The Zoya Factor(2019)

Plot Summary

• Zoya Solanki (Sonam Kapoor) is a junior copywriter at an Advertising agency who considers herself very unlucky. Her love life and professional life reach an all time low when her rich dentist boyfriend (Rishi Hapawat) dumps her for being too infra dig, and her boss Monica (Koel Purie) at the ad agency grows displeased with her inefficient work.But soon, her luck changes when she is sent to Srilanka to shoot an ad film with the Indian cricket team. Zoya accidentally meets Nikhil Khoda (Dulquer Salmaan), the Indian team captain who is a staunch believer of hard-work and against his team's dependence on superstitions. But the team is on a losing streak and the world cup is just weeks away. Vijayendra Singh Solanki (Sanjay Kapoor) is Zoya's father and credits Zoya with India's win at the 1983 world cup. Zoravar Singh Solanki (Sikander Kher) is Zoya's brother and shares his father's passion for cricket.Robin Rawal (Angad Bedi) used to the captain, but was replaced by Nikhil, due to a bad run of scores. Media is rife is speculation that Robin is trying to sabotage Nikhil's captaincy. Shivnath(Shivi) (Abhilash Chaudhary) is an opening batsman and loses his wicket any time an opposition bowler sledges him. Ketan (RUdit Arora) is the other opener and Shivi and Ketan blame each other for their failures. Hharviindar (Harry) Singh (Gandharv Dewan) is a bowler who breaks a coconut before every match. Zahid Pathan (Abhishek Madrech) is the youngest member of the team. Shivi has a poor attitude towards training.Zoya meets Nikhil in Sri Lanka and smitten by him. When Zoya gets invited to a breakfast with the team, they discover that she was born on the day when India won its first World Cup. This makes them believe that she could be their lucky mascot. Shivi and Ketan ride their luck and win their match with Bangladesh. They do this after getting 2 lives (when ball hits the bails, but the bails don't dislodge). Shivi tells Zoya that the BCCI president is Robin's maternal uncle and he made Robin captain, but had to give it to Nikhil, when Robin failed to perform.Her luck rubs off sensationally when the team wins the match in Sri Lanka. She is offered a position by the BCCI as official lucky mascot for the upcoming World Cup. This goes against the wishes of Captain Khoda who is attracted to Zoya but is also irritated by the media for giving her the credit for their wins. Nikhil asks Zoya to leave Sri Lanka asap. The next day India loses the match against Bangladesh. BCCI officially hires Zoya as the mascot. The terms are that for ever match she will get Rs 7 Lakhs and 37 Lakhs as bonus if India wins the WC. She has to have breakfast with the team before each match and has to treat each player equally. No sex during the contract period.Meanwhile Nikhil apologies to Zoya and starts dating her. Zoya says no to the contract, but then Robin manipulates his uncle to give the team India WC marketing campaign to Zoya's agency. This way Zoya has to travel with the team everywhere. With Zoya in tow, the luck plays its part for India and they win their match against Pak. Zoya tells Nikhil that Harry bowls his best while singing. Nikhil suggests that to Harry and he takes a hat-trick against South Africa and India wins. Robin finds out that Nikhil is dating Zoya. Robin tells Zoya that Nikhil is keeping Zoya as his personal lucky charm as he doesn't to share her with the team (Robin had shared a video of Nikhil's interview with media person Sonali (Pooja Bhamrrah), where Sonali says that Nikhil can keep Zoya away from the team by professing his love for her and acting a bit possessive). Zoya confronts Nikhil and breaks up with him, when he is unable to defend his actions. Zoya signs the contract with BCCI.Through a last ball miracle, India wins the next match against Sri Lanka (India needed 6 runs from the last ball and Ketan's shot is caught, only to be so that the fielder had stepped on the boundary line and it is a 6). Zoya becomes a national celebrity and gains god-man status. This infuriates Nikhil as he thinks Zoya is undermining the hard work put in by the team, by attributing all success to her lucky charm. Nikhil insists that India play the next match against NZ without Zoya. In this match Robin runs out Nikhil at a crucial moment and India loses the match. The pressure is now on Nikhil to be replaced as the team India captain. In the match against Australia, Zoya advises Shivi to put his grandma's pic on the back of his bat, as that is the only thing that calms him down. Aus tries to rattle Shivi, but he follows Zoya's advise and cracks a century. India is in the Semis. Robin accuses Nikhil of power play when he gets to know that he has complained to the board about Robin deliberately running him out. This causes a split in the team.Semi is against Pakistan and almost all is lost when Nikhil is out with still many runs to get. But then out of nowhere, it starts raining and India wins by the DL method. Zoya suddenly realizes that for Nikhil now this is a lose lose situation. If India loses, he is out. If India wins, all the credit goes to Zoya. She realizes that Robin has used her against Nikhil. Zoya refuses to come to the Stadium for the final. Robin and his uncle panic, but Robin assures his uncle that he wont allow Nikhil to play his game in the final. Coz if Nikhil wins the final without Zoya, he will stay as captain till the next world cup. Sri Lanka scores 312 in the final. Nikhil motivates the team to remember how they became cricketers in the first place. Not by luck alone. Shivi starts off well but is out. Nikhil goes one down to keep RObin out of the match. Nikhil scores a blistering 99, but is out in an unlucky manner. Robin comes in a No. 5 and scores really slow. Robin runs out another batsman. So Nikhil asks Harry to fake a hamstring injury and then comes out as his runner. Nikhil runs Robin out. India makes a come from behind win against Sri Lanka and wins the world cup.Mikhil apologizes to Zoya and they get married within a year.

Storyline

• Based on Anuja Chauhan's novel, Zoya Factor is a rom-com about Zoya, an advertising agent, and her relationship with the captain of Team India, Nikhil Khoda.