Farhan was the perfect choice: Zoya Akhtar

New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS) They have differences like any brother and sister. But when Zoya Akhtar planned to direct her first film, she couldn't think of casting anybody but her brother to play the lead role in "Luck By Chance".

"Farhan was the perfect choice for the role in 'Luck By Chance' because he knows the industry in and out. He is smart and bright and both of us have been working together for years," Zoya told IANS on phone from Mumbai.

The brother-sister duo has earlier teamed at various levels for various films, including "Lakshya" and "Dil Chahta Hai", and Zoya says she is very comfortable working with Farhan.

"I have worked with him as casting director, assistant director, director, executive co-producer and so on and so forth. We have a strong working relation and we are very comfortable working together. We do have creative conflicts at times, but they are healthy and nothing to be discussed publicly," said Zoya.

Zoya says while she was sure about Farhan's acting skills, Reema Kagti of "Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd" fame too suggested his name.

"Farhan was supposed to make his debut in Reema's 'Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd'. He was supposed to do the role that Abhay Deol did. But Farhan couldn't manage the dates because he was busy shooting for 'Don - The Chase Begins'. Reema also suggested Farhan's name for the lead in 'Luck By Chance'. Then I saw his acting in 'The Fakir of Venice'... he was fantastic," she said.

Zoya says she had signed Farhan even before the release of the 2008 musical hit "Rock On!" for which the actor-director got rave reviews and even walked away with the best newcomer trophy at the recently held Nokia STAR Screen Awards.

Produced by Excel Entertainment in association with Big Pictures, "Luck By Chance" is the story of an actor who arrives in Mumbai like many aspiring men to make a mark in Bollywood. How he handles success and failure in his life forms the rest of the story.

According to Zoya, daughter of well-known lyricist Javed Akhtar, writing the script for the film was a cakewalk.

"This was quite an easy film for me to write. It was a very smooth process. From start to finish, it took me no extra research to pen the story down. It is so because I've seen a lot of strugglers who come to Mumbai make a living out of Bollywood. Also, I have friends who came from Oman and Assam and are doing fairly good work for themselves," she said.

"Luck By Chance" is releasing Jan 30 and Zoya is quite confident about its box-office performance.

"I don't think any film made on Bollywood has not done well. At least I have liked all of them. 'Guddi', 'Rangeela' and 'Om Shanti Om' - all these films have done well," she said.

"Luck By Chance" boasts of a line-up of stars including Konkona Sen Sharma, Isha Sharvani, Sanjay Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia and Hrithik Roshan besides many others who appear in cameos.

Although scripting was not difficult, Zoya faced difficulties in getting rest of the cast for the film.

"I had to really think it out when I was deciding on these multiple actors that I wanted in the film. It was tough to decide especially because I wanted the right actors who could play themselves and still look believable as part of the film. Then there are other good actors like Boman Irani and Saurabh Shukla, who are playing characters in the film. All I can say is there is enough for everyone in the film," she said.

Though Zoya has lots of ideas for future projects, she plans to go for a long holiday after the release of "Luck By Chance".

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Luck By Chance