I Saw a Bollywood film yesterday Luck by Chance that is an interesting critique of the Bollywood film world. In fact it was slightly more of an Indian art-movie than bollywood with only the occasional dance number thrown in. I watched it with quite cynical eyes especially as so many big names were appearing in it, Karina Kapoor, Amir Kham and Hrithik Roshan to name a few. However by the end of the film I was reasonably impressed.
Bollywood is a film industry which is made up a comparatively small group of families. It means that it is very hard for new talent to come through unless you are either a part of those families or have strong links to them. It is also still considered "not the done thing" to become an actor from the middle classes when becoming a Doctor or Lawyer is much more prestigious.
The film was not afraid to tackle these issues head on. It is also the case that the Bollywood leads are either "Male Adonis" or "absolute beauties" and with a fair complexion. Luck by chance chose a Bengali female lead who was neither, though I suppose to do so would have undermined the whole plot. The film trailed the fortunes of a female jobbing actor (Konkona sen Sharma) and male (Farhan Akhtar) who both had no family ties to the profession and struggled to get any work or recognition. Without giving away the ending too much it didn't finish with a typical happy Bollywood finish, although the Male actor did get a break in the film. (Ironically in real life his Dad Javed Akhtar is a Bollywood writer and wrote the script for the film) There was also an interesting scene with bollywood superstar Sharuhk Khan who himself came as an unknown with no family ties. He offers advice to the young actor who has just landed a major role to not forgot those who were his friends when he was unknown. Perhaps knowing words from one who is not part of the bollywood feudal system and knows that blood is thicker than water. A long film (almost 3 hours) but one with an edge
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