Karthik Calling Karthik

''Karthik Calling Karthik'' is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language psychological thriller film, written and directed by Vijay Lalwani and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani under the banner of Excel Entertainment. The film stars Akhtar and Deepika Padukone. Ram Kapoor, Vivan Bhatena, Vipin Sharma and Shefali Shah play supporting roles in the film. The film's music was composed by the trio of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, while the background score was composed by MIDIval Punditz and Karsh Kale.

Plot

Karthik Narayan ( Farhan Akhtar) is an introvert who lacks self-confidence, and feels trapped in his average and probably underpaid job at a construction company owned by Mr. Kamath ( Ram Kapoor) in Mumbai. He is undergoing medical treatment from a psychiatrist, Dr. Shweta Kapadia ( Shefali Shah), for being continuously troubled by an incident from his childhood: Karthik's older brother, Kumar, used to always torture him, but whenever he complained to his parents, they refused to believe him. One day, Kumar took Karthik to a well and attempted to throw him inside it, but Karthik managed to escape, while Kumar accidentally fell inside the well and died. Karthik has been blaming himself for his brother's death ever since. Shonali Mukherjee (Deepika Padukone) is a co-worker at Karthik's company, whom Karthik secretly loves though she remains unaware of his existence, much less his feelings.

The day after Karthik purchases a new telephone as his landline, Mr. Kamath ruthlessly berates him in front of all his colleagues and fires him from his job due to a petty misunderstanding. As a result, Karthik becomes depressed, isolates himself in his house for several days, and eventually figures out that his life cannot become any worse and decides to commit suicide. However, just as he is about to do so, Karthik receives a phone call on his landline from a mysterious caller, who has the same, exact voice as his and states that he himself is also "Karthik", and convinces him that he has the ability to change his life. These phone calls become Karthik's life guide and their phonic conversations take place daily at 5:00 am sharp. The mysterious caller provides advice on all the problems of Karthik, successfully guiding him to get freed from his guilt of killing Kumar, confront Mr. Kamath and gain the job of a manager in his company, win Shonali's heart, and bring colour to his otherwise dull life.

However, things take a drastic turn when Karthik informs both Shonali and Dr. Kapadia about the phone calls, despite being strictly warned not to do so by the mysterious caller. As a result, the mysterious caller turns furious and threatens Karthik that if he could bring him up, he could also bring him down. As per his word, things begin going downhill. Mr. Kamath fires him from his new job as well, a heartbroken Shonali dumps him, and Karthik ends up with zero bank balance, all due to misunderstandings deliberately created by the mysterious caller. Unable to bear it anymore, Karthik decides that if he escapes somewhere he does not know, then the mysterious caller would not know where he is either. He sells all his valuables, travels by a train to an unknown city in Kerala, seeks refuge in a small hotel, and asks the receptionist to remove the telephone as well as room number plate from his room.

After a few months, Karthik is comfortably residing in Cochin with a decent new job. His life is back to normal except for the fact that he refuses to have a phone line. However, he is forced to purchase a landline on the request of his new employer ( Yatin Karyekar). This time, Karthik purchases the same telephone he used to receive the phone calls on, and goes to great lengths to ensure that he himself is unaware of the phone number. Meanwhile, Dr. Kapadia meets with Shonali in Mumbai and reveals the shocking plot twist: Karthik is actually the patient of schizophrenia as well a multiple personality disorder, two mental disorders characterised by abnormal social behaviour and failure to understand reality. He has been suffering from this condition since a very young age, when he made up an imaginary older brother named Kumar (which is why his parents never believed him).

Moreover, the mysterious caller was none other than Karthik himself as he exhibits an alter ego that is more assertive and advises him on how to live life. Karthik's telephone has the unique feature to record voice messages and replay them at a scheduled time. Karthik would wake up in the middle of each night, record voice messages for himself as his alter ego, and return to sleep, only to awake once again at 5:00 am to receive his own "phone calls". After learning this, Shonali realises that Karthik's life might be in danger and immediately leaves for Cochin to save him. Elsewhere, Karthik leaves himself a new voice message as his alter ago, in which the "caller" states that he has tracked Karthik down to Cochin and threatens to kill him. After receiving the voice message, Karthik becomes so disturbed that he attempts suicide by drug overdose again. However, Shonali arrives at the right time to save him, and they reconcile with she deciding to help him with his condition. After a few days, Karthik is apparently in the process of dealing with his disorder and lives a happy and rehabilitated life with both Shonali and Dr. Kapadia by his side.

Cast

* Farhan Akhtar as Karthik "Cheeku" Narayan
* Deepika Padukone as Shonali Mukharjee
* Ram Kapoor as Kamath Sir
* Shefali Shah as Dr. Shweta Kapadia
* Vivan Bhatena as Ashish
* Vipin Sharma as Landlord
* Tarana Raja as Neelu Didi, Karthik's cousin sister
* Vinay Jain as Siddharth "Sid", Neelu's husband
* Yatin Karyekar as Boss at Blue Draft Courier
* Swapnel Desai as Kumar Narayan, Karthik's brother
* Zafar as Mr. Narayan, Karthik's father
* Prachi as Mrs. Narayan, Karthik's mother
* Vidyadhar Karmakar as Old Man at Ticket Collecting Counter
* Brijendra Kala as Staff at Telephone Exchange

Production

In an effort to prepare for his role as the introvert loner Karthik, Farhan Akhtar isolated himself at home and turned off his phone. He also learned to solve the Rubik's Cube, an activity which his character completes in only one try.

Reception

Critical reception

The film received positive reviews from critics. Nikhat Kazmi of ''Times of India'' rated the movie 3.5/5 stars, calling it "immensely watchable, purely for the class act by Farhan Akhtar in the title role" and recommending it to those who are in the mood for serious cinema. Shweta Parande of News18 gave a rating of 3.5 out of 5, applauding the cast and crew for their performances and their efforts on building up the story as a team. Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "This one’s clearly not a formula film. It isn’t merely suspense for most parts either. It’s the kind of thriller that practically every Bollywood B, or big budget, genre flick aspires for." Anupama Chopra of NDTV gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars and stated that "it isn't a bad film, but it isn't very good either". Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 2.5 out of 5, calling it "a decent product with an unconvincing conclusion". Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com gave the film a 2.5/5 rating, praising Farhan Akhtar for his versatility, while simultaneously criticizing Deepika Padukone for not being able to "hold a single scene on her own".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film is composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy with lyrics penned by Javed Akhtar. The album was released on 20 February 2010.

Though the album did not get favorable critical reviews, the track " Uff Teri Adaa" created waves and topped the charts numerous times in the following months. At the box office, the music had an impact in the opening of the film, as it got a bigger opening than its competitor '' Teen Patti''.

Before the album got released, an online copy was leaked onto the Internet. Farhan Akhtar confirmed this and requested people to not download it illegally.

Awards and nominations

; 12th IIFA Awards
Nominated
* Best Male Playback Singer – Shankar Mahadevan
;17th Screen Awards
Nominated
* Best Music Director – Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy
;14th Zee Cine Awards
Nominated
* Best Music Director – Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

; 3rd Mirchi Music Awards
Nominated
* Male Vocalist of The Year – Shankar Mahadevan for "Uff Teri Adaa"
* Upcoming Female Vocalist of The Year – Sukanya Purayastha for "Kaisi Hai Yeh Udaasi"
* Best Song Recording – Abhay Rumde, Sameeer Khan, Kim Koshie, Chinmay Harshe and Vijay Benegal for "Uff Teri Adaa"

References

External links

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{{Ritesh Sidhwani

2010 films
2010s Hindi-language films
Films about films
Indian psychological thriller films
2010 psychological thriller films
Films about schizophrenia
Films about disability in India
Films shot in Kochi
Films set in Kerala
Films about telephony