All Movie Reviews: Lottery

March 20th, 2009 - 2:22 am ICT by sampurn -

Lottery: Don't gamble on this one
Rating: 1 out of 5*

Starring: Introducing Abhijeet Sawant, Manisha Kelkar, Rucha Gujarathi, Mukesh Tiwari and Sanjay Narvekar.

Director: Hemant Prabhu

The film begins with Abhijeet Sawant shooting himself and when it ends you feel like gunning for the film's makers and actors and every single person who was responsible for the making of this film. This apology of a film tells the story of Rohit Awasthi (Abhijeet Sawant) who fancies a hot model Simran (Manisha) but can't do anything more than just ogle at her. His best friend Kabir (Sanjay Narvekar) once gets him her port folio CD but at the end of which is game which tries to lure Rohit playing a guessing quiz which if he wins shall make him richer by Rs. 3 lakhs. It is about guessing whether a soon to deliver lady will give birth to a baby boy or a girl if Rohit's answer is right he will win the money. Rohit takes it lightly and shows this CD next day to Kabir but that time, this game is not seen on it. But Rohit gets a pleasant shock on receiving the prize money for guessing it right. Meanwhile he gets a new neighbour in Soha (Rucha) and he starts dreaming about spending his whole life with her with all the possible riches he can have. The game now gets to the second level with Rohit now being lured for playing the guessing game again. This time the prize money is Rs. 7 lakhs and has a criminal's (Mukesh Tiwari's) life at stake. If this absconding criminal visiting a bar gets arrested then Rohit will not get the prize money and in fact will also lose what he has won before. Tempted to win more, Rohit helps the underworld goon escape from the police dragnet and wins the prize money. Now his greed takes him to the stage where he gets implicated in a murder. Rohit realizes he has been set up and now to prove his innocence and find answers to who is the mastermind behind all this, he runs away from police custody.

First things first – Abhijeet Sawant cannot act! If he is a wise man, he should put a full stop to his acting dreams and save the audience the torture. The film's basic good premise is a lift from Hollywood hit starring Michael Douglas called The Game. But the pathetic screenplay aided by extremely incompetent direction makes it an endless torture to sit through for two hours. The end is such a cop-out that you really wonder were the makers serious while making this film? They have taken India's first reality show sensation and put him in a mindless film which takes the aide of a reality show.

Speaking about any technical department will be a waste of time, space and energy as there is not a single thing worth an appreciation about these. Despite having a fairly good singer in Abhijeet Sawant the music directors Santosh Singh and Sanjay Pathak give extremely forgetful numbers. Also imagine a happy tune being played in the background when the situation is serious.

Abhijeet Sawant proves to be a worse actor than musician turned singer turned actor turned irritator Himesh Reshammiya. He carries one single expression throughout. Manisha Kelkar looks hot but still a long way to go as an actress. Rucha Gujarathi is just about okay. Dedh Futiya of Vaastav Sanjay Narvekar brings a few laughs but that's it.

Avoid wasting your money on this Lottery the result of which is just a severe headache. -Sampurn Media

By Taran Adarsh, March 20, 2009 - 11:52 IST


Ever solved a jigsaw puzzle? The plot of LOTTERY is tougher to crack. This one pretends to be a thriller, a love triangle next, a whodunit later, a musical in between and ends up as something else altogether. Can't figure out what this film is all about, seriously.

Besides, LOTTERY is meant to be the launch pad of singer Abhijeet Sawant. The sad news is, Abhijeet has chosen the wrong script to launch himself as an actor.

Rohit [Abhijeet Sawant] is an accountant working in an ad agency. An anonymous message asks him to accept a challenge. He does so and he wins Rs. 3 lacs. The wheels of fortune are set in motion. There are more challenges and bigger rewards. In reality, there's no stopping now. The story takes a turn when Rohit is accused of murder. His life goes upside down…

The film fails on the script level itself. It leaves so many questions unanswered, you actually wonder what was the writer/director thinking when he wrote this script? Direction [Hemant Prabhu] is amateurish. The music is no great shakes either.

Abhijeet needs to groom himself completely before he faces the camera next. The two leading ladies, Rucha Gujrathi and Manisha Kelkar, are decent. Sanjay Narvekar has a Nana Patekar hang-up. Mukesh Tiwari is wasted.

On the whole, this lottery ticket is best avoided!