catherine yronwode If you thought this movie would be a fun way to spend an evening, just ... don't bother. "Luck" is like a cold, heartless alternative-universe version of the subtle and complex psychological thriller "Intacto" with Max von Sydow, which is also about a world championship of luck, with people betting their luckiness against one another. One major difference between these two thrillers is that "Intacto" has character depth and this flop does not. Consider: the man organizing the "games" here is a mafia boss and the character-bits are just dialed in from the Mafia stock tropes we have all come to expect; in "Intacto" the master of the games is an elderly World War Two concentration camp survivor, and there is a slight possibility of unspoken and non-physical homosexual love between him and the lucky man who arranges his deadly gamesIf you arrived at this review because you are exploring films about luckiness rather than searching for thrillers per se, there are a number of earlier films that also deal with the theme of luck, mostly in a humorous way. Check out Mantan Moreland in "Irish Luck," for instance.

sumanbarthakursmailbox Now here's the thing about action films. Most of them aren't particularly smart, but you're willing to overlook that if they make for a dramatic and thrilling experience. The problem with Luck is that it's neither smart nor spectacular. Sanjay Dutt stars as Musa, a gambling kingpin who's made a fortune in human betting. His faithful henchman Tamang (played by Danny Denzongpa) is entrusted the job of travelling the world and recruiting the luckiest people he can find to participate in a Fear Factor-style series of dangerous challenges, while loaded gamblers place bets on them. Lured by the promise of a fat cash prize to the one who survives all challenges, a motley bunch of misfits – including Imran Khan, Mithun Chakraborty, Ravi Kissen, Shruti Haasan, Chitrashi Rawat, and a handful of your staple foreign extras from Colaba Causeway – volunteer to jump off helicopters and enter shark-infested waters. Borrowing his premise and key scenes quite liberally from a handful of films including Spanish thriller Intacto, French cult-favorite 13 Tzameti and Hollywood B-movie The Condemned, writer-director Soham Shah delivers a mangled mess of a picture that fails to engage because the characters are all stereotypes and you really couldn't care less if they lost their lives in those dangerous stunts.To be honest, I can think of many reasons why Luck is a dumb film, and chief among them is the fact that there's more bak-bak than dishoom-dishoom, even though it pretends to be an action-adventure. What's worse, every single character in Luck speaks alike, rattling off metaphors, using the third-person and generally dishing out the kind of filmi punchlines that went out in the eighties. The incredibly gifted Danny Denzongpa is saddled with the film's corniest lines including my personal favourite, a dialogue he delivers to a morose Imran Khan. It's priceless, and the film is packed with such gems. The action scenes are all designed to look so cool, there's no nail-biting tension or even a hint of realism when the characters risk their lives in those dare-devil stunts. In all fairness, only one sequence grabs your attention – the film's opening set-piece in which Sanjay Dutt and a handful of others run blindfolded across railway tracks, dodging oncoming trains is a scene to behold. Constructed from a screenplay that relies too heavily on coincidences to take the narrative forward, Luck is ultimately a tiring watch. Of the cast, only Ravi Kissen succeeds in making a real flesh-and-blood character out of his loosely written part, and Mithun Chakraborty and Chitrashi Rawat do the best they can with their half-baked roles. Imran Khan can't rise above the flawed material which doesn't allow him scope to do more than arch his brows, and camera-friendly newcomer Shruti Haasan delivers dialogue with deadpan expressions. Yet it must be said that at least each of them tries. Unlike Sanjay Dutt, who sleepwalks through his scenes again, without making the slightest visible effort to contribute anything of consequence to the film. Luck is often unintentionally hilarious for the clunky dialogue, and particularly for the ridiculous climax scene which is unquestionably the silliest you've seen in years. Indeed only a stroke of good fortune could save this one.

silvan-desouza Soham Shah after the dreadful KAAL comes with LUCKHe brought a big cast at least Sanjay Dutt and the newbie Imran Khan were the hot ones rest he brought Mithun, Ravi Kissen and othersThought he had a pipping hot film to do a Dhoom 2Little did he think that creativity is requiredHe copied THE CONDEMNED and 12 ZAMETI and made a crap film out of itThe film looks like a big screen version of FEAR FACTOR or KHATRON KE KHILADI but sadly it is treated shabbilyThe concept is marred with songs, romance and also the thrill factor is very clichéd and rarely does it thrill The climax is badDirection by Soham Shah is bad Music is okayStunts are okay at placesAmongst actors Sanjay Dutt looks overweight, tired and just walks around Imran Khan is too stiff Newcomer Shruti Hassan falls flat Mithun is as usual Danny is good Ravi Kissen is okay

Avinash Patalay Luck starts off a good note. The style, action and execution is heavily inspired from Dhoom 2 and Race. Sadly its ends up as an overdose of it. The storyline is good and indeed had the potential to join the league of yet another stylised thriller. For starters, the "game show/betting" should have been given more screen time for the concept to sink into the audience. Too much time was devoted for Imran Khan's background and too little for a few. π Imran Khan:: Attempting for a chocolate-hero-to-action-hero makeover too-much-too-fast. Chaacha Chowdhary's inputs required desperately.π Shruti Haasan:: Lookswise has an uncanny resemblance to Sonali Bendre. In terms of launchpad, Luck is no-doubt a very bad choice in every aspect. Be it too much of skin show or entry into the storyline just before interval. Kamal Hasan's tag/ genes can be too much of weight to bear and it shows. In terms of performance it feels that she is delivering more than warranted. Nonetheless, has a great screen presence. π Sanjay Dutt:: Sometime ago, he wanted to attempt sequel to Kaante and perhaps the idea has eventually translated into Luck. There are too many similarities as well - for instance the entire assemble in Kaante is orchestrated by Sanjay Dutt. Anyways, in Luck there was no meat to his character. π Chitraashi:: The character got dwarfed amongst the biggies.π Mithun:: His track was a straight-lift from "Major" Kaante. Koi Shaq?π Ravi Kishen:: Desperate attempt to copy Anthony Hopkins, albeit failed one.π Danny:: Passable.π Rati & Rupa Ganguly hardly had any presence. Mr. Renzil D'Silva (Rang De Basanti), you were absolute let-down.Soham, it obvious that you failed to learn "all-that-it-takes" from the master.PS:: There is no normal sentence in the movie, every character barks "dialogues".