Film: 'Luck'; Director: Soham Shah; Cast: Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjay Dutt, Imran Khan, Shruti Haasan, Danny Denzongpa, Chitrashi Rawat; Rating: ***

Let's get one thing straight. This is a film about subverted heroes. People who need big money so desperately they are willing to participate in a crazy game of life and death orchestrated by a man who has turned betting on human beings into a galloping global industry.

Sanjay Dutt strides across the wide screen and its accompanying pomp and paraphernalia with aplomb. He's accompanied by a cast that knows this film means macho business.

However, the real heroes of this tale of perverse heroism are the action by Allan Amin, dialogues by Soham Shah, locations -- ranging from the super-rugged to the ultra-chic -- the thundering background score by Amar Mohile and the cinematography of Santosh Thundiyil.

All these technical components enrich the experience of watching an extended video-game done at an adrenaline-defying speed.

So is 'Luck' just a series of action sequences threaded together? To a large extent the skills that have gone into Shah's storytelling tend to be eclipsed by the sheer volume and impact of the virile action. Even the female characters (Shruti Haasan and Chitrashi) are devoted to money and machismo.

So, play the game. Shah displays a penchant for pyrotechnics that hit you in your face and rev up the proceedings from the word go. Every principal character (barring debutante Shruti Haasan) is given a back story done with an economy of narration that impresses with its austere suppleness.

Particularly riveting is Imran Khan's introductory episode where in a Harshad Mehta-like scam the boy's life and finances come undone because of his father's economic misadventures. Here, the character's desperation of monetary redemption comes alive as much through Imran's clenched jaws and anguished eyes as the small details that go into constructing an ambience of desperate destiny.