A One-Man Show. Review on Karthik Calling Karthik

Is the story revolving around one character Karthik or two Karthiks simultaneously? Karthik (Farhan Akhtar) happens to be a genius nerd who has the capacity to intake signals both by his attentive and inattentive selves from his surroundings. However, even though born with magnificent capabilities he rarely stands out in the competition coz of his tragic flaw of not saying a ‘no’ to anyone he comes across. For his goody self he is severely ill-treated by his boss though he takes all the office chores at his strong shoulders. His love interest Shonali Mukherjee never sees him in the four years working in the same office coz his skills are never exposed. Strangely, she sees him only when he snatches a cabin there. Well, status speaks for someone to fall in love. Eh?

Anyways, our hero is a loser in all ways, in love and in life so he decides to kill himself. Wait, the story begins here at this point of time when he is about to commit suicide. Karthik gets a strange call from someone who claims himself as Karthik (his other self) and whips up his spirits. And the nerdy hero who was behaving sheepishly so far transforms overnight to a ‘hulk’ (internally) and shoots down everyone who treated him like a dog. Now Karthik as an underdog plays smartly to win the confidence and the heart of his woman. However he gives credit to all his sudden changes for good to the caller who rings on a particular time which is five in the dawn. This secret was only kept bottled between him and the caller. What happens when the third and the fourth happen to know about the secret?

This remains a quest to trace the unidentified caller in the second half of the movie. The most surprising part of this caller is that he knows each and everyone’s life and secrets too well who are related to Karthik ‘s life and he never shuns from speaking to them. He cruelly unleashes their secrets making them scared and turns them against Karthik who unconsciously annoys him. The movie’s next half reveals how Karthik estrange himself to get away from the caller who knows every damn thing to destroy him. Whether he gets back to his normal life and to his love once again? Who comes to his rescue and who is this unusual caller who is after his life? All these questions get suddenly expressed in the climax of the movie. So have patience to bear the movie till its last scene.

The film is a sheer entertainment. From first scene to the last it was full of suspense with a reasonable amount of twist in the climax. The debutant director Vijay Lalwani shows lot of promises and smartness when it comes to direction, though significant flaws were visible too. The screenplay was pretty fast and gripping though it could have been better. The overnight transformation of Karthik was difficult to take in. The office where Karthik worked was too small to be ignored by Shonali for 4yrs since both of them worked in the same floor and almost nearby. Even people who are stupid attracts good amount of attention for others to crack jokes. However, the movie stood on Farhan Akhtar’s able shoulders who charismatically swept the movie from constant shifts as Karthik. He was never boring or out of place in any of the scenes. The dimple girl Deepika looked ravishing when she peeped through the glasses to take a look of Karthik. Her bold costumes were carried with total ease and poise. However, she was not given the space to act nor do I want to comment on her acting skills. She was only good as a glam doll walking with good clothes on. Ram Kapoor as the bulldog boss was marvelous when he exploited Karthik’s talent. Some of the significant scenes which captured my attention were:

1. When Karthik confesses over the phone that he wants to change n breaks down.

   
   




2. Shonali and Karthik’s mime game at the disco when the ‘uff teri ada’ song goes on to rock the floor. 3.

   
   

Shefaali Shah, the psychiatric's horror stricken face on encountering the Mr.X's call.

One of greatest attraction to all Akhtar’s movies had been the dialogues and this movie too has the flavor of sarcasm, innocence, urban way of speaking which will tickle you to grin all the way. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy compositions were full of toppings on a tasty desert that pulls you more towards having it. Only the climax-scene song dragged to a little boredom. Overall, it was a good movie. Don’t go with a critic’s eye then it would disappoint you. Go for getting entertained as you can surely watch it with your friends and family.