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By Taran Adarsh, November 28, 2008 - 10:15 IST
Now here's a chor who robs just about everything -- car, TV, music system, crockery, artefacts, furniture, even dry fruits, also a pomeranian. Whatever he can lay his hands on. Dibakar Banerjee's OYE LUCKY! LUCKY OYE! is, reportedly, straight out of real life. A conman who gave sleepless nights to many a cop in Delhi.
A couple of summers ago, Shaad Ali's BUNTY AUR BABLI focussed on two thieves, who went on a robbing spree, sporting a different guise every time they played the con game. OYE LUCKY! LUCKY OYE! traces the journey of a teenager who grew up in one of those crowded bylanes of Delhi and slowly and gradually took to the world of crime.
Set in Delhi, like Dibakar's debut vehicle KHOSLA KA GHOSLA, OYE LUCKY! LUCKY OYE! has its heart in the right place and that's made abundantly clear 15 minutes into the film. But the problem is its waferthin storyline. Things get repetitive after a point.
It tells the story of Lucky [Abhay Singh], whose modus operandi is to outsmart people, chowkidars and policemen with his sharp mind and wit. He is an aspiring individual who loves the good things in life and is generally enamoured by the lifestyles of the rich and affluent Delhi families.
OYE LUCKY! LUCKY OYE! traces Lucky's journey from a middle class boy to a popular thief.
OYE LUCKY! LUCKY OYE! starts off really well. The teenage years of Lucky, his relationship with his father, his first crush, his friends... the seeds are sown rightly. But once Lucky starts committing one crime after another, the story stagnates. There's no dramatic twist in the tale and that is its biggest flaw.
Gangster films with Mumbai flavour are restricted to Mumbai/Maharashtra mainly. Similarly, a film like OYE LUCKY! LUCKY OYE! has its share of limitations because you can't expect the film to find universal acceptance due to its Delhi-centric theme and flavour.
Despite the shortcomings, there's no denying that Dibakar Banerjee is a director with potential. He has been faithful to the material, making the goings-on look believable. There's not much scope for music in the film, although Dibakar should've played the title track at all significant points throughout the film.
Abhay Deol excels in a role that offers him ample scope to display histrionics. From a gawky youngster in SOCHA NA THA to a conman in OYE LUCKY! LUCKY OYE!, Abhay has only evolved with the passage of time. Paresh Rawal is magnificent yet again. He gets to portray three diverse roles and he lives up to the demands of the script. He's terrific as the shrewd and calculating doctor.
Neetu Chandra makes her presence felt in an enterprise that doesn't really belong to her. Archana Puransingh is fantastic and compliments Paresh beautifully. The actor enacting the role of Abhay's friend is competent.
On the whole, OYE LUCKY! LUCKY OYE! is a well-executed enterprise, which has its share of limitations. At the box-office, the film caters to the Northern audience mainly -- Delhi and Punjab specifically. Besides North, the plexes in Mumbai should fare slightly better.
 
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