sandy

sandy | 13 | July 28, 2009 at 8:20 pm | 123 views | NaachGaana Bol| Share

Starring: Imran Khan, Shruti Haasan, Sanjay Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty, Danny Denzongpa, Ravi Kissen, Chitrashi
Directed by: Soham Shah
Stars: 1 ½

Knowing that the director of Luck is the same guy who directed the god awful Kaal, one was always going to tread with some caution. And yet, this film from the Shree Ashtavinayak (the production house that gave another big dud in the form of Kidnap last year) stunningly manages to lower the bar further, coming up with a film that is both silly and revolting.

We know of films that progressively get bad but Luck wastes no time in this regard. So within less than a minute your heart sinks thinking of the torturous hours before you. The very first scene has Sanjay Dutt and a group of men hand-tied and blindfolded running through railway tracks even as a douzen trains go rushing by. Most of the men get killed and only Dutt survives. This is what Soham and Renzil D’Silva’s idea of luck in the film is!
Sample some more scenes meant to show you how Dutt is a lucky chap since childhood. He’s the only surviving kid in a riot or some such thing. In another scene as a child, he jumps from the fourth floor with his friends and ends up being the only one to live. This is the sort of crude definition Soham has for the word luck.

Moosa (Dutt) is into the business of bringing together ‘lucky’ guys (!) and pitting them against each other for a game show, where people can lay bets on them. It’s somewhat like a realty show on an island, except that here contestants even have to kill each other to survive.
Now, who in their right minds would be part of something like this, even if they needed money badly? But there’s no use entertaining logical questions while watching this film, unless you want to frustrate yourself further.

Meanwhile, Ram (Imran Khan) is in urgent need of money after his father dies, leaving the family in severe debt. He has to arrange as much as 20 crores(!) or else his mom and him could be rendered homeless. So his ‘imaginative’ option is to go to the US and earn it quickly. But his Visa gets rejected and he comes up with more ‘creative’ ideas that we rather not go into.

Raghav (Ravi Kissen), a criminal, escapes his hanging due to a technical glitch. The writers of this film acquaint us that once a hanging goes wrong, the person cannot be hanged twice and has to be let off!! Nice!

Ram and Raghav are two among the others who finally come for the game show and therein begins one task after another – some scenes offer decent thrills but it’s mostly just a sickening experience.

The first half has to be the worst I have seen in a very long time. And you know the makers are really scraping the barrel when Mithun Chakraborty is made to spout his famous, ‘Koi shak’ again and again.

But Luck somewhat improves in the second half and that saves this from being an absolute disaster. Ravi Kissen is the sole entertaining character in the film and he does well. Sanjay Dutt plays these ‘dada -gunda’ type roles so often that there’s nothing left to be said anymore, except that he could desperately do with some change.

Shruti Haasan has clearly done this film for a lark. She’s not overly self-consciousness and comes with a certain casualness, which is welcome. But acting is not her forte.

Coming to Imran, it’s unfortunate that someone with such pleasant screen presence and decent acting talent is getting stuck in one bad film after another. He plays his part with restraint and does well in the action sequences.

The only other thing to recommend here is the music, which is good.
Finally, what can one say? When films like these get made, you know that Bollywood is severely down on luck, as are audiences like us.

-Sandhya Iyer

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There Are 13 Responses So Far. »

1. 

   Tango 24 July 2009
   10:52:51 am

   

   Thanks for the review Sandy.

   I think Imran will get a hit with Amir’s production Delhi Belly.

   Cannot say abt the outcome of Luck as it is early days.
2. 

   sandy 24 July 2009
   09:01:06 pm

   

   Thanks. I’m having a very bad run with movies.
3. 

   Som 24 July 2009
   11:35:46 pm

   

   Thanks Sandy! Good to see you watching films every week even if some of those tend to test your patience,intelligence and time.

   What did you think of the dialogues in the film? I thought the film literally did not have any dialogue so to speak, only some cheesy dialogue baazi kinda stuff which was plain irritating.
4. 

   Angels and Belds 24 July 2009
   11:38:45 pm

   

   sandy – its about time u started watching more tamil movies and reviewing them

   but cmon – u really expect any sanjay dutt movie to be any better. if you look at his graph – other than the munnabhai series(thank raju for it) – sanjay has come with terrible stuff the last few years. Thats why i am guaranteeing that Blue is going be another flop on Akshay’s hat!
5. 

   Som 24 July 2009
   11:45:33 pm

   

   Looking at the way some of the full on action movies have turned out in the last couple of years like Cash,Kidnap and now Luck, I am not really hopeful of Blue.
6. 

   manoj16_391 25 July 2009
   01:35:23 am

   

   “Don’t take this chance ” – We won’t anyways.
7. 

   rohitkarnbatra 26 July 2009
   01:59:06 am

   

   I am embarrassed to say I saw this on the big screen yesterday.

   It was so bad the audience burst out in laughter at many points.

   The funniest line, when Danny has a gun to his head (playing Russian Roulette).

   Imran: “Yeh Kudh-Kushi hai”
   Danny: “Nahi, Yeh Kudh ke Kushi hai”

   Haha.
8. 

   manoj16_391 26 July 2009
   02:21:28 am

   

   Rohit,

   I have heard there’s another “masterclass line” in it:

   “tera luck tujhse bhi harami hai”

   
9. 

   Akshay 26 July 2009
   09:59:44 am

   

   Pathetic Movie !!

   Sometimes I feel that Sanjay Dutt doesn’t really deserve to be a part of the excellent Munnabhai series. Here is one guy who has worked on silly films one after the other and was offered Munnabhai which is one of the most powerful script and maybe amongst the most lovable characters in recent times.

   The director of Munnabhai offered Sanjay Dutt such a beautiful script to be a part of, the audience loved Sanjay Dutt in it and still after that movie if Sanju baba continues to be a part of absolutely silly storylines, it makes me scream and say that he does not deserve a Munnabhai. Not someone who is too bothered about the love and adulation of the audience anyways.
10. 

    Tango 26 July 2009
    10:07:55 am

    

    Akshay bhai Baba ki age ka dhyan rakho. Ab is umar mein bechare se Khlanayak ya Kaante type ke looks ya acting expect karna unjustified hai.

    In fact apart from Amitabh, the only two actors going on and on (and quite handsome even now) are Dutt and Anil Kapoor.
11. 

    Tango 26 July 2009
    10:12:06 am

    

    But once again any mention of Imran Khan’s acting is not there. If I am not mistaken Tran too just ignored him.

    Only Komal mentioned it. But Komal Komal hai.
12. 

    Som 26 July 2009
    10:23:00 am

    

    Thanks for your thoughts Akshay!

    That is a fair evaluation of Sanjay’s career now.Munna Bhai films gave him a new lease of light and will be a ray of hope in future.I doubt he will get any commercial/critical success until/unless the third installment of Munna Bhai series comes.
13. 

    Akshay 26 July 2009
    10:28:59 am

    

    Som, I have an underlying fear that people might not like Sanjay Dutt as Munnabhai if he continues to do roles like Luck, etc

    On a positive note, there are very few people who anyways watch his other movies so that impact would not be so high

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