7/10
The Dead Sister's Friend & Other Such Tragedies of Bollywood
12 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Ever wondered about the heroine's dead-sister's friend? Well, Luck by Chance makes you.

This is a film about those tens of thousands of people who light up the screen momentarily if only to take the story forward. They are the clogs that make the wheels of Indian cinema turn; the unsung heroes (and heroines) of 'the Hindi Film Industry' who don't quite make it big.

Mostly because- as this film tells us- they aren't born into Filmdom's Royalty: the progeny- sons, daughters, nephews and nieces- of the Bollywood elite. The only non-entrenched non-filmi people who do make it big are those who do movies filmi-children wouldn't want to touch with a pole. Think SRK in Baazigar; or the Big B in Zanjeer.

Farhan Akhtar's character is one such struggling actor who gets his break starring in a movie the Superstar walks out of. He superbly- and subtly- portrays the self-centered moral dilemma of success, torn as he is between keeping his old set of not-so-lucky friends and the new glamorous lifestyle that comes with stardom- a world in which the former have little or no place except perhaps as cronies and hangers-on. Mr. Akhtar is in fact fast transforming into India's quintessential Thinking Man's Actor.

Konkana Sen is particularly moving as Farhan's much-victimized girlfriend from his days of struggle and Hritik Roshan shines as the Superstar, replete with the insecurities that come with that job.

This is a very good if somewhat longish film. But we owe it to the countless could-have- beens of Bollywood to go see it. The Curtains come off quite nicely.
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