Happy Go Lucky....

LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION !!!

'Do you know they are shooting a film downstairs?"

My mom informed me as I sat cozy in my quilt in the cold December night last year.

"is it ?" I stood up and brisked towards the window. It was around 9pm and I could see two
huge camera cranes, some fifty odd people frisking up and down the road beneath our house
and a long lane of cabs, vans and buses.

"which movie?" I asked my mom .

"Some weird title ...'oye lucky' ..thats what those guys are saying..." she informed me.

I was suffering from cold and didnt dare to go out , comforting myself near the window to watch
a 'balcony' view of the events.

A huge crowd gathered as the crew of the movie set up a makeshift pan shop , the entire road was blocked for general traffic as the night progressed.

"who's coming?' I heard somebody say.

" Abhay Deol and Shilpa Shetty"

" Shilpa Shetty!"

Some time later, at around 10:30 pm...

" they are saying Bobby (Deol) is coming too!"

The crowd was at its peak ..some 200 odd people including children, young bikers, aunti ji and

uncle jis.

"Seriouslly Shilpa shetty aa rahi hai?" a young female voice inquired.

Silence.

An hour later. crowd reduced to half. No uncles and aunts , no children.

A tall lanky young man practiced a scene around that pan shop and then walked down the road till the farthest end. He did this several times as the director and the camera person adjusted various angles and light positions.

At around 12: 30 am, when the crowd had melted away and only those 50 odd crew members remained on the benighted street, Mr. Abhay Deol walked in quietly, smoked a cigarette with the director and then started the shoot.
The scene was like this: he walks to the pan shop ,asks for 'benarasi' pan and the panwaala recognises his face and says "apko kahin dekha hai" (i think i have seen you somewhere)...and Abhay then says something and looks back chewing the pan and walks down the road in the similar fashion his duplicate had practised for hours before.


Just then, a TV reporter pans across the camera and mouths a sensationally funny list of Lucky's loot ...he does this several times before the director says "Ok. Cut "


For the next hour, the director and some crew members sit just beneath my window and ask Abhay to give them a perfect 'stare'.
And then , at around 4:30 am , it was 'pack up'.

I thought this was another some offbeat flick starring Abhay Deol ...but was glad to see the technicalities involved in filming a short scene.
My passion of making movies still ignited, I just wanted to be there , behind the camera.

Five months later, the same crew returned and this time they took a quick shot of Abhay riding in a red Skoda sedan with a fellow actor down the same road ...
This time i managed to stand near the action and click some photograph and videos.


I shared this stuff with some of my colleagues after researching on the net that the movie was being shot in Delhi and was titled 'Oye Lucky Lucky Oye '.
And the director turned out to be the man who had made an utterly butterly delicious comedy 'Khosla ka ghosla' couple of years back.
Man! that was a great rib tickler..so what about this one!

Five months later, the promos and music video of the movie were out on TV ...wow...the promos looked exciting and promising.

And then finally it got released on 28 November and I managed to see the movie this Friday
(5 Dec).

and in one line i simply "loved it".

THE SHOW BEGINS ...

Right from start till the end, the film is a roller coaster... that is so close to earth with its portrayal of characters that live and belong to us, people amongst us whom we see, meet everyday...speaking the lingo I identify with...people who make this "saddi dilli" such a choatic place to be in...a city statement.

Wow, ultra erratic screenplay, dark hues, shaded cinematography and a bouncy beat'sy' background score..it can't be 'different' than this.

Forget the morals , forget the 'thin yet so thick plot', the muddy storyline...its the characters and not the 'actors' that are 'hero' of this story.

To begin with, a teenaged sikh captures your attention with his superb wit and charm and an earthy innocence that you just cant stop smiling.... and let the drama unfold before you ..


The young Sikh faces his cheeky father's wrath, mingles with the local 'colony' goons, woos a pretty girl with his sheer magnetism and dethrones the throne of thorns...the 'making of a superchor'.




Class act...you just cant miss a beat as he gets 'happy go lucky' with his loot ...grows up to become the clean shaven Abhay Deol in his Act Two.

'Bengali' (Manu Rishi) as Abhay's side kick is bewitchingly funny, tipsy, 'cute' and yet so powerful in his dialogues that he starightaway wins your hearts.
Perfect cast.

Paresh Rawal...okay, quite illogical to cast this man in triple role with no connection...but take it for granted, this man delivers the maximum punch. Just the right mix of shades of grey to portray characters that define the distinctive layers of our society. Great Act!

Eeveryother character you come across looks so real , infact it seems you caught these 'real' people acting with a spy camera...the cops, the hookers, the sleuths, the autodrivers, the neighbours, the uncle jis and auntijis... and then they just blend into the storyline and make a thick dough of a toast called 'dilli'.
NO. you haven't seen Delhi like this before...the narrow by lanes of punjabi speaking colonies of west Delhi...the spacious and posh south Delhi localities...
and best of the best ..most of the robbery scenes were shot down our road...in our neighbourhood , Jor Bagh, a posh locality. I could identify each of those houses.

The director has shown Delhi as it is...simply irresistible...if it was me , I title this movie 'Delhi Heights'.

(cafe coffee day , lodhi colony)

But it was not just about Delhi and its people only, it was about 'Lucky' Singh...and yes, Abhay deol did apt justice to this character.
A boy next door charm that makes him the smartest kid (thief) on the block.
And yet he yearns for love and belonging and that makes you let your heart go out to him.
watch him woo Neetu Chandra and pass off her sister's seduction act ...watch him beat the blood out of eveteasers and make attempts to rejoin his scattered family. Watch him teach a lesson on those who cheated him...brilliant!

This movie aint a preacher..no lessons to be learnt story...its just plain simple naked truth ...with no reservations. A brainteaser and a rib tickler at the same time, it is a path breaking cinema with no 'bollywood' effects, no song and dance show, no 'heroic' acts, no 'special' effects and action sequences ........yet its has such vibrant mood that its looks jazzy enough to steal your two hours.


I would say a Very intelligent medium of film making where every scene leaves you asking for more and asks you more questions than it gives answers. Mind boggling!

THE ROAD AHEAD...

Watch the last scene and return to the road beneath my window.
The pan shop, the walk down the road and the 'sensational' crime reporter of a TV news channel.
And this is where it all started.


Watch the same scene through my 'digital' eyes.
Click on the video below.




Remember, the director made Abhay give a neat stare on that night of the shooting last December , on the road beneath my house.
Well, they made a poster out of it. Quite a promotion.
"Lucky" Road.