Luck by Chance

About the film

Luck by Chance is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Zoya Akhtar in her directorial debut. Produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, it stars Farhan Akhtar and Konkana Sen Sharma in lead roles, with Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Kapoor, Isha Sharvani, Alyy Khan and Sheeba Chaddha in pivotal supporting roles. Hrithik Roshan makes an extended cameo appearance. Guest stars and industry folk starring as themselves included Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukerji, Karan Johar, Manish Malhotra, Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham, Vivek Oberoi, Rajkumar Hirani, Boman Irani and Anurag Kashyap in cameos. The film shows the journey of an aspiring actor who arrives in Mumbai to become a movie star. How he finds himself riding his fortune to becoming one, while struggling to sustain his relationships, forms the story.

Luck by Chance was released on 30 January 2009, and was a moderate commercial success. However, it received widespread critical acclaim, with major praise for its novel concept, story, screenplay, dialogues, and performances by the cast. At the 55th Filmfare Awards, Luck by Chance received 5 nominations, including Best Supporting Actor (Rishi) and Best Supporting Actress (Kapadia), and won Best Debut Director (Zoya, tying with Ayan Mukerji for Wake Up Sid).

Plot

Vikram is an aspiring actor, who arrives in Mumbai to make a career in Bollywood. He starts going out with another struggling actor, Sona Mishra, after being introduced to her by an actor friend, Abhi. Sona has experienced Bollywood's casting couch, after sleeping with producer Satish for roles. Satish offers Sona small roles in regional movies, but has held out on his promise of giving her a big break in Bollywood.

While arguing with Satish one day, Sona hurriedly leaves when Satish's wife, Pinky, arrives. She pretends she was there to drop off her actor-'cousin', Vikram's photographs. Pinky picks up Vikram's portfolio, and forwards it to Romy Rolly's studio, from where Vikram receives a call to audition for Rolly's upcoming film. Vikram is thrilled at the prospect, realising after making the shortlist, that the part is of the film's male lead. He celebrates with Sona after winning the role, and leaves for an outdoor shoot.

At the location of the movie's shoot, Vikram quickly wins over Nikki, the female lead, and her mother, yesteryear actress, Neena. Neena has to return to Mumbai for a few days, leaving Nikki alone on-set with Vikram. She seduces him one night, and they have sex in Vikram's hotel room. Soon, the crew start gossiping about the film's lead pair hooking up. Sona hears the rumours and visits Vikram, but he declines to put her up in his hotel room, confirming the rumours are true.

Production

Zoya Akhtar said in an interview that she wrote the first draft 7 years ago while relaxing on Palolem beach in Goa. In an interview she said:

I hand wrote it and it was some ridiculous, epic-length when I came back and transcribed it on my laptop. The first film is the easiest to write because it's usually what the person knows their personal graphs, milieu and feelings. Luck By Chance is not about established actors, but those who are waiting for things to happen. Farhan's character is fresh off the boat, while Konkana's does bit roles, while looking for a big break.

The production team went through a host of names, like Madhuri Dixit, Saif Ali Khan, Kajol, Karisma Kapoor, Tabu, and Rani Mukerji. Having seen a lot of struggling actors come to Mumbai to make a living out of Bollywood, Zoya found it was easy to write the script for the film without any research. She was inspired to write this film by a lot of Bollywood-inspired movies like Guddi (1971), Rangeela (1995), and Om Shanti Om (2007).

Release

Luck by Chance was initially scheduled to be released 23 January 2009, alongside Raaz - The Mystery Continues, but was pushed to 30 January. Luck by Chance was released on 900 screens worldwide in 27 countries. Of this, over 700 screens were in India and the rest were in overseas markets such as the United States, Canada, UK, UAE, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. Luck By Chance's DVD was published by UTV Home Video. Luck By Chance's television premiere took place on Star Plus.

Reception

Luck By Chance received widespread critical acclaim upon release. Anupama Chopra of NDTV wrote, "Zoya pokes fun at Bollywood but she does it with a great affection. There are some lovely little moments like the star daughter in a super short skin-tight outfit struggling to touch her producer's feet without splitting a seam. But what makes Luck By Chance compelling is the layers beneath the laughs. Though the first half wobbles precariously as the script struggles to find a momentum, but thankfully the narrative flows better in the latter half and culminates in a satisfying, bittersweet end". In the review at UAE Daily the United Arab Emirates reviewer said, "One of the prime reasons why Luck By Chance works is because [of] the writing...Right from the characters, to the individualistic scenes, to the way Zoya puts them in a sequence, Luck By Chance is easily one of the most cohesive scripts this side of the Atlantic. If Zoya's writing is superb, her execution of the written material deserves distinction marks". The Times of India said, "Luck By Chance highlights how the film industry give regards to everything else but the story when making a movie and ironically weaves a fascinating story using that paradox". Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL.in cited some drawbacks and said, "Luck By Chance provides you some smiles throughout the movie. However, it fails to leave you with the conte…

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