Cast: Imran Khan, Shruti Haasan, Danny Denzongpa, Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjay Dutt, Ravi Kishan, Chitrashi Rawat

Director: Soham Shah

What is it with Bollywood and adventure? Why can’t we do thrillers in which our hearts leap into our mouths, and stay there? ‘Luck’, which is based entirely on the premise of it brimming over with edge-of-the-seat action, tips us over a couple of times-- at best. The rest is spent building up to a climax which isn’t.

Ram (Imran) is an average Joe who needs a lot of money. So does Ayesha (Shruti), and Major (Mithun), and Shortcut (Chitrashi). Along comes Big Betting Man Musa (Sanjay) and his right-hand man (Danny), who gather up this cash-strapped lot and transport them to South Africa, where they play on their luck, for their lives.

Bounty-hunting humans in the movies can be frightening and appalling, all at the same time. But Shah, who did ‘Kaal’ before this, treats Musa’s shenanigans as benign betting, and that colours the improbable proceedings: we settle back, knowing that the lead actors will find that elusive parachute or escape that toothy shark. It’s the unfortunate ‘firang’ extras who come to an untimely end, the losers.

Imran looks as incapable of being bad in this as he did in ‘Kidnap’. And despite her bare-dare bikini act, and rocker chick outfits, debutante Shruti Haasan is more girl-next-door than the next hot thing. It’s the bad guys who are much more visible. Ravi Kishan, as the serial killer, out to get the money and the girl, livens up things. As does Danny, whenever he gets the chance.

... contd.