Zoya Akhtar’s directorial debut is nothing short of a great movie that is riveting, real, funny and entertaining all at the same time. This is a movie that could only have been made by someone who has lived all her life in the film industry in Mumbai.

The first scene with some suggestive dialogues and the titles go by, and you know you are watching something different and special.

A word about the titles first, which I am very surprised hasn’t been written about enough. This is the best titles section in a movie in quite a long time. We all know the faces that we see, but this is a tribute to those countless people who work equally hard behind the limelight, with dreams to make it big one day, to be ‘famous’ just for a moment. Luck By Chance tries to give them that moment, perfectly complemented by the track Yeh Zindagi Bhi. It is both dangerous and courageous to start a movie at such a high point; Luck By Chance takes that chance.

It is a fine script by Zoya Akhtar; an honest and real look at those countless strugglers in Bollywood. It follows the story of two struggling actors Vikram (Farhan Akhtar) and Sona (Konkana Sen Sharma). Without going into the details of the story any more, I’ll attempt to review the movie.

The biggest plus for the movie is the casting. Every actor fits into their role *perfectly*.

First Farhan Akhtar. He is not a great actor, you can count all his expressions on one hand. Yet he delivers by showing restraint in most scenes, and sticking to one of his expressions when he really needs them.

Konkana Sen Sharma doesn’t deserve to be reviewed by anyone, ever.

Rishi Kapoor is in one of his best roles *ever*. He is funny, he is emotional, he is a bigshot producer. With this and Delhi 6 to follow, I am sure his acting graph will be taking a new turn for the good.

Dimple Kapadia, as the diva is again brilliantly cast. She is suave when in public eye and b*tchy when not. Isha Sharvani as her daughter and upcoming starlet is another character perfectly cast and perfectly acted.

Hrithik Roshan as the superstar Zafar Khan knows the Khans too well and this role is a cakewalk.

Saurabh Shukla is funny, Mac Mohan (who for the umpteenth time gets to mouth the single dialogue in Sholay he had) gets his moment and Sanjay Kapoor for some reason sounds a lot like Anil Kapoor but is funny in his bit.

Now for the character that according to me was the best. The writer of the movie within the movie, Anurag Kashyap, director of Black Friday, No Smoking and Dev D makes a surprise appearance in this movie and is hilarious in every single shot ! I had no idea he could pull this off so well.

The irony of the two leads is juxtaposed well. One does not believe in destiny, gets fame through destiny but believes it was through his hard work, the second believes in destiny and ends up at a place where hard work takes her. This is obviously not fair, but neither is life.

Among the best shot scenes are the titles, the one when Nikki (Isha Sharvani) walks into Vikram’s room in the outdoor schedule and Sona’s final scene with Vikram.

The songs are all perfect and melodious (review here), the background score is lacking at some places and repetitive at others; the only minor quibble I might have.

All the special appearances by the Khans, the star kids, veterans and that final word of advice from Shah Rukh Khan fit into the movie nicely.

Overall, a must watch and a director to watch out for. In many ways, people like Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar are more likely to bring about that much needed revolution in Bollywood rather than people like Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey and Rajat Kapoor for the simple fact that they understand a vast majority of the audience like no one else. Zoya Akhtar proves again here that you do not need to come up with strange ideas to make good cinema in Bollywood. Watch Luck By Chance just for this.