Never Had a Chance review – gritty debut portrays London's Punjabi community amid drugs and hard choices
Director Jazz Bhalla's debut crime drama follows two friends in London's Hounslow district whose lives unravel through addiction and bad decisions. A reviewer calls it well-crafted but somewhat melodramatic.
The new crime drama "Never Had a Chance" unfolds almost entirely within London's Punjabi community in Hounslow, with white characters appearing only as peripheral figures. A review notes that while this is a plausible depiction of the area, it also raises the question of why more UK films don't feature entirely British Asian casts — a choice that doesn't make the film better or worse, but does lend it authenticity.
A story of two friends
The film centres on two friends in their twenties, Ravi (Amar Chaggar) and Jay (Jayant Singh), who spend much of their time drinking and getting high together. On the surface, Jay appears to have the more stable life, living with his middle-class parents, while Ravi, who has a criminal record from a drug bust, lives in a bedsit and is estranged from his mother following his father's death and her remarriage — a situation that also angers his older, bossy sister.
Ravi manages to land a job at a building supply merchant, forcing him to adjust his lifestyle and start waking early. He also has a possible romance developing with Sukhi (Tina Sharma), a fast-food worker seeking to escape her alcoholic father and drug-dealing brother.
A friendship heading for collapse
It gradually emerges that Jay's life is far less together than it appears — he has a growing gambling addiction, worsened when he begins using the cocaine he was given to sell for another dealer. The reviewer notes the plot's trajectory is somewhat predictable, but praises director Jazz Bhalla, making his feature debut after working mainly as a gaffer, for drawing strong performances from the cast, particularly in scenes depicting the male social world of pool clubs.
