Put down the phone and go watch Karthik

Many years ago, when I was going to watch Gupt, few people had told me that Kajol is the murderer, even before I stepped in the theatre. It felt awful and since then I have hated people who reveal the suspense/twists/special appearance before I watch the movie. I like to discover it myself in theatre. But as fate had it, the evening I was going to watch ‘Karthik Calling Karthik’; someone put the crux of the story on Facebook and tagged me on it. So I knew why Karthik calls Karthik even before the movie started.

Anyway, apart from that one twist, I also wanted to watch movie for the acting, screenplay and music. The movie had already created hype in my mind because of the lead pair, though both score just average at acting, they look good together. However, I found the chemistry missing in the movie.

The movie is about a very timid, shy guy Karthik (Farhan Akhtar) who can not say no to anyone. He is bullied by his colleagues, boss, landlord but can never speak for himself. He silently loves a girl Shonali (Deepika Padukone) in his office, but she has never even noticed him. And on one not so fine day, he decides to kill himself but is stopped by a phone from himself, Karthik. Karthik’s calls come as a ray of hope in his miserable life. He does whatever Karthik tells him and before he realises he is having the time of his life. Everything is fine until he tells his girlfriend Shonali about this call.

It’s a well written screenplay and the justification for calls is quite strong and understandable. Though the means (phone calls) by which the message is carried, might occur as dumb to few people. They might expect something really thrilling behind these phone calls. I feel, I might have been quite intrigued too if I had not known about the suspense. Nonetheless, the power of sub-conscious mind really amazed me.

Farhan Akhtar doesn’t disappoint, but he still can do lot better when it comes to acting. Deepika is usual and there is nothing great she has done that no other actress would have been able to. Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy impresses. ‘Hey Ya’ and ‘Uff Ye Ada’ have been shot well.

Debut director Vijay Lalwani is promising and expectations from him will be higher the next time. On the whole, Karthik Calling Karthik is a good one time watch, if you are looking for something different.

Rating: 2.5/5

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