Indian Cinema is feeling Lucky.
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Edit Post: I didn’t want to write on this movie, as a lot had already been said and discussed here. But, it was hard to resist myself.
Yes. The times are surely changing. And for the better. Dibakar Banerjee’s new offering sweeps you off your feet. First of all, Oye Lucky.. is not a comedy in its entirety, it is a fantastic take on the present society, people’s hollowness, the despair of the middle class, the doublestandards of the people, the desperation to be known, and hence, the fascination with media. And a million littlethings. It is about life, and why it doesn’t appear in monochrome. It is about desperately trying to cling on to certain things, but, like sand, everything slips out of hand. But, still running after them, and even foolishly trying to buy them with money.
Oye Lucky Lucky Oye!
I don’t know Punjabi. But, We have all seen numerous Punjabi families on screen. The affable big breasted Chaddha aunty, the correct chaddha uncle, the sarson ka khets, the kabotars, tractors, shaadis, bhangda pao ji. Oye Balle Balle Pape! It had beendonein such an excessive and predictable manner that it had become irritating. And Boring. But, the manner in which Banerjee captures Delhi and Punjabis is refreshening to say the least. The Punjabi spiced with Harayanvi is a delight to hear.
If Khosla family was a character in Khosla ka Ghosla, here Lucky is the principal character. And what a character! At a basic level, Lucky is very different from the normal thieves we have seen on the celluloid. While most of the thieves steal to just survive, Lucky’s motives for stealing are different. He steals to get a better life, to obtain things he was once deprived of. Manjot Singh, who plays the young Lucky, is brilliant. From a very young age, Lucky shows fascination for leisure goods, when his friends are busy beating a guy to pulp, Lucky is busy examining his sun glasses. Brilliant scene. This establishes what kind of a chor Lucky is going to be. And numerous other scenes, waiter trying to demoralise the young poor Lucky in a swank restaurant. Lucky giving a get well soon card to his girl.
Kyun be Main Nahin kar sakta? This unflinching belief in himself sets Lucky apart. When everyone tries dissuading him from doing certain things because it is out of Lucky’s Aukat, Lucky sets out and gets those very things.
Lucky grows up to become a superchor, meets two father figures in his life(both played by Paresh Rawal), they both hurt him, like his father. Even though Lucky is rich and (in)famous, he is still a loner. He still longs for family, for his loved ones, the social respectability and responsibility. Why would anyone want to steal family photo frames? Greeting cards? That’s what Lucky is. Lucky is a fool. He tries stealing things, he could never get in his own life. Everyone manipulates him, uses him, but, have no qualms about receiving money/presents from him. They are reluctant and hesitant to provide Lucky one thing he truly wanted his wholelife. Love. That is the double standard of our society.
The movie also takes a brilliant dig at the importance of money in today’s time. That scene on the dining table is a gem, where the attention shifts from the Canadian-groom-to-be to Lucky, when Lucky says that he is shortly going to open a restaurant. What a beautiful way to say that, We have started valuing money more than the individuals. Also, a thing about the way Banerjee shows Lucky vs the Rest of the society. Yes, Lucky is a chor, there is no doubting that fact. But, what about the rest of us? How pure the rest of the society is? Kyun lalach kar rahi ho madam. Apka to imitation tha, wo to maine phen diya. Ye inka hai. The man besides the lady now says, Dekha na, Yeh hai sacha aadmi. For some reason, I just couldn’t laugh on that line. It shook me. Completely. Then, that scene which is reminiscent of Lucky’s childhood,when Mr. Handa’s son wants to ride on Lucky’s Skoda. Mr.Handa declines saying, Dekho pehle apki chadega,phir kahega papa le ke do. Main kahunga beta go to hell, phir churaega, aise hi shuru hota hai. The expression on Abhay Deol’s face is worth a million bucks.
Abhay Deol is one actor who keeps outdoing himself with every performance of his. he has launched himself into a completely different territory, and he need not be worried about any perfectionist, about any big or small B, nor about any King or Queen Khan. He has carved a unique place in this industry for himself. Expectations would be soaring high from his banner, the Forbidden Films.
Dibakar Banerjee. What the fuck you have made? And why? You have shown us the mirror and I hate to see that. Why will you not get the Best Director Award at the Uncle-Aunty Awards(read Filmfare Awards)? Not that it matters to any genuine cinema lovers, but still. It is about the best movie of this year. And that Oye Lucky Lucky Oye surely is. By a fair distance.
Tags: Abhay Deol, Dibakar Banerjee, new wave directors, Oye Lucky, Talking-Points
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
WOW!!
It was the twist in the end that really got me.
I don’t know if many people caught it or not.
But it does explain a few things, like the cliched
beginning of SANSANI for example, Paresh Rawal’s triple role , and also the scene when lucky is caught and being taken by the police
SPOILERS:!!!!!!
The thing that it was actually a dramatisation of
the actual event , done by news channels often to show footage of things of which actal footage is not available.
The ending was even better than SAjjanpur
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EXCELLLLLLLLLLLLLENT POST!!!
I mean, it’s so amazing! WOW!!
I actually didn’t loved movie as much as everyone here did!! I agree it is good film but somehow I was not much in love. I do realise some points you have mentioned here, now I wish to see it again. With a new vision. I’m sure outcome will be different. THANKS A LOT TANUL!! THANKS!
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i dont buy the dramatization angle. . I think the sansani thing was just a bookend, paresh rawal is used twice to symbolize the similarity between the father figures /let downs. . I highly doubt it that a tv channel dramatised the events with such production values and there are segways like the brother reunion angle which doesnt fit in the dramatization story. . I think the sansani thing was just a fun bookend like the greek tragedy characters in mighty aphrodite
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Tanul..yaar..mera unpublished post poora bekaar gaya..you have just expressed what I wanted to express..possibly in a better manner too!
now I have to search for something else to write on..
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@Indraneel: I hope you beat me to some different movie’s article someday
. Btw, thanks!
@ 32: Thanks!
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