Luck By Chance

The first time I heard that phrase was while playing "gully cricket" (which is the anglicized name for cricket played on the narrow roads of Mumbai). I was batting and had to score a four off the last ball. I wildly swung the bat and lo and behold - it went for a six! The bowler came upto me and told me "Saale (abusive word)! Luck by chance shot tha!". And that phrase stuck with me ever since, like scores of other slang words picked up from the streets of my beloved Mumbai.

Twenty years have passed since then, and Zoya Akhtar used it to name her debut film. I saw the movie yesterday, and they were 13 $ well spent. It is a wonderful parody on Bollywood (sorry Dimpleji, the Hindi Film Industry), very underplayed. It was great to see the characters make fun of themselves. It is indeed rare to find Indian celebrities laughing at themselves. The movie is worth a watch for Farhan Akhtar (that versatile guy who can sing, dance, act, direct and produce), Konkona Sen-Sharms (that dynamo of talent), Isha Sharvani (that beautiful chic who can play a bimbette to perfection), Hritik Roshan (that amazing actor, who can pull of anything with conviction), Rishi Kapoor (that rolly-polly actor, who I feel is being wasted in Bollywood), Juhi Chawla (that cute actress, who has slowly moved into character, supporting roles really well) and above all Zoya Akhtar - her script deserves kudos.

I would recommend the movie to all and sundry - it is definitely worth a watch. But beware - I had also recommended CC2C, which I still feel was a good movie...