Director: Vijay Lalwani
Producer: Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani
Story / Writer: Vijay Lalwani
Screenplay: Vijay Lalwani
Star Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukone, Ram Kapoor, Shefali Chhaya, Vivaan Bhathena, Vipin Sharma
Yatin Karyekar
Definitely finds a calling!
Have you ever felt panicked when your phone rang? Has it ever happened that the irritating shrill of your telephone has turned into a bone chilling cacophony? Of course not! Karthik Calling Karthik can change your views altogether. Don't be surprised if you start eyeing your phone with suspicion after watching KCK.
Karthik Narayan (Farhan Akhtar) is a highly educated CA exams topper dork of his office. He is bullied by everyone from his belligerent boss to his chic colleagues. Like every nerd in every story, he fantasies about an architect of his company; the smart, gorgeous and stunning Shonali Mukherjee (Deepika Padukone). But his life is nothing less than a hell as he overworks, is underpaid and is used and abused by everyone in the vicinity. Frustrated by his condition, he takes the help of his psychiatrist Sweta Kapadia (Shefali Shah) who asks him to stand up for himself. He does and gets kicked out from his job. Out of despair and disappointment, he tries to commit suicide when suddenly his phone rings. The caller is none other than Karthik himself. The other Karthik reprimands him from committing suicide. Karthik tries to investigate about the call but draws a blank. Eventually, he gives in to the other Karthik's wishes and starts doing as he directs. Miraculously, his conditions start improving. He gets back his job on a higher pay and position. He even manages to win over Shonali. Everything goes well until one day when he decides to reveal the secret behind his sudden change to Shonali. Thus begins a journey of a Karthik searching for another Karthik whose existence is absolutely ambiguous.
A big round of applause to director Vijay Lalwani for such a nice and instinctively different script. It hardly gives you a room to sway from the agenda as it binds you throughout its runtime. However, the initial sequences bore you a bit but as soon as the first call is made, you are in for a thrilling suspense ride in every sense of the word. Never ever will it let you predict what's going to come next. Moreover, it's got some very funny and witty one-liners which are going to become the buzz of the town for sure.
The beauty of this movie is its shocking plot points. There are various scenes in the movie that will leave you stunned if you have been expecting something to occur. Won't be surprised to hear gasps and sighs around the hall. These small but integral sequences keep you on tenterhooks.
However, amidst all these awe-struck moments, KCK has some disturbing flaws. First, in most of the places the scenes end on assumptions. How the Karthik on phone gets to know about the psychiatrist's intentions is not explained. Even the director didn't bother to explain how, in the first place, did the Karthik on phone know that Karthik would be attempting suicide at that very instant? Second, the film is quite slow. Had it been a little more pacy, the suspense would have been countered in a much better way. But with a story as this, all these petty issues will be easily overlooked. It's not often that one gets to see a well-knitted script.
Apart from the script, the other thing that works brilliantly for this film is the actors. No one could have been as convincing as Farhan Akhtar to do the role of a Schizophrenic. He looks very comfortable in his character. Every emotion that he emotes keeps you in with him, be it the shy and reserved nerdiness or the witty and practical outlook afterwards. Guess the pains he took for getting into the skin of the character paid off. At a point, you start believing with his reasoning. Deepika Padukone time and again proves that she's as natural as nature can be. She fits to the role perfectly and delivers impressively. Not to forget, she looks gorgeous and every way desirable. Ram Kapoor as the bully boss is good and Shefali Shah gave another of her best performance though in a bit role.
Karthik Calling Karthik has all the ingredients of becoming a great suspense thriller. It's riveting, transfixing and will keep you on the edge of your seats all throughout. It's not always that suspense holds you with such a promise. So just go for this thrilling thriller.
-Moumita Bhattacharjee
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