''Karthik Calling Karthik'' is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

film, written and directed by Vijay Lalwani and produced by

Farhan Akhtar Farhan Akhtar (born 9 January 1974) is an Indian actor, filmmaker and singer who works in Hindi films. Born to screenwriters Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, he established the production company Excel Entertainment, along with Ritesh Sidhwa ...

and

Ritesh Sidhwani Ritesh Sidhwani (born 1973) is an Indian film producer. He is the co-founder of Excel Entertainment along with Farhan Akhtar. His first film as a producer, ''Dil Chahta Hai'', won the National Award in 2001. Through his vision, Excel Entertai ...

under the banner of

Excel Entertainment Excel Entertainment is an Indian production company, founded by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar in Mumbai in 1999. They mainly produce Hindi films. Their debut production, ''Dil Chahta Hai'', received critical acclaim and was a huge rage f ...

. The film stars Akhtar and

Deepika Padukone Deepika Padukone (; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Hindi films. She is India's highest-paid actress, as of 2023, and List of awards and nominations received by Deepika Padukone, her accolades include thre ...

Ram Kapoor Ram Kapoor (; born 1 September 1973) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi films and television. One of the highest paid television actor in India, he is known for portraying Jai Walia in ''Kasamh Se'' and Ram Kapoor in ''Bade Achhe L ...

Vivan Bhatena Vivan Bhatena (born 28 October 1978) is an Indian model and actor who appears predominantly in Hindi films. His notable films include '' Dangal'' (2016), '' Judwaa 2'' (2017) and '' Raja the Great'' (2017). Vivan won Mister India World title i ...

Vipin Sharma Vipin Kumar Sharma is an Indian actor, editor and filmmaker. He is best known for his acting roles in ''Taare Zameen Par'', ''Gangs of Wasseypur'', ''Kick'', ''Paatal Lok'' and '' Monkey Man''. Early life Sharma spent his early childhood in a ...

and

Shefali Shah Shefali Shah ( Shetty; born 22 May 1973) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Working primarily in independent Hindi films, she has received multiple local and foreign accolades for her performances. Shah's acting career star ...

play supporting roles in the film. The film's music was composed by the trio of

Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy () is an Indian musical trio consisting of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa. They have composed music for over 50 soundtracks across five languages: Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi and English. Amongst ...

, while the background score was composed by MIDIval Punditz and

Karsh Kale Karsh Kale (pronounced ''Kursh Kah-lay'', ''कर्ष काळे'' in Marathi; born 1 November 1974) is an Indian-American musician born in England. Known primarily for his experimental tabla playing within electronic music contexts, Kale ...

Plot

Karthik Narayan (

) is an introvert who lacks self-confidence, and feels trapped in his average and probably underpaid job at a

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

company owned by Mr. Kamath (

) in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. He is undergoing medical treatment from a

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

, Dr. Shweta Kapadia (

), 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 A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

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 (

) 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 A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

as his

landline A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old ...

, 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 A telephone call, phone call, voice call, or simply a call, is the effective use of a connection over a telephone network between the calling party and the called party. Telephone calls are the form of human communication that was first enabl ...

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 A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

to an unknown city in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, seeks refuge in a small hotel, and asks the

receptionist A receptionist is an Employment, employee taking an office or Business administration, administrative support position. The work is usually performed in a waiting room, waiting area such as a Lobby (room), lobby or front office desk of an organ ...

to remove the telephone as well as room number plate from his room. After a few months, Karthik is comfortably residing in

Cochin Kochi ( , ), formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. The city is also commonly referred to as Ernaku ...

with a decent new job. His life is back to normal except for the fact that he refuses to have a

phone line A telephone line or telephone circuit (or just line or circuit industrywide) is a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system. It is designed to reproduce speech of a quality that is understandable. It is the physical wire or oth ...

. However, he is forced to purchase a landline on the request of his new employer (

Yatin Karyekar Yatin Karyekar is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi films. He gained prominence for his role in the long running 1994 television serial '' Shanti''. He appeared in the role of Aurangzeb in popular Marathi serial Raja Shivchhatrapa ...

). 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 A telephone number is the address of a telecommunication endpoint, such as a telephone, in a telephone network, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). A telephone number typically consists of a sequence of digits, but histor ...

. Meanwhile, Dr. Kapadia meets with Shonali in Mumbai and reveals the shocking

plot twist A plot twist is a literary technique that introduces a radical change in the direction or expected outcome of the plot in a work of fiction. When it happens near the end of a story, it is known as a twist ending or surprise ending. It may change ...

: Karthik is actually the patient of

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

as well a multiple personality disorder, two

mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

s characterised by

abnormal In psychology, abnormality (also dysfunctional behavior, maladaptive behavior, or deviant behavior) is a behavioral characteristic assigned to those with conditions that are regarded as dysfunctional. Behavior is considered to be abnormal when i ...

social behaviour Social behavior is behavior among two or more organisms within the same species, it encompasses any behavior in which one member affects another. Social behavior can be seen as similar to an exchange of goods, with the expectation that when you ...

and failure to understand

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imagination, imaginary. Different Culture, cultures and Academic discipline, academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions abo ...

. 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 An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...

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 A suicide attempt is an act in which an individual tries to kill themselves but survives. Mental health professionals discourage describing suicide attempts as "failed" or "unsuccessful", as doing so may imply that a suicide resulting in death is a ...

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

as Karthik "Cheeku" Narayan *

as Shonali Mukharjee *

as Kamath Sir *

as Dr. Shweta Kapadia *

as Ashish *

as Landlord *

Tarana Raja Tarana Raja is an Indian actress, podcaster, writer, television anchor and radio host. She co-hosted a popular radio show in Mumbai, "Jaggu and Tarana", alongside Ashish Jagtiani (aka Jaggu). Due to the popularity of the radio program A ...

as Neelu Didi, Karthik's cousin sister * Vinay Jain as Siddharth "Sid", Neelu's husband *

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 Vidyadhar Karmakar (1925 – 20 September 2021) was an Indian stage, film and television actor. He played in many advertisements from 2006 on. Career Vidyadhar retired from the Central Telegraph office in 1984. Before he started modelling in ads ...

as Old Man at Ticket Collecting Counter *

Brijendra Kala Brijendra Kala is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is known for his subtle portrayals of characters rooted in reality. He gained attention for his small roles in mainstream cinema. Early life Kala spent his childhood in Mathura, ...

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 Nikhat Kazmi (1958/59 – 20 January 2012) was a senior correspondent and well-known film critic from, born Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, who had been writing for ''The Times of India'' since 1987. She died of breast cancer Breast cancer is a c ...

of ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' 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 Network18 Media & Investments Limited, ( d/b/a Network18 Group) is an Indian media conglomerate owned by the Reliance Industries, headed by Mukesh Ambani. Rahul Joshi is the managing director, chief executive officer and group editor-in-chief ...

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 Mayank Shekhar is an Indian film critic, journalist and author. He has been a film critic and a national cultural editor with ''Hindustan Times''. He previously worked under ''Mumbai Mirror'' and ''MiD DAY''. He also used to write a blog, ''Fad F ...

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

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 Anupama Vinod Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist and film critic who served as the festival director of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image, MAMI Mumbai Film Festival from 2015 to 2023. She is also the founder and editor of the now-de ...

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...

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 Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media, as well as his reviews for Bollywood Hungama. Career Taran Adarsh started his journ ...

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides n ...

gave the film 2.5 out of 5, calling it "a decent product with an unconvincing conclusion".

Sukanya Verma Sukanya Verma is an Indian journalist and film critic. She has been the principal movie reviewer with web portal '' Rediff.com''. She has written a number of columns as a freelance writer for ''The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English ...

Rediff.com Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

gave the film a 2.5/5 rating, praising

for his versatility, while simultaneously criticizing

for not being able to "hold a single scene on her own".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film is composed by

with lyrics penned by

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 1945) is an Indian screenwriter, lyricist and poet. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2007, two of India's highest civili ...

. 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 ''Teen patti (Hindi) or Tre Patte (Punjabi),'' (, ਤਰੈ ਪੱਤੇ, meaning 'three cards' in English) is a gambling card game. Teen Patti originated in India and is popular throughout South Asia. It originated in the English game of three ...

''. 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 The Screen Awards was an annual awards ceremony held in India, honouring professional excellence in Bollywood. The nomination and award selection was done by a panel of distinguished professionals from the industry. The awards were introduced ...

Nominated * Best Music Director – Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy ;14th

Zee Cine Awards The Zee Cine Award (ZCA) is an annual Indian awards ceremony for the Hindi film industry. They were instituted in November 1997 to award "Excellence in cinema – the democratic way". They were first held in Mumbai until 2004, when the ZCA w ...

Nominated * Best Music Director – Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy ;

3rd Mirchi Music Awards The 3rd Mirchi Music Awards, presented by Radio Mirchi, honored the best of Hindi music from the year 2010. The ceremony was held on 27 January 2011 at the Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai, and was hosted by Shaan and Sonu Nigam. The program featur ...

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

* * {{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