Lady luck is the personification of luck in the form of a lady bringing good or bad fortune for a person (mostly a male as it's the males who think this way). Males look upon the females they love or like as lucky for them and it's just a wild thought that their association brings good luck to them. Well, such phenomena may not exist but several people believe in its existence. And as they say, man's thoughts only reveal themselves to him in tangible form, such things do happen also (may be out of pure coincidence or due to the famous Law of Attraction). Kismat Connection (2008) tells such a story only.
Set in Toronto, the story of Kismat Connection (the connection of luck) is the story of two young architects - Raj (Shahid Kapoor) and Hiten (Vishal Malhotra). They are talented and sincere but their luck does not favour them and they are struggling hard to get work. While continuously approaching Mr. Gill (Om Puri), a director of a construction firm - Batra and Gill in their bid to get a contract, they stumble upon Priya (Vidya Baalan) who runs a community centre meant for the modestly earning people. Soon Raj starts feeling that Priya is his lucky charm. Love blossoms in his heart for Priya and he expects better days for him when two significant developments take place.
Raj comes to know that Priya is engaged to Karan Behl and they are going to tie the sacred knot soon. On the other hand, the coveted contract sought after by Raj and Hiten turns out to be the one which will result in the demolition of the community centre Priya is associated with. After a good dose of comedy in the first half and a good dose of sentiments in the second half, the movie ends in the Bollywoodish 'All's well that ends well' style.
The director of this movie is Aziz Mirza and it is the signature movie of this director who had earlier directed movies like Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992) and Yes Boss (1997) having a similar tone. The movie is entertaining, no doubt. And the theory of lucky charm may not be a scientific one but it may appeal to a sizable chunk of Indian audience (including myself). It's a weak movie all the same with the director trying to pack too many things in the climax when the hero delivers his emotional speech and gets what he wants.
The first half of the movie which focuses on comedy is more interesting and makes the viewer sit through it. However the later part follows the tried and tested formula-studded path and starts boring. Well-identified scenes appear first to bring the members of the lead pair closer, then to separate them and then to reunite them, rendering a feeling that the filmmaker has nothing new to offer. The later reels have a clear hangover of Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) also when the issue of the dismantling of the community centre for the sake of the project of the mall creates a twist in the story. However everything remains quite predictable and the audience knows the end beforehand.
It's difficult to understand why the filmmaker has set the story in Canada whereas the same could have been narrated with an Indian backdrop in a much better way especially when all the characters of the story are Indian only. Setting the story on a foreign land has diluted its impact for the Indian audience because it becomes difficult to relate to it on account of this very reason.
Vidya Baalan has replicated her Lage Raho Munna Bhai act because she has got a similar role and similar script as well. However while she was perfect for Sanjay Dutt who's much older to her, she is quite a mismatch for Shahid who is younger to her. She appears to be her aunt from all the angles and their on screen chemistry is quite unappealing. Shahid Kapoor, Vishal Malhotra, Om Puri, Boman Irani and others including Juhi Chawla in a cameo have done their respective parts well. More than the chemistry between Shahid and Vidya, it's the chemistry between Vidya and her peculiar friend Boman which impresses the audience.
Technically this movie is good and the beautiful locations of Canada have been captured very well by the cinematographer. The movie is lengthy and should have been made crispier through proper scripting and editing. Pritam's music is good.
I recommend Kismat Connection as a decent entertaining watch to the regular movie buffs. Well, whether you consider someone special as your lucky charm or not, is up to you but you can enjoy this movie which is more or less a fun movie.
