Luck (Shah, 2009)

[sandeep]

Seems like a hollywood ripoff...

Preview:
What if you could borrow someone's luck for a day? Wouldn't the world go topsy-turvy?

Luck follows the tale of mafia kingpin Musa (Sanjay Dutt) who has one obsession; to revolutionize the betting industry. For him life is a gamble, and what better way to skew the odds than play with those with luck on their side! Luck is a gripping saga with different characters from different parts of the world, each with Lady Luck in their favour. With millions at stake, how far will each of them go in courting danger and deceit?

Directed by Soham Shah (Kaal) and featuring death-defying action sequences shot in Namibia, Luck attempts to answer that question.

Featuring teen sensation, Imran Khan, sexy debutante Shruti Hassan (daughter of Indian super-star, Kamal Hassan) and the veteran Sanjay Dutt, Luck is an adrenaline-pumping edge-of-the-seat thriller.

[shariqq]

I'm definitely watching this, moreso because of the star-cast. Can't discount the new babe on the block: Shruti Hassan.

[sandeep]

Yes she is making news, young, fresh, energetic and speaks her mind!

[kaytee]

Who knew Kamal Hassan has such genes, or maybe it is the mother the ever so hot Sarika.

[sandeep]

Its Sarika all the way! Though I hope she gets his acting skills... Sarika was a decent actor too...

[sandeep]

3 stars by Taran Adarsh... Anyone watched this?

http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/review/13822/index.html

[shariqq]

Luck, the second film by Soham Shah, is not the debacle that Kaal was. In fact the movie, although it is not, feels like a "White Feather Films" production, having been cut from the same fabric as Plan and Musafir. The one factor that links them all is obvious - Sanjay Dutt, typecast in his usual role, though this makes the movie more entertaining as a result. That is all this movie aims to be anyway -- entertaining.

"Kehte hai Luck jitna ghista hai, uski dhar utni hi tez hoti hai"

Karim Moussa (Sanjay Dutt), after surviving numerous brushes with death, realizes the existence of a "luck" factor that some people have. He goes on to create and run an underground gambling racket, one which bets on people's "luck". Tamang (Danny Denzongpa), working for Moussa, scouts for lucky people and recruits them for a 20-day challenge that pits them against death. If they survive, they do so with enough money for a life of luxury. Ram Mehra (Imran Khan) is one such lucky person. He joins Major Jawar Pratap Singh (Mithun Chakraborty), Raghav (Ravi Kissen), Ayesha (Shruti Haasan) and Shortcut (Chitrashi Rawat), among other lucky people, in the game to cheat death.

"Na Luck badalta hai, na insaan ki taqdeer. Bas Waqt badalta hai"

Soham Shah, as a director, has little to do with what makes this film work. Soham as a dialogue-writer though, does a better job. Yet, it is this films novel concepts that drive the linear story from scene to scene, with only a few pauses for songs. The main reasons though behind Luck's watchability is the spot-on casting, quite obvious in the roles that Sanjay Dutt and Imran Khan play, but equally effective in the castings of Danny Denzongpa and Ravi Kissen. Playing yet another standard "cool" gang-leader, as we've seem him play ever so often, Dutt manages to give his character a winsome charm. Imran Khan is a potential star in the making, this being his boy-next-door-turned-hero transformation. Shruti Haasan, veteran actor Kamal Haasan's daughter, in her film debut, is gorgeous to a fault and adds the requisite and obligatory glam factor.

"Raghav blind khelta hai. Saamne wale ko double aana padta hai"

A lot of the film's charm lies in two actors rarely seen in modern Bollywood films. Danny Denzongpa has, without good reason, not been very active recently. In this return to mainstream Bollywood, he infuses the role of Tamang with his own unique style. Tamang is neither a good or a bad guy, he is just an opportunist out to make the best use of his time. He exudes a sense of authority over the players, respectfully steps aside for Moussa, yet mentors Ram when needed. Similarly Ravi Kissen, a star from regional cinema, brings a slant to his obnoxious character that makes Raghav as intriguing as nutty. He has a way of grabbing our attention, and without the likable charm of Dutt, Kissen colours his role in darker shades. It is for these two characters, Tamand and Raghav, that Soham writes the best lines. Witty one-liners are peppered throughout the script, as both these actors sometimes deliver them to explosive verbal effect.

"Maut se wo darte hai jo lakeero me jeete hai. Raghav tho khud maut ki talash me phirta hai"

Upstart mainstream directors backed by a big budget are often susceptible to the suspension of logic in their movies. Soham Shah is no different. The required quota of melodrama and suspension of belief reaches questionable heights in the last act. By then though, the movie has garnered enough points for its entertainment value, to let the closing become an excusable, minor groan. With the amount of fun the film provides, viewers should have no hesitation in hoping for an equally obnoxious sequel, with a new set of players.

My Rating --> 3 of 5

[ayaa1977]

This film sounds more interesting than I thought. May be I will check it out, but how's the music?

[shariqq]

The music is strictly ok. Not good, not bad either.

[kaytee]

I'm waiting to watch Danny in the Festival darling Frozen" which is shot completely in b/w.

[sandeep]

Thanks for the review shariq, now I might watch it ;-)

[shariqq]

I'm waiting to watch Danny in the Festival darling Frozen" which is shot completely in b/w.

Wow, just read up on Frozen. Seems really like something to look forward to. I cross my fingers for a DIFF screening.

[kaykay]

LUCK-2009

Cast: Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjay Dutt, Imran Khan, Danny and Ravi Kishan

RATING: Lackadaisical lackluster luckless turkeys shoot.

There is a laconic adage that human faith can dictate destiny and this is elevated to ludicrously lunatic heights in this poorly structured thriller borrowed from 1001 Hollywood thrillers like DEATH RACE, TURKEY SHOOT AND CONDEMNED, except this is an immoral and illogically gaffe execution where an Indian mafia chief played by Sanjay Dutt as Musa Khan or Kareem is the charmed protagonist who is invincible to death thanks to his LUCK.

He portrays this as a blonde haired gangster clad in brown silk salwar kameez, like a Taliban who will be detained at Heathrow as a terror suspect, though his character is the organiser of an annual international global reality TV show ,an event where 15 gamblers are handpicked ,because of their propitious luck to compete in a violent carnage and the final survivor takes the winnings.

The event is cast on live TV and a global blood thirsty audience watches as Moussa feeds his macabre contestants to great white sharks in one of the most incredulous and clumsy spectre of violence on screen.

The protagonists vary from Indian army officers who have survived every battle (Mithun chakraborty) to freaky survivors of hang man's noose [Raghu ],and 16 year old Pakistani girl mascots who partake in camel races in Arab deserts, played by Chitrasuti who is addressed here as SHORTKUT.

This is a freak show where no one can even accidentally act decently as the dialogues are preposterously bad, and then adorn the frames with the expressionless romantic leads, Imran Khan and Shruti, who are not so lucky with either using their FACIAL MUSCLES OR VOCAL CORDS and it becomes an incoherent insult to human race.

This gushes with racism where black and Chinese contestants are humiliated and mocked by the Indian counterparts in grotesque terminology obviously aimed at creating loathsome humor.

It is a gaudy excuse of a thriller, which made me gasp at the aesthetics of the gimmicks while I was astounded by the almost archaic technical qualities with abhorrent computer graphics.

A burning train hurtling on with a biplane crashing onto it with superimposed firestorm is as clumsy as Imran khan's dialogue delivery.

While the aficionados will mourn and admonish Mithun for humiliating himself by abysmally repeating his iconic lines from the great eighties epic Ghulami, the rip off from Munnabhai is almost criminal.

The acrobatics in the name of action can only be attributed to authentic incompetency and impoverished production details but the nihilistic glimpse of a world where human beings have become public fodder like in a roman gladiatorial arena is a tasteless diatribe which is all the more gruesome and grotesque as Mithun, Sanjay and Danny are wasted in its gauche and festering frames.

A bewilderingly tasteless and brazen attempt to create a malevolent and castrated version of Hollywood franchises like saw or hostel ,which has neither any intention or ability to provoke or to offend as it actually makes the audience growl and groan and finally burst into mock laughter in grievance of the total wastage.

The fact it tries to plunder cinema like Ghulami and Munnabhai is the final nail in its unworthy coffin.

Rating: ONE  STAR

[ayaa1977]

For a film that aspires to be cool and hyper edited on the surface, it is surely old fashion in it is core and not in a good way. The exposition of the main characters took nearly 50 minutes, yes I marked it, and by the time the main events starts I suspect that many viewer would have checked out of the film. The dialogue is so ham-fisted and the players are one dimensional. Some of the setups doesn't make any sense (like when Ram Mehra played by Imran Khan steals an ATM in the bank he works at and after running from the police he goes by with his life for a whole week without being arrested). The final showdown is pretty ridiculous and right out of the 80's Bollywood playbook. That being said it featured a couple of set pieces and one song that where decent, and the main idea is half-way good.  I would give it 1.5/5.