Someone said this movie does not portray the character's growth - I tend to agree. However, it's not meant to portray the growth. It's telling a story, a fact, a reality, albeit with a touch of indifference - but that's what it's meant to be; after all, it's a story. The satire is what sets it apart from a go-to-Mumbai-and-somehow-make- it-big story. The satire sometimes is blatantly obvious; at times, it's very subtle. One example of obvious satire (a hard pill to swallow for some) is evident in the first 15 minutes of the movie, in the teaching scenes: the teacher encourages varying degrees of overacting by mentioning that commercial requires it. The more subtle examples are when Vikram - the lead cast; I'm not calling him a protagonist - cajoles Nina to create a first impression. In a matter of seconds, Nina, a renowned actress, goes from "yeah, I don't care" mode to "Oh, he's great cuz he's flattering me" mode. The portrayal couldn't have been more precise and entertaining. The cameos, too, were perfect. Rishi Kapoor and Sanjay Kapoor were absolutely brilliant for their characters' demands. Konkona Sen, however, was a tad disappointing: she seemed a little to passive for her character, which ultimately started to seem unrealistic. The script was one of the best I've seen in a long time for Hindi movies - absolutely perfect. More importantly, it added to the big picture of the movie: the satire. The script, in all honesty, was the only reason why I watched the movie the second time and enjoyed it as much the first time. Pay close attention to it, and you'll love it too, for sure. Lastly, the music was very impressive. Above everything, the lyrics complemented the story-line and integrated seamlessly with big picture. The two song that stole the show was "Sapno se bhare naina." All in all, I can't complain much with the movie. Maybe Sona's role was a little mishandled, but other things were more or less perfect. Speaking for the entertainment value, the movie isn't for the average Joe: it doesn't have "dhishum dhisum," item numbers, larger than life heroes, etc. It does, however, have a satire, reality, good acting, good script, and above all, the portrayal of how luck and one-upmanship float an actor's boat in B-town albeit at an expense - or expenses, if I may say.

With the changing tides in Indian commercial cinema and the recent arrival of truly original,smart and creative directors to the Bollywood scene,one can now truly be hopeful of CHANGE in the way films are made here in India. But for all such intelligent films we've had here in recent times,we haven't had one which is able to set itself in this very world of "over the top" Bollywood and poke fun at it through subtle satire. Well Luck By Chance is precisely a subtle satirical look at the way things work in Bollywood along with being a wonderful coming of age film about the journey of two struggling actors. And Zoya Akhtar is a name we can safely add to the list of new age Indian directors looking to Raise The Bar and make Real cinemaIt's the story of Vikram Jaisingh(Farhan Akhtar),A Delhi boy who arrives in Mumbai to follow his dreams of being an Actor.Scoffed at by his family and even discouraged by friends, Vikram realizes that to get a big role in Bollywood ,you should either already be a star or be a star's son .But he finds support in another small time actress Shona (Konkana Sen Sharma), looking to make a name for herself in Bollywood.The film charts the separate journeys of these two and the role of Luck and street smartness in building a successful career in films.Perspicacious Vikram is able to land a big break as a lead in a big production house's film after winning the Charms of a yesteryear's superstar(Dimple Kapadia) whose daughter is being LAUNCHED in that very film.Shona, on the other hand repeatedly falls prey to the Sycophantic and unethical ways of the industry while having to make do with small ,inconsequential roles.What makes the film standout is the wonderfully layered script incorporating starkly real characters set in the industry ,like the overtly superstitious veteran film producer Romi Rolly,who swears by traditional Bollywood diktats and the general satirical tone of the film,which without being preachy is able to convincingly portray the workings of Bollywood while giving us a unique coming of age story. Farhan Akhtar's underplayed performance is the driving force behind the film as he keeps it consistently real,also being astonishingly emotive in the Dramatic scenes. The film does drag a little bit towards the end , but is successfully able to convey the message, as the lead character quotes in the 1st half "Success and Failure are just choices we make".All in all, a very impressive first feature by Zoya Akhtar

If not for anything Zoya Akhtar should be given due credit for managing an ensemble of the entire Bollywood by dragging them under one roof. And also presenting a sneak-peak behind the fame/shame/defame iron-wall industry. Research analyst of the industry would instantly identify the characters and the situations. "Luck By Chance" is an honest opinion about the industry ensuring it doesn't hurt or jibes anyone in particular. It marginally escapes being categorised as a documentary in my opinion. And the writing on the wall is clear - talent alone is not sufficient to gain foothold and climb the ladder in Bollywood. One requires the go-getter attitude coupled with being street-smart - "spark" as it was conveyed.Ф Farhan Akhtar:: Quite consistent in his delivery. Very matured and deserves applause to stand up to Konkana, if you know what I mean.Ф Konkana:: Had a couple of layers to her character and she effectively manages to bring them out at ease.Ф Isha:: I had my brain scratching wondering who this bimbo was. Yes Isha Sharvani is indeed talented and going un-noticed by the industry. Sad!Everyone else even if they are cameo's, were spot-on.Not the usual pot-boiler Bollywood "masala" movie - but hatke it its own right.

Many films in the last few years have been centred around the Hindi film industry. Some have portrayed it as a bright world, some have portrayed it as sleazy, and some just used it as a way to tell a story. Luck by Chance belongs to the latter category. It is not as much about the industry as it is about young people who try to succeed in it. It is essentially about people who struggle to carve their own niche in some particular profession and the way they do it. In this case, it is acting. This is the story of Vikram (Farhan Akhtar) who arrives in Mumbai to pursue an acting career in the film industry. He starts dating Sona (Konkona Sen Sharma), who is senior to him in the movie business but is still waiting for her big break. The film is decorated by many appearances by actors and filmmakers who play either themselves or some fictional characters, which is an obvious attempt to make the film more realistic (or maybe more appealing?). And these appearances are indeed very lovely. The film's concept of the rise of one young actor is a bit hard to believe considering he has made only one film after all, but it is quite a common standard today. I found the portrayal of the industry reasonably fair, satirically humorous yet somewhat inconsistent (well, any commercial cinema is really not that crazy about real talents as it is about commercial appeal, but filmmakers very rarely admit it). I did like, however, the way the film showed how complicated making one movie can be and how important (or disruptive) media hype can be. It was all nicely put together with a message: never forget who you are and where you come from.Farhan Akhtar's performance was not completely consistent and although as a performer he is a natural, he fails to register the growth in his character. The film belongs to Konkona Sen Sharma who is as fine as ever in the great role of Sona. She is natural, convincing, and shows the struggle, disappointment, pain and later on the overcoming her character goes through without having to go to unnecessary extents. Rishi Kapoor is quite funny while Dimple Kapadia is wonderful and beautiful as always. Juhi Chawla, in quite an insignificant comic role, is amazing, beautiful and completely charming. Shahrukh Khan gets a brief but very pivotal role, but Hrithik is annoying as the less-witty-more-arrogant film star. All in all, I enjoyed the film for being basically not very negative as, say, Madhur Bhandarkar, would have made it. The story is narrated well and Zoya Akhtar makes an impressive directorial debut because she somehow manages to poke fun at the film industry and yet leave a nice impression of it. I think those who want to become actors will find the film a bit disturbing though. But as I said, Luck by Chance is essentially about people who struggle to carve their own niche in some particular profession, and it does show some ray of hope. Towards the end, the film becomes increasingly more interesting. We see how people don't let failure deter them. On the contrary, we see how they keep struggling indirectly and how they finally come to terms with what they are capable of doing and what they are just not.