Movie: Karthik Calling Karthik

Karthik(Farhan Akhtar) is an introvert who carries painful memories from his childhood about his deceased brother. He is constantly pestered by his landlord(Vipin Sharma). Karthik works for a construction company owned by Raj Kamath(Ram Kapoor). At work, Kamath always belittles Karthik in spite of the latter’s hard work. Often, his exemplary work gets unnoticed and the credit goes to his co-worker Ashish(Vivan Bhatena). Ashish is also dating their colleague Shonali Mukherjee(Deepika Padukone). Karthik is madly in love with Shonali. But Shonali is neither aware of Karthik’s existence nor his affection towards her.

One day, Karthik reaches home in early in the morning after spending the entire night at work. Before he could sleep, his boss Kamath orders him back to work and also shouts at him. Getting frustrated, Karthik breaks the phone. He later gets a new phone and installs it at his home. Very soon, an abusive Kamath throws Karthik out of the job. Unable to tolerate the inhuman treatment meted out to him anymore, Karthik attempts suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. When he is about to swallow the pills, the phone rings. The caller identifies himself as Karthik and the caller knows quite a lot about the Karthik. The caller encourages Karthik to be confident and speak his mind.

Next day, Karthik sets out with renewed vigor. He  first confronts his landlord and then Kamath. He is soon back in the office with a coveted post and a corner office. Then, he decides to change his life by courting Shonali. Karthik is successful in doing so. But soon, the mysterious caller who identifies himself as Karthik presents a lot of difficulties for him. The rest of movie tells us how Karthik overcomes these difficulties.

Vijay Lalwani makes an impressive debut as a director with this thriller. He has based the movie on his own script. Vijay has adopted the same directorial style as Farhan Akhtar. Like Farhan’s directorial ventures, this also has a natural pace which does not change throughout the movie. Towards the climax, he uses fast cuts and voice over to unravel the mystery. Except these scenes, Vijay has concentrated on the performance of the actors and the situations to create suspense, rush and also comedy. The background music is excellent which enhances the performances. The tone of the movie is as light dark in tone with the theme of the movie. The movie displays good production values.

Farhan Akhtar is excellent and uses an unique style of acting. He is never over the top and uses everything possible – facial expressions, postures and also body movements – to convey the feelings of Karthik. His performance is refreshingly different. The rest of the cast supports the lead actor and the director effectively.

Don’t miss it! But, be prepared for the natural pace.

Language: Hindi

Genre: Thriller

Rating: ***

Picture Courtesy: Bollywood Hungama

Tags: Movies,Farhan Akhtar,Vipin Sharma,Ram Kapoor,Vivan Bhatena,Deepika Padukone,Vijay Lalwani,Thriller