Luck by Chance

[tikistitch]

I solemnly swear, this has absolutely and utterly nothing to do with anything else in the movie.



OK, so this was one of those, "Shit, it's actually GOOD, I need to pay attention!" movies that took extra time to watch.

The big topic is breaking into BW stardom. I've seen a lot of similar movies come from the US (including one of my all time faves, All About Eve), but hadn't really seen a similar Indian movie yet. If anything, their system is even more locked down than ours. Stars tend to be children, and even grandchildren of other actors. And the director of this movie, Zoya Akhtar, and her brother, Farhan, who stars, are from a Bollywood film family themselves.

The plot, which gets a bit complicated, centers on Farhan's character, Vikram, and his girlfriend, Sona, who are both struggling actors. Sona is also having an affair with a married director, who's directing a film starring a big name actor, Zaffar Khan (played by Hrithik Roshan). By chance, Zaffar gets a better offer, and as he hates the director (who won't stop wearing a ridiculous cowboy hat) he ditches the movie. The desperate producer, having been turned down by every other actor in BW (a lot of funny cameos by real BW stars), decides to cast an unknown.

Meanwhile, Sona confronts the director she's been sleeping with about putting her in a movie. He turns her down flat, telling her they're now looking for a fresh face. In another freaky coincidence, the director's wife walks in on Sona crying in the director's office and, in order to cover up what's REALLY happening, Sona makes up the lie that she wanted to leave pictures of a potential unknown actor with the director. The pictures are actually of her boyfriend, Vikram. Got that?

Vikram, as it happens, has also wheedled his way in with Nikki, the talentless lead actress, and her has-been mother, Neena. The pictures from Sona get him a screen test, and he charms and cons his way into the lead role. He and Nikki and Neena and the rest depart to a filming location, where Vikram soon forgets all about Sona and starts up an affair with Nikki. And then.... Well, more Bolly-madness, including a cameo from Shahrukh Kahn, giving Vikram some much needed, if tardy, advice about not screwing over your friends.

I really loved this movie, though it's not a super pretty picture of BW. To their credit, the filmmakers don't make Vikram into the moster like Eve Harrington, but he's just bad enough. The sad thing is, you don't have to be in the know in Bollywood, or even Hollywood, to recognize a person who connives their way to success like that. I hope it's not too much of a spoiler that they let loyal Sona have the last word, which is very cool.