DJ Munks.com

You can’t imagine how high my expectations were from this movie!!!

Nikhil Advani made hits like Kal Ho Na Ho & Salaam-E-Ishq and then got down to making Chandni Chowk to China… Ashutosh Gowarikar made Lagaan & then made Swades [although a good movie but not successful at the box office]… Pridarshan made Hulchul & then made a list of crap movies…

Dint expect Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra to follow this trend !!!

Rang De Basanti was epic, the trailers of Delhi-6 looked great, the storyline seemed unusual, the cast is good.. but the movie is a TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT.. !!

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PLOT

Waheeda Rehman is in USA with her Hindu son who married a Muslim girl & then moved to USA. She is sick & does not have long to live. She wishes to come back to her old house in the nooks of Chandni Chowk in Delhi. Her grandson Abhishek Bachchan offers to bring her back. He’s never been to India & is welcomed by the locals in the typical loving way. Stars like Rishi Kapoor, Om Puri, Divya Dutta, Atul Kulkarni, Vijay Raaz, Aditi Rao, Prem Chopra & many more are the locals of this Delhi-6 area. Also here is wannabe Indian Idol Sonam Kapoor in a conservative family with a dad who wants to marry her off soon against her will. A mixture of stories start sprawling around Abhishek as he sees the day-to-day life of India. He appreciates how everyone gets together for every little thing here & how they are all one big family. He is starting to love the people & the surroundings. But then to break the bubble, a local pest known as “Kaala Bandar” is causing panic which eventually leads to unrest & finally communal riots. Abhishek tries to be a mediator but is shunned out every time. He is about to leave the country when he has a change of heart & decides to stay and help ‘his own people’.

I’ll leave the part of ‘how he helps’ for you to see if you ever decide to watch this bore…

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REVIEW

If you were expecting a new story and genre of cinema then you were right in doing so. This movie does deliver that to be frank… but in a very boring, slow and un-slick style. The script is interleaved with a number of parallel stories running together. The stories are not confusing but there is barely any continuity. You won’t really enjoy the flow of this movie. It’s slow and not crisp at all. It does not build up on the graph nor does it keep you engrossed.

The innovative story idea goes to a total waste due to over ambitious aims of the production team. The whole Kaala Bandar concept is sooooooo rubbish & cheesy.. and highly overdone!!  The performances are decent but yet again none so outstanding or captivating. Abhishek is the main face of the movie and is in almost every scene. He does a good job but yet you won’t take much notice of his work due to crappy story telling style. Soonam is cute and good only in the Masakali song. Rest is average cause she barely has a few lines ..

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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MOVIE

- Music is the best thing about this movie.

- Guest appearance by Amitabh Bachchan.

- Good job by Abhishek Bachchan throughout the movie.

- Sonam is cute & charming mainly in the Masakali song.

- Good story but told in the most obsolete & boring way. The way Mehra has shown how the society works and how the irrelevant things become big in India is true to its depiction.

- The idea of Delhi moving in New York is quite cool in the song Dil Gira Dafatan.

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LOWLIGHTS OF THE MOVIE

- Very slow flow to the movie.

- Not at all engrossing & captivating. You are not looking forward to anything in the movie.

- The Kaala Bandar funda is way overdone and very cheesy.

- No glamour or show off. [That's a relief for a change though.. ]

- The songs are so good that Mr. Director decided to run the full movie using those songs as background scores. There is barely any other background score at all in the movie.

- The sound design and sound effects are absolutely hopeless throughout the movie. They completely ruin the experience.

- The overall post-production on the visuals, sound & edit is quite bad.

- There is major use of evident green screening for a lot of shots. Looks really bad.

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FINAL WORD

I think I have been extremely critical to the movie in my review above.. that’s because I had really high expectations from it… So lets tone down.. Be fair and neutral..

Overall Average – 5/10 .

This movie is a classic example of what you can call a drag.. Also an example of how poor post-production can ruin a good story with fairly good performances. Try not to fall asleep when you see this. And if you have any expectations.. please leave them at home..

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UK PREMIERE ON THRUSDAY 29th JAN ’09. WORLDWIDE MOVIE RELEASE ON FRIDAY 30th JAN ’09.

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I saw the trailer of Luck By Chance at the Ghajini Premiere in London and I instantly built up really high hopes from this movie. The colourful clips, the texture of the shots, the cast, the music.. it all seemed so well put-together in that one minute trailer… And guess what.. LBC does not let you down !!

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The members of the Akhtar family are known for their talent and effortless brilliance in the Indian film industry. Zoya Akhtar joins the family trade in style !! She has the eye for attention to detail, the sanity for a good story, the elegance for a good script and the touch to sparkle every shot. At the same time she has the class that  every Akhtar has including Shabana Azmi.

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PLOT

This Bollywood movie is about “Bollywood“. Its different from the others made in this genre in story style where it gives you an insight into every character and their little life story.

The movie is mainly about 2 aspiring actors played by Konkana Sen and Farhan Akhtar who want to get somewhere in this hugely notorious industry. Farhan Akhtar falls in love with Konkana during his struggling days. He gets lucky and then plays a little crooked to get the lead role in a movie being produced by a huge Producer [Rishi Kapoor] & his wife [Juhi Chawla] launching his brother as a Director [Sanjay Kapoor] with a new female lead [Isha Shervani] who is the daughter of a famous old Bollywood queen [Dimple Kapadia] which happens when the Superstar [Hritik Roshan] drops out of the movie to do another Karan Johar film.

His life and personal commitments change to favor his career. He leaves Konkana & his friends behind in a circle of lies till reality hits him and he decides to come back to the people who loved him when he was nothing.. only to find they have moved on and left him alone to his stardom.

Let me clarify.. the story is NOT about Farhan Akhtar.. It’s about Konkana Sen.. Surprised..?? Its true.. I hate ruining stories so I will leave the details for you to discover when you watch this movie..

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REVIEW

LBC is a very light, fun, colourful, charming, artistic and aspiring movie with great music. Nothing too brilliant about the story if you notice… It has traces of many movies made to the tune of the Bollywood industry and aspirations + hardships of aspiring actors who will to succeed at any cost in this big intoxicating industry. But what is brilliant about LBC is how simple & light this movie is !! It has no action, few intense emotional scenes and full of light humour making it a great family movie. It shows the different aspects of movies and different characters associated with the industry. It brings out the stereotypes with simple character driven jokes about them that will keep you giggling throughout the movie. The full cast of the movie does a commendable job as fas as projecting their character is concerned but none of them out-stand and share the limelight from the other great actors in the movie. Everyone is equally good.

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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MOVIE

- Special guest appearances by the best in the industry. The movie starts with Aamir Khan !! Other names include Sharukh Khan, Kareen Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Vivek Oberoi, Manish Malhotra.. did I miss anyone..??

- Farhan Akhtar & Konkana get along brilliantly as the leads with style and quality acting.

- Rishi Kapoor & Juhi Chawla are hilarious. So is Sanjay Kapoor.

- Dimple Kapadia is intense, strong and charming even now..

- Isha Sharvani is cute and fits the bill well. Hritik is sublime and still very noticeable in his short role.

- The art work and cinematography are colourful and very pleasing.

- Music is the best with Shankar-Eshaan-Loy doing their magic. Even the background score & Sound design are great.

- Zoya has done a great job for her directorial debut and sure can write a good story. Farhan can write some mean dialogues too.

- The twist at the end in the story is totally unexpected and well thought. Also, no character or element of the movie feels out of place. Every thing in the movie fits well with each other like a complete jigsaw.

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LOW-LIGHTS OF THE MOVIE

- Some scenes of the movie seem a little stretched. You do notice 2 hours 40 minutes passing by.

- It is a slow movie, no doubt, and thus will let your attention go off the screen every now and then.

- A few strong emotions and challenging scenes could have made this movie more appealing.

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FINAL WORD

Very Good – 7.5/10 .

Its the second big release of 2009 after a disastrous Chandni Chowk to China and it is a HIT for sure. How big a hit is what we have to wait and watch. Must Watch..

Keep it for a relaxed evening after a quite dinner for light-feel-good entertainment. It doesn’t promise laugh riots but sure will make you giggle and smile every few minutes.. Kudos to the cast and crew.. !! It’s not Luck .. just plain Talent !

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