‘Luck’ is a triumph of style over substance, inanity over intelligence and weak jabs over powerful punch lines. Based on a concept with potential, the film could have done with better execution and ends up as a disappointment.
The film is about a betting syndicate that wagers money on people who are considered to be lucky. These chosen few are put through life threatening games of chance where their ability to fall on the right side of probability is tested. These are people with needs that can only be satisfied with money. The syndicate’s boss Moosa Bhai and henchman Tamang look for such people and bring them together.
So, we have a son who needs to repay his late father’s debt, an army officer who needs to raise funds for his wife’s treatment, a girl who wants to avenge her twin sister’s death allegedly because of Moosa, a camel rider who can win any camel race with a lame camel and a serial killer who survived a hanging and was (hold your breath) released because the mechanism failed while hanging. A motley crew indeed.
The basic plot of the film is interesting as it involves gambling on a person’s luck. But, the film suffers badly due to poor execution. Soham Shah’s direction is high on style with helicopters criss-crossing, exotic locales and well thought out action sequences, but he is unable to tie all the loose ends of the story together. The quality of editing is poor as could be seen in the first and last action sequence. These sequences should have left the viewer gasping, but end up a couple of notches lower because the tension is not built up well. You could use Aamir Khan’s train charging sequence in ‘Ghulam’ for a benchmark. The music, apart from the title song ‘Aaazma Luck’ fails to evoke.
The actors are handicapped by poor dialogue. One can understand that the characters are battling for their life and they have bragging rights about their luck and they can afford to be philosophical. But the dialogues are so weak and amateurish. Check this out ‘Lakshmi tum pe teeka lagane aaye hai aur tum eid ka chand bane ho’. ‘Kamra kareeb hone se insaan kareeb nahi ho ja ta’ Good Lord!
Sanjay Dutt as Moosa sleep walks through his role. He can be titled ‘chopper man’ because his entry and exit is mostly via helicopter. Danny Denzongpa as Tamang can be a good model for Ray Ban Aviators but does precious little apart from giving the camera a blank stare. Imran Khan does show traces of sensitivity as his character battles the moral difficulty of his decision to play the game. But the material is not strong enough to help him. Mithun Chakraborty is not given enough to do with his immense talent. Shruti Hassan is passable as eye candy but needs diction classes and acting classes going forward. Ravi Kishan as the serial killer Raghav does appear insane. So, one can give him credit for playing the part.
‘Luck’ could have been a better film if more effort had been invested in dialogue and post-production, especially editing. You can try to leave your brain behind, but you might end up missing it soon. Avoidable unless you are a fan of any of the main actors.
