Luck by Chance

Story:

Luck by Chance is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Zoya Akhtar in her directorial debut. Produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, it stars Farhan Akhtar and Konkana Sen Sharma in lead roles, with Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Kapoor, Isha Sharvani, Alyy Khan and Sheeba Chaddha in pivotal supporting roles. Hrithik Roshan makes an extended cameo appearance. Guest stars and industry folk starring as themselves included Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukerji, Karan Johar, Manish Malhotra, Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham, Vivek Oberoi, Rajkumar Hirani, Boman Irani and Anurag Kashyap in cameos. The film shows the journey of an aspiring actor who arrives in Mumbai to become a movie star. How he finds himself riding his fortune to becoming one, while struggling to sustain his relationships, forms the story.

PLOT

Vikram is a young actor from Delhi, who arrives in Mumbai to make it as a Bollywood film star. He seeks help from Abhimanyu, an actor friend from his hometown, through whom Vikram meets his neighbor Sona—a young actress who frequents working in supporting roles for female costars—and the two become romantically involved. During their time together, Vikram convinces Sona to enroll into a luck contest for a chance at a new Godrej fridge to replace her own broken one.

Sona is promised bigger mainstream roles and strung along by small-time producer, Satish. After years of waiting, when Satish secures funding for a new project, Sona visits him expecting to be cast as the second lead, he still turns her down. She becomes distraught but composes herself as Satish’s wife enters the van. On the pretext of being there to drop photographs of her cousin, she leaves behind snaps of Vikram from his latest photoshoot, and then quickly leaves.

Satish’s wife likes the photos, and forwards them to Romy Rolly’s team. Romy is one of the biggest producers, who—after bigshot Zafar Khan unexpectedly dropped out of the film—is looking to cast a fresh face. Vikram is invited to audition along with dozens of other young actors. At a film fraternity party, Vikram crosses paths with Neena, a famous actress past her prime. Knowing that her daughter, Nikki, has been cast in Romy’s film, Vikram grandly compliments her. She reacts favourably despite his exaggerations, and becomes instrumental in him getting the part. Vikram and Sona celebrate him landing the lead role.

On set, Nikki is smitten by Vikram, and sneaks into his room at night. The two start a secret affair, though it soon becomes obvious to the film’s crew. Sona arrives at the hotel where the cast is staying to surprise Vikram. He acts unexpectedly cold towards her, confirming her suspicions of a blossoming romance between him and Nikki. Neena gets suspicious as well, and sits her daughter and Vikram down to explain that they must maintain the image of being ‘eligibly single’ for the sake of the film’s success.
As the shoot comes to an end, news of the affair has leaked out.

Sona’s friend, Tanveer who works at a tabloid, writes a scathing piece depicting Vikram as a crafty manipulator, who successfully conned three women—Neena, Nikki and Sona—before even rising to stardom. Vikram and Nikki have a fight and break up. Sona is upset, and holes herself up in her home. Vikram catches her on her rooftop, accusing her of being responsible for the article. Sona barges into the tabloid office to berate Tanveer. On her return, she finds that she is the lucky winner of the contest that Vikram had enrolled on behalf of her, and receives a new refrigerator.

Eventually, Romy Rolly’s film is released and becomes a superhit. Vikram becomes an overnight star, buying an expensive new home and making new friends in the industry.

At a party, Vikram meets his idol Shah Rukh Khan, who notices that he keeps his friends waiting. Shah Rukh advises Vikram to not forget those who stood by him before he was famous. Taking heed of this, Vikram visits Sona and apologizes for his affair with Nikki. He expresses guilt, but Sona believes she has seen enough of him to understand his true nature, and walks out of his life. While driving away, Sona reflects on her life, feeling content at leading a comfortable, independent life, despite never making it as a major film star.

Meanwhile, Nikki is hurt by Vikram’s conduct in the relationship, however, Neena then speaks to her urging her to take advantage of the popularity of her relationship with Vikram and the publicity from it instead of pushing it away. Neena in passing starts to mention how much she too had to go through as a woman to become an established star to make her mark in the industry.