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Karthik Calling Karthik


The music was stupendous. The first ever album in which I loved all the songs. They made me groove, made me hum and made me nostalgic. Music ten on ten. Farhan looked amazing in the promos, Deepika looked sexy and the story line seemed interesting. Enough reasons to go watch the movie I guess. Well I just did. And the outcome just blew me away. Unfortunately not in a very nice way. I start my weekend with this? Really? God, I thought things were improving.

Well, lets start at the very beginning. A team event was planned, and we all decided to go to this particular movie called 'Karthik calling Karthik'. The whole day I sat at my work station, grooving to its songs. The excitement to watch the movie was just growing. Finally me and my crazy friends made it there. Three fourth of the movie is excellent. Yes, excellent. But the revelation in the climax just crashes the entire thing down. Its the perfect example of taking someone to the top, just to push them down. I had so many expectations from this movie, much more than 'Khan' actually. But well, I guess some expectations are never fulfilled.

Karthik #1 - A total loser who is satisfied being treated like dirt. He does all the paper work in his office, brings in all the profits but easily allows others to take the credit. He's in love with Shonali (Ms. Padukone, looking amazingly sexy and chic), has written exactly 1317 e-mails to her expressing his love which he dutifully doesn't send. I wonder when Yahoo came up with an option called 'Do not Send' on their compose mail page. She doesn't even know he exists and is content dating his colleague who sits in a dingy cubicle, while she is seated in an classily decorated cabin. Karthik also has an annoying landlord who for some strange reason follows him every morning to the parking lot with the intention of squeezing some extra cash from him. One word for this one - Loser.

Karthik #2 - Sexy, stylish, chic and oozes panache. Dressed in crisp formals (No one else in Bollywood can carry that off so well), he's got the perfect attitude to control his boss, and the right charisma to woo the woman he loves. The woman in question, Shonali tries to resist his charm at first, due to her past experiences with men. She tells him "All men are dogs". He replies, "Acha, agar saare mard kutte hote hai toh, kya main ek kutte ki tarah aapka peecha kar sakta hu?". Speaking about self respect man! Well, he finally wins her and all is well until he spills out his secret. Three words for this one - Sexy but Dumb.

The secret being that our Loser gets calls from someone, teaching him how to become the sexy Karthik. Since the loser doesn't have anyone else in his life he agrees to everything the voice says. Over night Karthik #1 turns into Karthik #2. Suddenly he's promoted when he was fired just 3 days ago. Surprisingly noone asks him anything. The woman who never knew he existed falls in love with him. Just because he's so damn charming and good looking now that you cant ignore him. Well, so much for true love eh. Sigh! Am I the only fool here? His voice guides him through every phase of his life. He promises to continue to do so as long as he doesn't tell anyone about it. Well, but our Mr. Boyfriend is Oh so in love with his Girlfriend that he cant keep any secrets from her. He tells her and then hell breaks loose. Like everybody else, she thinks he's insane and that he needs therapy. The voice knows that he let out the secret and then comes back to destroy him. What the voice is, why its calling him forms the last quarter of the movie. And that's the part I hated the most.

Its kinda surprising that a person has lived for probably 25-26 years with Schizophrenia without anyone or him realising it. He promptly wakes up at 2 am everyday, records his voice on the phone and sets the reminder to 5 am. When the phone rings at 5 am, he acts totally paranoid but answers every time it rings. Thus the ugly duckling turns into a beautiful swan. This pattern continues until his girlfriend forbids him from receiving those calls. He does a lot to stay away from phones and to get away from the noise. For some strange reason he ends up in Cochin. I wonder why the director dint come up with other better place. Finally he realises after a suicide attempt that he's been suffering from Multiple Mental disorder. I wonder if there is actually something like that. MPD I'm sure of. Finally he's treated and he and his girlfriend live happily ever after. I still dint understand the importance of the Rubik's Cube throughout the movie.

Performance wise, Farhan rocks. He's amazing as both the Karthiks and pulls of the characters with amazing charm. He looks super sexy in his formals. His smile is his best feature and he uses it to the maximum. Deepika's clothes are to die for in the movie. She looks gorgeous and extremely sexy. Sadly, she doesn't have much to do in the movie as Farhan makes his presence felt in every frame. The actors do complete justice to their roles, but when the story line is faulty nothing much can be done. If the schizo part was missed and something creative had been incorporated, the movie would have been a runaway success. Well, this one was a sure disappointment. Not calling this one for sure.

Comments

  1. First of all..if u plan to include the ending in any movie review,please use "Spoiler Included" at the beginning of the post/review.It is the standard norm:-)It warns people of going through the rest of the review.
    Anyways..It seems copied,from Anniyan.Remember Remo? and that movie was far better...and it was about MPD
    and yes,I Checked my DSM guide:-) There's nothing like MMD:-)oh god the things they come up with.They used the Rubiks cube eh?
    The Rubiks cube is a plot concept,also copied from Mulholland Drive starring Naomi Watts.
    So Kollywood + hollywood = KCK:-)So much for Orginality:-(

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  2. No big deal trust me.. You get the ending within the first 10 mins of the movie.. You only hope that it wont turn that way, but it still does. Thats the disappointment. And the whole idea was to prevent people from watching it.. You included :-)

    Anniyan was like Titanic in front of this one man. Although Farhan is any day better than Vikram. I knew there was nothing called MMD. I did my research too :-).. Did they steal the Rubik's cube part too? Damn.. Even though I dint get the significance of it I thought that was some original idea.. Bollywood and originality cannot be used in the same breath anymore.. :-(

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  3. Hey Soumya!!

    A very well written review.

    Both Farhan and Deepika were great in their previous movie roles. And they have acted brilliantly in Karthik Calling Karthik.

    Also, I don't know if you are aware that 'Bausch and Lomb' following the release of the movie is runnig a 'Bausch and Lomb KCK Contest', where B&L is giving you the chance to get a mini-makeover and still photograph by a leading photographer.

    More more details, you can log on to http://www.facebook.com/bauschandlombindia

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Kanika.. Will surely check out the contest.. Honestly, i could do with a new pair of lenses.. :)..

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete

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