Riding on Luck

Writer: Dheeraj Rattan

Actors: Jazzy B,Gippy Grewal,Binnu Dhillon,

Simran Kaur Mundi

Ratings: **1/2

Challenge? Kallu (Gippy Grewal) dares his friend Happy (Binnu Dhillon). Yes,shoots Happy. Then,best of luck. The second we took our seat in the hall,that was exactly what we needed to watch in this week’s Punjabi release,Best of Luck. That,and the patience to endure Jazzy B’s neon blue peacock crown of spiked hair with a razor cut at the back streaked in red,his blingy earrings,a gold tooth flash and pointed goatie. The clearly much older Punjabi pop singer made his debut opposite a striking and much taller Simran Kaur Mundi as a poker-faced gangster-cum-Robin Hood,who is cleaning the streets of Canada of drugs. It’s still a mystery why he doesn’t opt to be a cop in the first place.

Enter pizza boys Kallu and Happy,who bump into the love of their lives,Simran (the instantly likeable Sonampreet Bajwa) and Kamo,while Preet (Mundi) falls for the gang-busting and goon-bashing Goli (Jazzy B). Now Preet wants to marry Goli,but her grandfather,the mighty Jarnail Singh (Puneet Issar),wants a cop as a grandson-in-law,not a goon.

Meanwhile,Happy runs into trouble with his future brother-in-law,and Kallu jumps in to save the day. The rescue mission goes awry with Kallu,under duress from Goli,ending up as Preet’s fiance. Right from the word go,it’s no rocket science that the film is another loud Punjabi comedy of errors,a formula that’s increasingly turning into a dumbing-down experience,and the sad part is that people are loving it,clapping and cheering along with it,even breaking into bhangra during the songs.

Where Best of Luck lacks in pace — it takes almost an hour to keep introducing characters — it makes up for the magnetic star pull Grewal and Jazzy B hold. However,we got the maximum kicks during Dhillon’s effortless delivery and command over scenes as opposed to the over-the-top Grewal. The trendsetter in the first scene was Bajwa. Wrapped in a ruby red towel,running her hands through her long moist hair,a mint fresh Bajwa steps out as Simran,making it one of the first fresh-out-bath-towel scene by an actress in Punjabi cinema. The modernity continues with the girls running their own businesses,“catching up for coffee”,proposing the guy first and running around in tees and shorts. Still,like any other film,the heroes have a villain to fight — a druglord back home in Punjab,and that too,during a wedding. Like we said earlier,best of luck with this one.