konkana Sen, Dimple Kapadia, Isha Sharvani, Rishi Kapoor, Alyy Khan, Juhi Chawala, Arjun Mathur and Sanjay Kapoor. 
There are cameos by Hrithik Roshan, Karan Johar, Dia Mirza, Kareena Kapoor, Shahrukh Khan, Manish Malhotra, Ranbir Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna, John Abraham, Rani Mukherjee and Aamir Khan.

The movie credits show the unglamorous side of Bollywood- the cafeteria, set makers, labourers, lighting, seedy places where tailors sew the beautiful dresses, make up etc etc. I love.. love... love the opening credits. No other movie has accurately shown what things are actually like around a set. 

The flick is about 2 people- 
Vikram Jai Singh (Farhan) who is the son of a rich father from Delhi aspiring to be an actor. He stays at his masi's house and survives on money sent by his parents. 
The other person is Sona Mishra (Konkana) who ran away from Kanpur to become an actress in Mumbai. She met Alyy Khan who promised her a role in his movie through casting couch. 

Does Vikram fulfil his dreams? Does Sona become an actress? What hardships do they face? What part does luck play in it? What sacrifices do they have to make to reach their goals? How much does fame change a person? 

There is a scene where Sona tells Vikram that he is selfish person and it is not his fault. I know people like that... people for who everything and everyone is a pawn on a chess board who are moved around so they can reach their goals. It is not something they do consciously... that is just how they are. When they need someone they will charm the socks off that person and when they don't, he or she is discarded. Not their fault. And Vikram is like that. Everyone around is a stepping stone to where he wants to reach. By the time he realizes who his "real" friends are, it is too late because he has lost them.
While Sona is a headstrong person. She is nice but not so nice that she will stick around when she is cheated upon. She decides to take life in her hands and make her dreams come true. She is also someone who is not swayed by fame or money. Or the easy life. 

Rishi Kapoor is so awesome... what an amazing actor. Juhi Chawla is superb. Dimple Kapadia is a class apart. She really knows how to play the game of Bollywood since she portrays an actress whose daughter is making a movie debut. 
Special mention to Isha Sharvani. I love this lady... she is so pretty and plays the spoiled, rich actress so well. Why don't we see her in more movies? 
Arjun Mathur as the aspiring actor envious of his friend's success is quite good. Need to see him in more movies. 
The music by Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy is amazing. I love the songs "Yeh Zindagi" and "Pyaar ki dastaan". They are on my running playlist too. 
I can watch this movie... over and over and over again.