Movie Review: Karthik calling Karthik

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukone, Ram Kapoor, Shefali Chhaya.,Vivaan Bhathena, Vipin Sharma, Yatin Karyekar

Director: Vijay Lalwani

Karthik Narayan, played by Farhan Akhtar is a meek young man who is bullied by everyone from his landlord to his boss and even the office boy.. Apparently he has had a troubled childhood which has made him diffident and submissive, a problem he is cognizant of and is seeking medical help.

Karthik’s personality takes a dramatic turn when he starts getting phone calls every morning from Karthik. Karthik calls Karthik to coach him to become self confident and to shed his inhibitions to chase the woman he secretly admires. With these calls the movie also turns dramatically towards ‘trying too hard’ scenes. While the dapper Farhan Akhthar is a toast to the eyes and the audience loves it when he gives it back to his boss, the same cannot be said about his antics to woo his lady love, Shonali Mukherjee.

Dating scenes between Karthik and Shonali Mukherjee played by Deepika Padukone are so clichéd and full of cheesy dialogues that you are left wondering, if it is same Farhan Akhthar who gave us Rock On.

Some of the dialogues are classically bad and need a special mention. Sample these…..

“ Kya tum mera fayda uthaogee agar mein piyoongaa”
“You are a safe guy”

 Shonali has not had much luck with guys and has burnt her fingers many a time so when dude Karthik comes with his cheesy dialogues and 1980 dating style she completely falls for him. So much so that when she sees 1316 unsent email messages for her from Karthik she runs and hugs him. Lady when you see something like that you run away from the guy and not towards him. The second half of the movie is a bit interesting, but the director is unable to unfold the plot properly. The end is almost abrupt and it almost feels that even the director is bored and wants the movie finished soon….