Karthik Calling Karthik (2010)

Unlucky in love and bullied at work, an office drone is resigned to his dead-end life until it's transformed by mysterious calls from - himself.

Director:

Vijay Lalwani

Writer:

Vijay Lalwani (story, screenplay & dialogue)

Stars:

Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukone, Ram Kapoor

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Farhan Akhtar	...	Karthik Narayan
Deepika Padukone	...	Shonali Mukherjee
Ram Kapoor	...	Kamath Sir
Shefali Shah	...	Dr. Kapadia (as Shifaali Shah)
Vivan Bhatena	...	Ashish
Vipin Sharma	...	Landlord
Yatin Karyekar	...	Boss at Blue Draft Couriers
Taraana Raja	...	Neelu Didi (as Tarana Raja Kapoor)
Vinay Jain	...	Siddharth
Siddhartha Gupta	...	Young Karthik
Swapnel Desai	...	Young Kumar
Kanchan Pagare	...	Peon at ACL Office
Brijendra Kala	...	Telephone Exchange Clerk (as Brijinder Kala)
Haansaa	...	Secretary at ACL Office
Khyati Kanchan	...	Hair Stylist

Storyline

Born in Delhi, but now living in Mumbai, Karthik Narayan is a much abused employee with ACL Construction, secretly in love with leggy Architect, Shonali Mukherjee, who has been going steady with yet another co-worker, Ashish. After purchasing a new telephone, Karthik gets a call from a male voice that resembles his, who instructs him to follow directions; tell no one about this phone call, and he will achieve success. He follows these instructions, is soon promoted, as well as befriends Shonali, and continues following instructions from this caller. After Shonali makes it clear that she loves him, he breaks his promise, and is urged to seek counseling by her. He reluctantly does so with a Pyschiatrist, Dr. Shweta Kapadia, who hopes to cure him by visiting him early morning in his flat - not realizing the shock and trauma that await the duo.

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Plot Keywords:

imagination | urban setting | cabin | disco | cochin india | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Since Deepika Padukone's character in the film is a smoker, she was required to smoke cigarettes on screen for the first time in her career. Deepika is strongly against smoking and due to this she almost declined doing the role altogether when she found out the character had to smoke, since she was worried that she herself may end up becoming addicted to cigarettes. However, the producer of the film, Ritesh Sidhwani, came to her rescue and ordered nicotine free "organic" cigarettes for her to smoke for the scenes in which she had to smoke. This relieved Deepika and everything was fine after that.

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Goofs

When Karthik buys the telephone for the first time, the vendor tells him it's a new Japanese model. The box has Korean written on it (above "Kyungmin Corded Phone") and then the English translation underneath. This is seen more clearly when he buys the same phone towards the end of the movie.

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Quotes

Shonali Mukherjee: Oh God ! Let me guess. You don't drink !
Karthik Narayan: If i do get drunk... will you take advantage of me ?
Shonali Mukherjee: No...
Karthik Narayan: Then what's the point ?

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Connections

References Samasthakeralam P.O. (2009)

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Soundtracks

Hey Ya! - Remix
Written by Javed Akhtar
Composed by Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa
Performed by Loy Mendonsa, Shankar Mahadevan and Clinton Cerejo
Courtesy of Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series)

User Reviews

Five minutes into the film and i was hooked!!

Ring Ring! Karthik picks up the phone and speaks to someone he never thought he would.. The person speaking claims to be Karthik!

The person claiming to be Karthik calls Daily at 5 am and says he is there to change Karthik's life......

REWIND

Karthik is an IIM topper and the record breaker of CA exam.. His job sucks and he is frustrated of his life.. His boss tortures him and the girl(Deepika Padukone) whom he secretly loves doesn't even know he exists or not!

THEREAFTER

Karthik is a changed man! Shonali(Deepika) is now his girlfriend! He has been promoted on his job! His boss is now polite to him! Thanks to his 5 AM friend!

But you keep guessing that is it possible? Can you ever get a call from yourself? This is what you keep thinking till the climax unfolds and you come to know the truth behind that mysterious phone call!

Special Kudos for débutante director Vijay Lalwani for making a great thriller! This is Farhan Akhtar's third film as an actor and it must be said that he takes giant strides when it comes to acting.. This is by far his best work! Not many movies in bollywood have been made under the genre of psychological thriller and that is main highlight of the film.. Vijay Lalwani's writing is superb and direction is fantastic! The music of the movie(Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy) is an asset for the film! Background score by MIDIval Punditz is great! Deepika is getting worse! She definitely needs someone to train her!

The main aim of a suspense movie is to keep the audience guessing what will happen next and Karthik Calling Karthik succeeds in doing that!

To conclude:

Positives: The suspense is maintained well, Superb acting by Farhan and excellent music!

Negatives: The ending of the movie may NOT be appreciated by some!

My Rating : 7/10

Thanks and Regards

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi Urdu

Release Date:

26 February 2010 (India)

Also Known As:

K.C.K.

Filming Locations:

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$179,643, 28 February 2010

Gross USA:

$286,409

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,627,172

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eros International, Excel Entertainment, Magic Beans

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color