Lucky Bashkar review: Venky Atluri leads Dulquer Salmaan on a riveting journey from the bottom to the top of the murky financial world
After nearly half an hour of its runtime Venky Atluri's cleverly written 'Lucky Bashkar' shifts from an emotional drama about a lower-middle-class man struggling to financially support his family while dealing with debt and humiliation, to a fun and enjoyable crime drama about a simple but smart man outwitting multiple authorities and making huge financial gains in both legal and illegal ways.
Set between 1989 to 1992, Venky Atluri's smartly written crime drama follows Bashkar (Dulquer Salmaan), a lower middle-class family guy. He resides in Bombay (now Mumbai) and works as a cashier for a private bank. He is the sole breadwinner for his family, which includes his wife (Meenakshi Chaudhary), son, father (Sarvadaman D. Banerjee), and college-going brother and sister. Because of his modest salary, he faces numerous challenges as a husband, father, son, and brother, and he hopes to offer a better future for his family once his salary is increased following his well-deserved promotion. He owes money to many individuals due to his financial limits and has to suffer humiliation multiple times for failing to repay the debts on time. He also doesn't get the deserving respect even from his relatives because of his financial constraints.
However, he eventually learns the harsh truth about the world that just like money is necessary to buy anything; "in India, if you want people to respect you, money should be visible on your body." In order to gain both money and people's respect, he chooses to venture into the murky world of money laundering and financial frauds. The remainder of the story is around how he uses the assistance of another businessman who is already engaged in the dubious illicit transportation business to enter this murky world of money laundering and financial frauds, as well as how far Bashkar will go before his luck runs out.
Context is critical to the story it tells and the message it wishes to convey to the world. 'Lucky Bashkar' is the ideal indictment of a sad but real fact: money is everything in the world, especially in a developing country like India. And in a country with such a huge population, for most people, it doesn't matter how you make money as long as your pocket is always full with money.
Although 'Lucky Bashkar' is a story about a man involved in dirty financial scams, I liked how the writer-director chose the route of 'fun commercial entertainer' and does not try to teach a moral lesson about what is right and wrong, nor does he use a melodramatic tone when 'Bashkar' finds himself in some difficult situations.
Because, basically, we, the spectators, are already aware that he is willfully participating in illegal activities, thus there is no use in wasting too much screen time in giving life lessons about morality. Venky also deserves a lot of praise for writing some really smart, witty dialogues for Bashkar especially when he is breaking a fourth wall and interacting directly with the viewers.
Dulquer Salmaan is the main driving force behind this completely entertaining crime drama, and he does an excellent job of portraying contrasting personality traits in the same person--a financially struggling but optimistic lower middle class man who is a loving husband, son, and father, as well as a confident and almost egoistic, arrogant man who is proud of his own accomplishments. Despite displaying two opposite personality qualities, Dulquer ensures that you feel emotionally attached to and care for two different people living within him. Despite their short screen time, all of the supporting actors, especially Meenakshi Chaudhary, Ramki, and Sai Kumar, performed admirably.
'Lucky Bashkar' is quite good in technical departments especially the cinematography by Nimish Ravi. Nimish and Venky knew exactly what they wanted to create and executed it perfectly. The production design team has also done a really good job of helping you transport back to the era of early 90's.
The film maintains a powerful hold on viewers for the majority of its runtime, but it gradually loses its grasp as Bashkar realises he has fallen so deep into this murky world of financial frauds that it will be really difficult for him to climb back unscathed. And this section of the story, in which he seeks to reclaim his family's confidence and respect while also ensuring that his family is not harmed by the consequences of all of his unlawful activities, is extremely mundane and fails to evoke any excitement or thrill.
However, after veering off track for nearly 20 minutes, the movie gets back on track for the climax, which is a very captivating part that makes you forget that 20-25 minutes of dull narrative, and only remember the "impactful enthralling climax." This proves that Lucky Bashkar's previous statement—"History only remembers how you finished"—was indeed accurate.
Although Venky Atluri's 'Lucky Bashkar' does not break any new ground and is not a cinematic masterpiece to be remembered for years, Atluri does succeed in creating what he set out to do: a proper commercial entertainer with a new and intriguing plot that keeps you fascinated from beginning to end.
Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Tinnu Anand
Writer: Venky Atluri
Director: Venky Atluri
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