Luck by Chance (2009)

When Vikram gets tapped to play the male lead in a Bollywood film, he can't believe his luck. But it may ruin his relationship with his girlfriend.

Director:

Zoya Akhtar

Writers:

Zoya Akhtar (story & screenplay), Javed Akhtar (dialogue)

Stars:

Farhan Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma, Rishi Kapoor

4 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Farhan Akhtar	...	Vikram Jaisingh
Konkona Sen Sharma	...	Sona Mishra
Rishi Kapoor	...	Romy Rolly
Dimple Kapadia	...	Neena Walia
Isha Sharvani	...	Nikki Walia
Sanjay Kapoor	...	Ranjit Rolly
Juhi Chawla	...	Minty Romy Rolly
Hrithik Roshan	...	Zaffar Khan
Alyy Khan	...	Satish Chaudhary
Sheeba Chaddha
Arjun Mathur	...	Abhimanyu Gupta
Sid Makkar
Pankaj Kalra	...	Raju - Sona's agent
Megha Narkar	...	Laxmi - Dance Instructor
Ashish Sawhney	...	Tanvir

Storyline

Refusing the accept the same fate as her sisters, Tara and Meghna, and get married to a boy from the same Caste, Kanpur-based Sona Mishra alienates herself from her accountant father, and re-locates to Mumbai in order to act in movies. She meets with Satish Chaudhary who offers to assist her in getting a lead role. Years later, all he could manage was bit parts, leaving her frustrated but hopeful. She meets with another struggling actor, Vikram Jaisingh, and both become fairly intimate. When a lead role with Satish does not materialize, and his wife, Pinky, becomes suspicious, she decides to depart. Disappointment and shock also await Vikram when he is candidly told by his friend, Abhimanyu Gupta, that he has no talent and must consider returning back in Delhi to assist his businessman father. It does look like the end of the road for both Sona and Vikram - leaving the question open whether they will continue with their relationship &/or return to their respective homes.

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Plot Keywords:

film industry | title directed by female | chance meeting | washed up star | struggling actress | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi English

Release Date:

23 July 2009 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Liebe, Glück und andere Zufälle

Filming Locations:

Aksa Beach, Malad, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$216,918 (USA) (30 January 2009)

Gross:

$355,492 (USA) (20 February 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Excel Entertainment, Reliance Big Pictures

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The writer/director Anurag Kashyap is playing a frustrated writer, in Luck By Chance. Someone who is ridiculed as an 'Institute' when he tries to write something that defies the Bollywood clichés. The producer also mocks him by saying that he doesn't want to make the movie for a film festival, which is a dig at Mr. Anurag Kashyap whose movies, which mostly get banned in India or struggle to get a good producer, work quite well at various prestigious film festivals (e.g. Black Friday (2004), Paanch (2003)). Anurag is shown as a writer who is forced to do DVD rip offs and not complain when changes are asked to be made, something that cleverly reflects on his career as writer so far.

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Quotes

Romy Rolly: Nikki is a crocodile in a chiffon saree.

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Crazy Credits

The actual movie shows Konkona winning a new Godrej Fridge towards the end of the movie through a lucky draw. However in the credits, the name goes as Videocon Fridge Guy. While Videocon is another manufacturer of electrical appliances.

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Connections

Spoofs A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

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Soundtracks

O Rahi Re
Written by Javed Akhtar
Composed by Shankar Mahadevan, Loy Mendonsa and Ehsaan Noorani
Performed by Shankar Mahadevan
Courtesy of Big Music

User Reviews

Beauty as talent

A satire about Bollywood, and the struggle that young talent has in a nepotistic world, certainly sounds intriguing. But when the talent is mainly defined by beauty and ambition, it's hard to feel too sympathetic, particularly over the full course of what is a decidedly long film. 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. Fundamentally, this not a story about real failure at any level, not one character is poor and not one young character is ugly, or indeed, even ordinary looking. A harsher, funnier tale might have been told.