prakashiam I watched the movie on DVD and I fast-forwarded at least 30 minutes. Someone earlier commented that it is an excellent musical romantic thriller! What genre is that? It doesn't matter if you had actually planned to make an edge-of-the-seat thriller, the India film industry feels the need to throw in romance and a couple of songs to attract viewers. I had hoped things would change after Ram Gopal Varma's Kaun but looks like we still need to wait.The acting is mediocre at best and direction techniques have been ripped off from movies ranging from "Gladiator" to "Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels"

Peter Young Farhan Akhtar stars as Karthik, a young square man who blames himself for his elder brother's death at childhood and who lives a very unsocial life, working at a big company where he has to bear his boss' daily humiliations, while Shonali, the girl he is interested in does not even know of his existence. One day, he gets a phone call and the caller surprisingly identifies himself as none other than Karthik himself. From then on, things change for the better for Karthik. Nightly calls from this very person consist of constant positive advices of how to run his life and different encouragements, and consequently Karthik turns into an altogether different person, much more secure, happy and easy-going. He finally catches the eye of Shonali. Things seem perfect, but the story takes an unexpected twist.That's Vijay Lalwani's directorial debut, Karthik Calling Karthik, which is for the most part a successful psychological thriller. The best thing about it is the fact that it's not superficial. It has some hidden sentimentality and it gives the viewer an insight into the complexity of the human mind. Though at times the film is a bit too slow, the story is generally well written and narrated, and the subject is handled quite well. The film does manage to be as disturbing as it probably intends to be at some points, and in other moments it is uplifting as it shows us how a person can build his happiness on his own, using his imagination and inner feelings.The film's first half is for the most part a romance, and unfortunately an overly simplistic and boring one. The main concept and the mysterious phone calls get somewhat sidelined in this part until the story takes shape and becomes more intriguing and watchable in the second half. The film is benefited, however, by a great soundtrack by the reigning trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. The songs are nice though not always do they suit the film's proceedings, and sometimes it feels like they stretch the narrative to no end. But then the film turns in a rather interesting way, and the viewer gets ready to get all the answers to his questions, of which he may have already forgotten. The suspense in the second half is well done. The film becomes thrilling and remains continuously unpredictable. The acting in Kathik Calling Karthik may not be exemplary, but it is definitely effective. Farhan Akhtar is the tormented hero. He is good at some points and one may feel for him at times, but as the insecure guy he is quite unnatural. This is not entirely his fault. His character's transformation was too quick to be believable anyway, so it's the writers who are to be blamed for this. Deepika Padukone is okay and though she evidently tries to do her best, she does not really succeed in delivering the confusion her character must be going through and her dialogue delivery is weak at points. Shefali Shah appears in a smaller role as Karthik's psychiatrist, and she is outstanding as expected.All said and done, Karthik Calling Karthik is entertaining, gripping and enjoyable. It is a worthy effort with an interesting study of human psyche through such terms as consciousness and subconsciousness. The ending was quite good, though it was not completely satisfying. I suggest you to watch the film with family or friends. It may be serious, but it should not be taken seriously.

harineem A timid guy Karthik who is been bullied all his life finds himself a loser in his job, social and love life.Frequent meetings with a psychiatrist(Shefali) also fail to help.When things get completely out of hand, he attempts suicide.He gets an anonymous call(who claims he is also Karthik) right at that time, with tips to change his life. As time progresses he becomes a winner in all aspects of life but becomes heavily dependent on the early morning calls from the other karthik.When his new found girlfriend Shonali(Deepika) insists that he keep no secrets, he is forced to reveal about the other Karthik. From now on the plot gets sinister as both Shonali and the psychiatrist try to stop him taking these calls and get help. I would have a given a lower score but there are seriously creepy moments in the film. But there are too many holes for example Karthik is supposedly a CA and IIM topper.You cannot get into IIM if you are that low on confidence, they look for leadership material.His parents never seem to care, wouldn't you care if your son mysteriously disappears for months. And why would a great looking girl like deepika fall for a vey ordinary Farhan and seek him even after his extremely weird behaviour.I will not mention more as that would completely reveal the anyway predictable plot. The suspense is very predictable and director never cares to explain the root cause of Karthik's behaviour. Farhan please stick to direction, you are seriously lacking in looks and an average actor.

tiraniyaya son Indian cinema seems to be finally advancing to the next level. After "3 idiots" this movie is a second very good Indian movie I've seen lately.I liked the format of this movie. The movie was basically split in two. And they've fitted a lot in both halves. It was not even the half of the movie that I thought it is coming to a close. The first half seemed to be a romantic comedy centered on the classical BS of "you can be what you want to be". The geek falling in love with the resident beauty, whom he never talked to, seemed a bit cheesy, but by the middle of the movie it was sentimental enough. The first half provided a good setting for the second half.*********SPOILER******************** The best of the movie comes in the second half. By this time you are convinced that Karthik calls himself in some imaginary or mystical way. Because of the reviews I've read, I was led to believe that he was calling himself from future. The calls were very beneficial to Karthik and were surprisingly right on every issue. So you get to trust the person, that calls, as does Karthik. Overall you identify with Karthik a lot by this point. So when Shonali tells him that she cannot marry him, because of those calls, you feel, just as Karthik, that she betrayed his trust. You might also be surprised to see the caller turn against Karthik. When the mystery of the movie is finally revealed the movie is basically over. Karthik comes to the point where it all started and then suddenly comes a happy ending, "Big surprise". Overall his experience was very believable and helps people understand what Karthik is going through. It is particularly important in Eastern societies where such people are frowned upon. It was nice to see Shonali to stick with him after all. ************************************In the end it was an interesting movie with some good messages.I think the movie showed that the long format of Indian movies has a lot to give. I am not sure why Indian movies are longer. Maybe Indian viewers have always demanded more viewing time for their money and now they are used to it, or maybe they just have a better attention span than American viewer. In any case I think it is a good alternative to the Hollywood formats. Too often Hollywood directors have to cut good material to fit the movie into a time frame.Anyway this year might become a turning point for Bollywood thanks to films like this. It might be that Indian viewers are finally ready to watch these kind movies. Which is a good news because Indian cinema has a lot to offer. They finally can combine their experience in cinematography with nice stories. Up until now I mostly just watched the song clips from Indian movies, and there were only a few Indian movies I could suggest for others to watch. A rise of Indian cinema would be very handy considering the state of Hollywood cinema.