movie review - oye lucky, lucky oye!

genre - comedy
rating - must watch



if you've watched khosla ka ghosla, you probably don't need to read this review. you'd watch every movie dibakar banerjee makes. i would.

if you haven't watched khosla ka ghosla, try and get hold of the dvd. it's a "must watch". his work is vaguely similar to the style of guy ritchie. fast paced, rooted and high-on-style entertainers.

getting back to oye lucky! lucky oye!, this film is another incredible entertainer. the story seems to be loosely based on the exploits of a real life super chor and what a way to tell an incredible story!

this film is like nothing you'll see on indian screens. and this is probably why it will not do too well commercially. for starters, this film understands it's characters and environment. while pushing the boundaries of coincidence, it displays an astonishing connect to reality.

it is characters like lucky's lousy father ( paresh rawal ), the gangster-cum-bhajan-singer gogi bhai ( paresh rawal again ) and dolly-the-wedding-dancer ( richa chadda ) that flesh out this film. the packed but realistic visuals ( kartik vijay ), truly entertaining music ( sneha khanwalkar ), superlative acting performances ( manu rishi, paresh rawal, richa chadda, manjot singh and neetu chandra) and dibakar banerjee's delhi ( also seen in khosla... ) are what make this film both refreshing and engrossing.

on the surface, the protagonist, lucky's character is nothing new. the charming petty-thief has been played over and over by the leading men of indian cinema ( most memorably by amitabh bachchan as anthony gonsalves ). lucky, however, is built with more detail, more background substantiation. this otherwise light-hearted caper doesn't shy away from the the uglier reality that is lucky's life. he progresses from a teenager in a troubled family to an insecure adult craving a regular family. like i said, astonishing connect to reality.

the film is fast paced throughout except for a bit in the second-half, where lucky seems to get more introspective and less happy-go-lucky. the script itself is very basic, it doesn't have the depth of story to engage the audience ( not like khosla ka ghosla did ). so you come back from the movie hall feeling like you just went through an empty experience, except probably for some lucky-style introspection of your own. but while you're in the movie hall, the experience is complete.