The Prodigal daughter

 

 

‘Luck by Chance’ – interesting name for a film…

Well, it’s a colloquial term used in Mumbai for unexpected fortune. It’s got a certain cheekiness to it which worked for me. It also talks about certain random events that changed the life of the protagonist.

You have described the movie as an insider’s look at Bollywood. Should we expect you to go the Madhur Bhandarkar way and reveal the truth?

Absolutely not! It is not that kind of expose, you know. I mean I am from this industry and I’m incredibly compassionate about it and it actually shows characters I know, but from my perspective. It is a story about two people, a story about dreamers and about people that want to make it and how far they are willing to go and how much your own self esteem decides on your faith. You know how confident you are of yourself, what you believe, what you do. When we go on to a journey with these two characters, we then go on to different people and different places. I wouldn’t describe it as an expose. But yeah, at some level it is my view of things.

What has been your dad’s contribution to the movie?

My dad has actually written the dialogues and the lyrics. It was great working with him because he has been around and knows all these people, he also has an incredible sense of humour which is pretty evident in the film and he got nuances that I wouldn’t have got because of the language. I write in English and he writes in Hindi so it just worked perfectly.

How difficult was it for you to direct your brother (Farhan Akhtar), since he has been a director himself?

It was very easy.

...there were no sibling brawls on and off the sets?

No, no, no, no. We are smart enough not to fight in public. Your family seems to have hit the jackpot with "Sholay" and "Dil Chahta Hai"(DCH), both of which are based on friendship. Which one do you prefer as a viewer?

I really like both. I find, very strangely, that “Sholay” is one film that is ageless. It is so contemporary; you look at it even now, the way it has been shot, the way it has been executed, the performances and even if you look at the art direction, it is timeless. The lead actors are in denims, so they can fit in any decade, there is one woman in a white sari, one woman is in ghagra, they don’t look dated to me. Moreover, it's edgy – the dialogues, the way it is shot, the characterisation, every character has got an edge and I felt the same about DCH. They are completely different stories. The level of drama is way more in “Sholay” and DCH is a bit of a laid back story of three boys. It’s about hang loose, relaxed, urban kids and "Sholay" is like dacoits and hands getting cut off and the drama level is somewhere else. Both work convincingly and are among my favourite Hindi films so it is very difficult to choose. It's like choosing between “Sound of Music” and “The Wizard of Oz”...

Do we see the same element of friendship and bonding in "Luck By Chance"?

It's about the industry, so nobody is a friend forever and nobody is an enemy forever. That’s the nature of friendship in the milieu that I’m talking about.

Do you believe in luck or hard work or do you believe that luck happens by chance?

Luck happens by chance but you have to work hard. You have to be open to every opportunity, you have to know what you want and stick with it no matter how many people tell you it is not right, you also get to know how to handle people.