He’s got a fire-in-the- belly and it’s burning ambition that’s causing it. Having run away from taking over the family business, Delhi’s Vikram Jaisingh (Farhan) arrives in Mumbai for making it big in films.

We see a roomful of wide-eyed students in Nand Kishore Acting School, (an obvious and rather unflattering reference to the customary first step for most hopefuls -- Kishore Namit acting school). A tall aspirant has a pronunciation issue—he says "Khabsurat khaaab” for Khoobsoorat Khwab and you’re smiling already. But you really laugh when the teacher (Saurabh Shukla), an impossible ham and the worst actor in the room, displays how to enact a simple scene. Still, his often contradictory advice is lapped up the eager students who don’t know better.

Vikram lives typical struggler-style in a nondescript building, sharing the room with two others –an assistant director with Mahesh Bhatt and a struggling actor who has earned a name in theater and is somewhat content with his idealism. But Vikram dislikes the word `content’; a bit of a hustler, he falls for neighbour Sona (Konkona) who’s doing fairly well with roles like the “dead sister ki saheli” and is in talks for plumper projects.

In his extravagant home, Rommy Rolli (Rishi Kapoor) a Punjabi producer, as brash as he is amusing, mops his brow with a cheery kerchief, tucking it into his expensive-but-loud shirt's pocket. He is worried because protégé ( now a big star) Zaffar Khan (Hrithik) refuses his next film. Under pressure from yesteryear star Neena Mishra (Dimple) as her daughter Nikki (Isha) is debuting with the project, Rolli decides to cast a new face. Vikram is one among the many called for a screen-test, and the story is about what happens after.

Luck by Chance (LBC) highlights the many quirks of the Hindi film industry, like film productions run like family enterprises. The casting process truly embodies the title of the film, as the family including Rolli’s wife Minty (Juhi) sporting blonde hair, diamonds and high heels at home, makes judgments on the aspirants over snacks. She worries about her husband’s high blood pressure and over playing cards with other powerful wives makes decisions on behalf of him. The director is Rolli’s younger brother Ranjit (Sanjay Kapoor with some of the best scenes) who puts incongruous scenes together because “imagination mein kuch bhi ho sakta hai”.

LBC does not mercifully focus only on the stars and instead, dives deeper into the workings of the industry: assistants angling for a break, newcomers causing insecurity, creative disagreements turning ugly, inside news floating from hairdressers to assistant choreographers to side actors to gossip journalists and so on.

The film nicely puts a spin on the `suits’ in corporate offices who speak about introducing an organized work culture with focus on the “property” (fancy term for script), but refuse good projects unless it has stars.

Debut writer-director Zoya Akhtar revels in telling us almost all, but leaving out several things unsaid. It’s these subtleties and lack of spoon-feeding the audience about how they are supposed to feel about a character, that’s likely to affect the film's longevity and repeat viewings. Zoya uses symbolism liberally to make a point: the baaware `circus’ song being an obvious metaphor for the industry; and a character walking past several worn-out film posters on the street on deciding to abort the intention of becoming a star.

The film does give the audience what it wants at times – note the mahurat shot where Zaffar Khan says dialogues like `chaand chaandni, phool khushbu’ etc. Not really used in films today, such scenes are just an extra ribbing of the industry and a few bonus laughs for the audience.

The wonderful songs (Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy) are picturised lovingly – from the riotous, immediately-happy Baaware where Hrithik is in leather dhotis teamed with sports-shoes to the sweet Ye Aaj Kya Ho Gaya. Most of all, Sapno se bhare naina: so reflective of the unrequited, tearing ambition of the character sitting in an audition room with his competitors.

Zoya cajoles fantastic performances from each cast member. Post Rock On!! Farhan Akhtar gives yet note-perfect and hugely enjoyable performance. Konkona is delightfully authentic. Isha Sharwani too impresses. Hrithik Roshan is marvelous, Dimple Kapadia lusciously diva-like (her outburst against an article is one of the highpoints of the film), Rishi Kapoor is perfectly gregarious and hyper, Juhi Chawla just perfect, and Sanjay Kapoor plain funny. Aly Khan as the slimy producer of small films is impressive, and the actor playing his wife Pinky gives a wonderfully credible rendering. Actors playing Farhan’s roommates are terribly impressive as well. Anurag Kashyap’s appearance as the nervous writer is telling and comic. Cleverly- incorporated special appearances by several stars – Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherji, Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan among several others – add to the fun.

The film is technically superior: cinematography by Carlos Catalan (Shaurya), editing by Anand Subaya (Lakshya), sound by Baylon Fonseca (Dostana, Rock On!!), styling by Arjun Bhasin (The Namesake, Dil Chahta Hai etc) and art by Anuradha Parikh (Split Wide Open) and TP Abid elevate the film several notches.

For a star kid making a debut film that’s pretty much a family enterprise, it’s interesting that Zoya Akhtar has chosen to make light of these very aspects. She has, instead, chosen to tell the central story from the point-of-view of an outsider wanting to get a foot in. Ironic…but what a film!

Verdict: Three-and-a-half stars