Lucky: No Time for Love

This was a nice, feel-good film that comes as a breath of fresh air. Adnan Sami has done an outstanding job with the music! All of the songs have been picturized beautifully. Aankhein Bharlo does a nice job of fusing the ambiance of the Russian czar era with the grace of India. Sun Zara portrays Salman's hope. Chori Chori is set in a storeroom that evokes the tale of the Princess and the Pea. Ek Ajnabi captures the captivating Siberian desert. Lucky Lips is a fun song, and the remix, which doesn't feature in the movie, is really cool. All songs are very melodious and enjoyable. As one can tell from the promos, Sneha Ullal is not much more expressive than a zombie. She's lucky that her role required her to be pretty much a zombie. One can really tell that she's very camera shy. Salman Khan did a great job, and it is nice to see him after such a long gap. Cinematography is magnificent as it captures not just the majestic Russian tundra and landscape, but also the Russian culture, values, and political climate. There is not much of a story as this movie doesn't really require one. It's a run-for-your-lives type of film with Salman and Sneha trying to dodge the terrorists and falling in love in the process.

This film wasn't what i thought it would be, in terms of i thought that it would be another bollywood flop. I was definitely wrong, as salman khan made a great appearance, i certainly thought that his acting recently has improved dramatically, he's funny, charming as well a serious actor. Although the lady actress is the main character in the movie, salman khan seems to be carrying her throughout the film, he does most of the talking and she listens. The action stunts in the movie was truly surprising, the directors did a pretty good job in making the stunts look like a Hollywood film, so a big pat on the back for those Asian directors, they have definitely come a long way. Overall a movie worth watching.

'Lucky' is not a description, but the name of the female lead in the movie. So much has been written about her looks, Salman Khan's involvement in casting her and the likeness to another blue-eyed beauty from Bollywood that more than anything, it creates a curiosity in Bollywood-followers to watch the movie. A sneaky publicity campaign in the hope of a larger audience? I think so... But the movie itself is not void of any entertainment value. On the contrary, I found ducking into a cinema to watch this movie as quite a wonderful way to get out of traffic on the drive home.

The titular Lucky, as played by débutante Sneha Ullal, is a humble poetry-loving High School student studying in St. Petersburg, Russia. She lives there along with her younger sister & parents - her Dad works at the Indian Embassy. Although an acheiver of good marks, she mis-reads her time-table and ends up studying for a wrong exam. Before leaving home on the fateful day, she prays to God "Please let there be no Exam today". God listens to this favoured disciple in the form of an unexpected wave of insurgency in the Russian city and neighbouring areas, causing the entire area to become a playground for bullets. Caught in-between, she bumps into Aditya (Salman Khan), the son of the Indian Ambassador, and the two take-off into the wilderness for survival. The rest of the movie has us follow the pair as they make their way through woods, poison, army camp, frozen desert, crowded trains, etc - towards their families. Mithun Chakraborty plays an Intelligence Officer (a Colonel, no less) hired by the Ambassador (Aditya's papa) to rescue our hero & heroine.

In tune with Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya, the Khan brothers have again made a movie watchable with the entire family. A very clean and soft movie that has its share of mushy moments, a bit of comedy and a few action sequences. The movie is a little longer than required (especially in the second half), yet does not get boring in any of its parts. Add to that the beautiful scenics of St Petersburg, and you get the equivalent of a summer date-movie for couples fighting off the heat-wave in India.

Salman Khan is his new usual self, acts in a few scenes, jokes in most, fights in some. He is beginning to look old, & maybe he realizes that and plays on it in the movie. Mithun Chakraborty does a 'love him' or 'hate him' turn - and I loved him. This man has a style of his own - and if you have watched his earlier movies (80s), you may laugh, clap and whistle to your heart's content in his sequences, as I did This movie marks the debut of four people. #1 - Sneha Ullal, the Aishwarya look-alike is a little more than just that - not only does she have the beautiful wide-eyes of the beauty but she is an actress of the same degree, i.e., Zero. Yet, for the part that she plays - a naive and super-innocent school-girl with only dreams in her eyes, she is watchable. It's a trend in Popular Indian Cinema to let non-actors make their debut and watch movie after movie of theirs while they learn acting before your very eyes. You just need to look good. And this girl does look cute. But it can get quite tiring when made to stare at her for so long. Also, she looks more like an adopted child than a gene-member of the family her character lives with in the movie.

#2 & 3 are Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru - the directing duo who graduate from Music Videos to Big Screen. As with the director of Karam, these people know how to capture a movie visually, but show their mark only in short sequences of set-pieces. They walk and trip their way through the movie, but thankfully more of the former than the latter. Yet, they could have avoided the whole Kader Khanroutine (an Indian Doctor with Russian kids) - which ends up being a complete waste.

#4 is Adnan Sami as Music Director for a motion picture. He does a wonderful job, and provides beautifully woven melodious numbers that go very well with the movie. None of the songs stick out, but rather blend into the narrative. The opening Asha Bhosle song "Hai Rama Rama" & the Adnan Sami & Lata Mangeshkar duet "Shayad Yehi To Pyaar Hai" stand out among all the good songs as the better ones. But the music director for the background score messes up quite a bit. 'Blaring' is a word that comes to mind.

All in all, a decent movie for Salman & Mithun fans; a passable one for the rest.

My rating ---> 3 of 5

Plot Outline: Schoolgirl Lucky (Sneha Ullal) and Indian Ambassador in Russia's son Aditya (Salman Khan) meet by accident in what turns out to be one of the most risky days of their lives as they battle insurgency in finding their way back home to safety.

Comment: The Russian locales such as the buildings in St. Petersburg, the graveyard, the train and snow make the movie look like a fairy tale. The story is predictable and the twists get funny at times. When I first saw the promos with Sallu carrying a lifeless and expressionless Sneha and the sub-title "No time for love", I thought that that the movie is love story with a terminally ill girl. Thankfully, this is not the story anyways.

Salman acts his age and looks decent. Newcomer and much publicized Ash-look-alike Sneha looks sweet but devoid of life. Hope Sneha's next movie will put some life in her. Mithun Chakraborthy is a sad bondage to the movie. Adnan Sami's music is fresh and 'Lucky Lips' is a must for your mp3 player.

Rating: 2/5 – Watch out for newcomer Sneha and Adnan's music.

Songs are quite impressive, movie sequence is good especially liked the way street war/fight shown. Gun shooting sound looks realistic. There is violence in this movie but tolerable. Salman's acting is as usual like a kid, but no overacting hence not boring. Sneha looks like carbon copy of Aishwarya Rai. She looks beautiful but as per her roll she remains like a school girl. Mithun acted quite well but he looks more of joker than intelligence officer. Only thing I disliked is the conversation in Rassian language, at least they should have put subtitles in the movie. Since there are no subtitles, couldn't understood the situations well. Anyway overall movie is quite good and songs too. In songs Adnan Sami has continued his regular tuning and stretched emotions in songs. But "Chori Chori" songs change mood, Sonu Nigam and Alaka Yagnik sung these songs very well. Hope to see Sneha in future movies with much more better appearance.