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Beth Loves Bollywood's favorite movie of 2008: Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!


Stupid time change has me too groggy to write it up at 9:30 on a work night, but I can't go to sleep without saying how much I loved this, every single part of it, the performances, the dialogs, the style, the characters, the music, all of it. Rough first impression: this is what would happen if Wes Anderson (and Mark Mothersbaugh) took a crack at Bunty aur Babli, this sweet, cheerful, fame-loving thief and his friends, foes, and victims treated gently and allowed to think and to smile.

Plus Archana Puran Singh, who makes anything better!

(And okay, yeah, fine, technically I've only seen seven other films that came out in 2008, but it's pretty hard to imagine any of them could top this. Though I'm still looking forward to Dostana, Fashion, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Welcome to Sajjanpur, and Dasvidanya.)
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Pitu said…
Lurved this one! Saw it in the theater and it's now in my netflix q. Abhay was very good and Paresh and Archana kept me in splits!
March 09, 2009 10:59 PM
dunkdaft said…
I loved this one. Agree totally, one of the best of 2008. Absolutely loved Neetu and Abhay. [and the girl who played Neetu's sis]
March 10, 2009 8:27 AM
Anonymous said…
Beth,
I'm sorry, I haven't been tracking - I assume you watched this with subtitles? Are the subtitles good?

I ask as a friend who doesn't know Hindi wants to watch this and I wasn't sure how good the subtitles were - our theatre didn't have them.

Bitterlemons
March 10, 2009 10:58 AM
ajnabi said…
Almost no one's blogged about this (at least, that I read) so I'm looking forward to your write-up!
March 10, 2009 5:59 PM
dunkdaft said…
Hey, i did blog abt it a long ago. :-(

Me too, looking fwd 2 review cause very few have reviewed this (maybe because of Mumbai tragedy a day b4 its release)
March 10, 2009 6:10 PM
Anonymous said…
I literally just finished watching this film and popped on to see that it was your latest post! I look forward to your thoughts on this movie. I loved that it was void of useless side-plots and the acting was delightful.
March 10, 2009 7:58 PM
Anonymous said…
Hi Beth

I liked this movie too and recommended it to Memsaab.

cheers

Meera
March 10, 2009 8:24 PM
Anonymous said…
Me too, on the Oye... love. Abhay was super as was everyone else. But I didnt understand the need for so much Paresh Rawal. Lucky doesnt even seem to have a "O you look like my Dad/my fence-in-chief/my business partner" moment when the resemblance is so obvious. Was it supposed to indicate that Paresh can be evil in different guises?!!
March 10, 2009 10:47 PM
Anonymous said…
You are absolutely right, this is the best film of 2008 hands down. Each scene is a nugget of perfection and stands up to being watched again and again, and the casting is completely fabulous, with the best supporting cast I've ever seen. The girl who played Dolly -- Richa Chaddha -- is an absolute find, and I hope Bollywood uses her well.
March 11, 2009 6:44 AM
Anonymous said…
I watched it in Chennai late last year sans Subtitles. But even without getting about 50% of the dialogue I loved it. Getting the DVD and re-watching it is very high on my list :)
March 11, 2009 7:30 AM
Anonymous said…
I have it! and need to watch it soon! :) It's so highly recommended by so many...
March 11, 2009 8:33 AM
Anonymous said…
I'm glad you liked the movie, but Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! was a one star movie for me. See Lucky steal. Steal, Lucky, steal. See Lucky fall in love. See Lucky give everything back after several years have passed. Is that really all the director had to say?

This would be a Robin Hood story, if Robin Hood had robbed just so he could have shiny bikes and cars for himself. I might could have cared about "Super-Chor" if Abhay Deol expressed anything but a blank, bemused facial expression throughout the film. If would have also helped to have any songs besides Hindi hip-hop detailing his every (shallow) thought.

There are a lot of 2008 films I haven't seen yet either, but I would say Welcome to Sajjanpur, U Me Aur Hum, and Jaane Tu are all infinitely better than Oye Lucky in my opinion.
March 11, 2009 12:59 PM
Anonymous said…
I did like the younger versions of Super-Chor and the girl, I think they were better actors than the adults and wish the film were about them.
March 11, 2009 2:35 PM
Anonymous said…
I'd be eager to read a longer review of why you loved this film, since it only elicited a 'meh' from me when I watched it last night. Call me traditional, but I like my films with a narrative, a plot, and character arcs. OLLO was just a collection of (admittedly funny and well acted, but) repetitive and ultimately pointless scenes. The film had no conflict, and therefore no resolution, and after watching it all I could think was, "was that all?".
March 11, 2009 4:55 PM
Beth Loves Bollywood said…
I hope I can reply to most of this in the upcoming proper post about the film!

Bitterlemons - My DVD (from netflix) had good English subtitles!
March 11, 2009 6:43 PM
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