Karthik calling Karthik – review

Karthik calling Karthik is a psychological thriller, a genre we rarely come across in mainstream Bollywood movies.

Karthik (Farhan Akthar) is a shy, timid, loner, introvert person with a low esteem and confidence. He lives a seemingly boring life has no friends and works in a construction company. He loves his colleague Shonali Mukherjiee (Deepika Padukone) but dares not to convey his feelings to her. In fact, for her he is inexistent. At office everyone uses him to his advantage and he is treated as a doormat. One night, he receives a mysterious call. The voice on the other end introduces himself as Karthik and as Karthik himself. From then on, the voice takes charge of his life with calls at early morning 5’o clock. What happens in his life due to the mysterious call? Who is the caller ? Who is the other Karthik? Who is that voice? Is there any other Karthik at all? What happens at the end is what the movie story all about.

The story line is a refreshingly different genre from our regular slapstick comedies and actions Bollywood regularly dishes out. So, a big hug to debutant director-writer Vijay Lalwani for attempting it. The first half is racy and enjoyable. Enter the second half and after a while the movie shifts to lower gear and the speedometer dips. It  gets bit dragging and when the movie ends all the good feeling generated in the first half is lost. The climax and the end seem all quick after a period lull and leave you disappointed.

The chemistry between Farhan  and Deepika works well and their opposite personalities interesting on screen. Music by Shankar- Ehsan- Loy scores fine.

GingerChai Verdict: You can dial Karthik once but I warn you the signal is weak at places.