Lucky The Superstar Movie Review:

There's a scene in Lucky The Superstar where a councillor (Namo Narayana), on giving a lift to Thengai Srinivasan (Subbu Arunachalam), and later knowing that he has been searching for him, says, "Kumbida Pona Dheivam Kurukka Vandha Maadhri Irukku." But it is such far-fetched coincidences, which, unfortunately, result in artificial conflict-building. Interestingly, the film also has its fair share of elements to be a complete laugh riot. However, the film gets caught between convenience and comedy, and ends up being an average fare.

Lucky The Superstar begins with a dog, Sarala (Kovai Sarala as the voice), giving birth to four puppies on the banks of a lake. Unfortunately, three of them drown due to flooding, and the surviving puppy is named 'Lucky'. In the following scenes, the puppy gets separated from her mother and ends up with another 'Lucky'/Lakshamanan (GV Prakash), who decides to gift her to his autistic niece. Throw in a political powerplay, and the belief that the dog has special powers, both 'Luckys' find themselves in trouble.

With Kovai Sarala, 'Naan Kadavul' Rajendran and Thambi Ramaiah bringing their unique voices to three dogs in the film, we expect the film to move from their point of view, which would have been a riot. The film does move from their viewpoint occasionally, but the abrupt human takeover of the plot doesn't sit well. The Toy Story-like non-human focalisation would have made the film much better than it is now. But the balance is struck with the one-note characterisations, which work in favour of the film because the film doesn't focus too much on any individual. Lucky is favoured by its plot coherence and linear narration. The writing remains simple; it barely meanders and doesn't require much of a course correction.

Cast: GV Prakash Kumar, Kovai Sarala, Thambi Ramaiah, Rajendran, Anaswara Rajan, Meghna Sumesh

Director: Uday Mahesh

Lucky slumps in its simplistic plot device of building conflict. Right from the unveiling of Lucky's 'superpower' to how she switches from one politician after another for their electoral success is repetitive and plastic. Bumping into a councillor may happen, but stray dog shelter activist Keerthy (Anaswara) and a not-so-important Lakshmanan don't break a sweat to have an audience with the CM. It is when the stakes get this high that we are forced into unnecessary heroics, and it ends up as a film that is completely different from what was promised. The nonchalance with which one scene moves to another makes us wonder if we should even panic for the safety of Lucky.

Full points to the makers for not having subplots, despite the temptation to set Lakshamanan and Keerthy as a romantic couple. All the actors have convincingly portrayed their characters. Even though the jokes land sporadically, it is admirable how there is no attempt to oversell the jokes. Lakshmanan, though, is forced to resort to usual heroism in the final act, and that takes away the focus from the enterprising dogs. Had the three dogs been tasked with the rescue operation of Lucky or at least teamed with Lakshmanan and deputed to places difficult for humans to infiltrate, things would have been more interesting. Instead, the film paints them as dogs in distress, and it takes away some sheen. 

Towards the end of Lucky, we are introduced to a neck collar with a device, which, on wearing, allows dogs' language to be understood by humans. This wacky choice adds to the missed opportunities of the film. This should have been employed right at the beginning and generated some much-needed chaos and humour. Lucky doesn't go all in on its wackiness. With the writing trying to build a house with bricks, a few walls end up being built with cards, and the film ends up as a mildly engaging watch, when it could have been much more.