Karan Johar's former assistant Soham Shah's directorial debut venture, KAAL, managed to succeed at the box office despite its unusual theme. When the news about Soham's next (after moving away from his mentor's Dharma Productions), LUCK, with an enviable cast of Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjay Dutt and Imraan Khan first leaked, it was widely expected that Soham would surpass the success of KAAL. The first promos of the taut action thriller have only managed to support the theory as it has received some good write ups from the media.
However, those who watch international movies and not just Bollywood films have some interesting observations to make. They say that LUCK seems to be heavily inspired by a black and white, sub-titled in English film, 13 TZAMETI (2005) by a Georgian filmmaker, Gela Babluani. They tell us that it's not a scene-to-scene remake of 13 TZAMETI, but the basic plot is strikingly similar. It's about how a boy in his twenties risks his life in the dirty world of self-gambling to financially support his near and dear ones in an alien rugged terrain. Obviously the makers of LUCK have taken care to Indianise the self gambling acts (like Russian roulette ) in 13 TZAMETI by changing it to acts of jumping before a local train (a split second before it arrives), etc, due a bet.
CHECK OUT: LUCK - Fantastic, Fabulous, Ferocious
Well, whatever may be the case; it hardly matters to the Bollywood audience which has been anxiously awaiting a good, edge-of-the-seat, action thriller like LUCK, to blow them off their feet.
Here's hoping that Sanjay Dutt and Imraan Khan, unlike their last venture together, the ill fated KIDNAP, manage to click as a team at the box-office, this time around.