Karthik Calling Karthik (2010) – Movie Review

Cast – Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukone

Direction – Vijay Lalwani

Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called “The Pledge”. The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course… it probably isn’t. The second act is called “The Turn”. The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you’re looking for the secret… but you won’t find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn’t clap yet. Because making something disappear isn’t enough; you have to bring it back. That’s why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call “The Prestige”.

- The Prestige

Similar to magic tricks, a suspenseful story or play or a film has 3 parts generally termed as Act 1, Act 2 and Act 3, and having similar significance as the 3 parts of the magic trick. How about modifying the meaning of Act 3 a bit and instead of solving everything for the audience, for a change leaving it unsolved. I think it is better to leave some mysteries unsolved instead of ending them badly. Though the general audience may get disappointed because they want closure and mysteries to be solved so that they don’t think about the film at all, but not all mysteries in life get solved. IMO, Karthik Calling Karthik was just that kind of a film that would have worked better for ME if it was unsolved instead of ending in the ridiculous twist that was shown. I was hoping against hope that the director really would not reveal the twist and leave the ending open or something, because the way he was moving the story forward, I knew, the twist won’t be as exciting as the buildup was. But like I said, that would not have been generally appreciated .

The film is about Karthik (Farhan Akhtar) who blames himself for the loss of his brother in childhood and can’t concentrate and focus on his life and tries to commit suicide until he gets a phone call. Karthik Calling Karthik is a confused film, and is a clear example of a the director did not know how to carry the story forward after having thought of a brilliant idea. The film could have been a lot better if it was made into a horror thriller kind of a film just like 13 B. Instead the director chose to take the story forward in a very relaxed manner. A few scenes in the film could have really worked better if it had the horror touch to it. The concept suited the horror genre a lot. But in KCK, most of the scenes instead of giving a thrill, look more like an unintentional comedy. Like when Shefali Shah receives the phone call, I ended up laughing instead of being thrilled. I really think the film should have had that 13 B kind of touch to it.

Though I say the idea of Karthik Calling Karthik was brilliant, I must say it is very much inspired from Fight Club (David Fincher), just that we don’t see the alter ego of Karthik in this film; instead we hear his voice over the phone. I won’t call it a remake of Fight Club, it is hardly that, but yes the concept seems to be inspired. A major part of the film in the second half reminded me of No Smoking where the protagonist tries to run away from himself. But unlike No Smoking this film is not a surreal one and a confusing one.

Deepika Padukone might have looked hot yet again, but her performance was again disappointing. But more than her, it is the character she plays that disappoints. Her character in this film was more or less the same as her character in Love Aaj Kal, only a lot less important this time. She did not have much scope like Farhan in the film and all she had to do is look good on screen and dance to Uff Teri Adaa. A few scenes required a bit of acting, but she did not perform well IMO. Karthik Calling Karthik is another film where the female lead had hardly any substantial part to play in the film. With the plot mainly based on Farhan and the phone calls he gets, Deepika’s role was not given much importance. I am not saying her character was completely unneeded, but it could have been developed in a better way.

Farhan Akhtar tries to do a Surinder Sahni in the start. He plays a common man working in an office and tries to copy the mannerisms of Surinder Sahni until he goes through a complete makeover. Sadly enough, Farhan doesn’t have the charm of Shah Rukh Khan to carry off Surinder Sahni like the latter did. But once he goes through that makeover, he plays the confident character quite well.

In the end, I can only say I am disappointed with this film because the film could have been a lot more interesting and thrilling. Right now it is nothing but 2 hours of Air Conditioned Room and a Sofa Seat for the ticket price.

Striker Review

Cast – Siddharth, Ankur Vikal, Vidya Malvade, Nicollete Bird, Aditya Pancholi

Direction – Chandan Arora

Chandan Arora’s new film is very much unlike his previous two attempts – Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahati Hoon and Main Meri Patni Aur Woh. While his first two films were quite good and simple, Striker looks to be a fake attempt in showing realism.

The main problem of Striker is that it has nothing new to offer except for the game being played. Siddartha plays an ambitious person who plans to go to Dubai to make it big in life. He falls into the trap of gambling and plays carrom to earn money. I never thought carrom is such a famous or popular game that people actually bet in lacs of rupees on it. And then we have the unneeded Mumbai Communal riots in 1992 in the film. The setting and the scenes were very much inspired from ‘Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro’ film by Saeed Akhtar Mirza. Also there are some scenes in films like when Surya and his friend chat with each other on terrace which reminded me of the chemistry between the two brothers in Slumdog Millionaire.

The best part of the film was the soft and sweet romantic track between Surya and Noorie. And with a mesmerizing song sung by Sonu Niggam. Sad the entire romantic track only lasted for a few mins. Why couldn’t he make the entire film on this sweet romance?? Simplicity is where Chandan Arora excels. Sadly, the romantic part was the only segment in the film that was worth watching.

I found the performances in this film very weak. Siddharth was good in a few scenes but could not emote the angry expressions very well. But he carried himself well in most of the parts. I found Ankur Vikal, who played his friend, a bit irritating. His character was very similar to Salim in Slumdog Millionaire. But he played that character rather badly IMO. Anupam Kher again was effortless in his role. Nicollete Bird who played Sruya’s love interest was the best of the lot and gave a very natural performance. But the worst performance came from Aditya Pancholi who was playing the main mafia in the Malwaani area. He did not suit the role at all.

I hope Chandan Arora gets back to form and simplicity in his next film where he excels. Handling too many characters and situations doesn’t seem to be his strength.

ALERT – Spoiler

The Mumbai Communal riot from where the film starts was useless and did not serve any purpose. In the end it became a Sholay kind of moment where Surya, after losing his sister just like Veeru in Sholay, goes around killing all his enemies on his own and in turn helping his society. But this did not help the story and the film in anyway IMO. It was just a lame way of ending the film.

The Use of Pink – My Name is Khan Review

Cast – Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Jimmy Shergill, Arjun Mathur

Direction – Karan Johar

It is a late review of the film, so I am not writing everything about it. Most of the things have already been said about the film, so I don’t think it makes much sense to revisit them. The review might have a few spoilers as it describes a few scenes in the film.

For a change we have an Indian film where a character is suffering from a disease but we don’t have any lectures, or doctors giving lectures, on how the character would behave. SRK simply plays the role and lets the people understand on their own the behavior of the disease by seeing the mannerisms of the lead actor and hearing his voice-overs. The disease was never highlighted in the film and I really liked that fact very much.

Karan Johar tried to do something different in this film while still managing to bring in the right emotions. There is lot of emotional manipulation done in the film mostly in the second half. We can see Rizwan Khan feeling the pain of losing Sameer especially in the church scene in Georgia where he speaks about Sameer. SRK delivered a very powerful performance in the scene where he had to express sadness but could not cry because he had Asperger’s. He smiles while mentioning his son’s death and yet he manages to express his sadness. We can see tears in his eyes that were not able to come out because of his condition. In the penultimate scene where he finally meets Kajol in the hospital, a drop of tear that was waiting to come out for a long time finally drops from his eyes. So, even though the film had made some sacrifices when it came to the disease, it was very rich in emotions and worked well for me.

My Name is Khan may not be a perfect film, but it is a very brave effort by the team who almost pulled off 3/4 of the movie very well. There were some unwarranted moments like product placement of Reebok shoes in the film or the introduction of the lead characters in a suspenseful way. I don’t think that suited a serious film like MNIK at all. I don’t know what was the need for President Obama’s role in the film and if it would have mattered if SRK meets President Bush instead of President Obama. Introduction of Obama’s role unnecessarily extended the time period in the film from 2005 to 2008. Also I didn’t quite agree with the job of salesman that Rizwan Khan was asked by his brother to do. I read that autistic people don’t like meeting new people, but the job of salesman is nothing but meeting new people.

Also I don’t agree much with the screenplay of the film. I don’t think the film deserved a non-linear screenplay. It was a kind of film which should have been told in a sequential order so that the reason of the journey is clearer to the audience. It is clear to those who have seen the trailers of the film, but a few years from now, for a person who is completely unaware of the film and catches it on DVD, the non-linear timeline might not work too well.

For a change Shibani Bathija did a good job but again it was not perfect. The smaller moments like “Marry me” scenes were much better than the bigger ones like the hurricane scene. There were some cheesy dialogs like Kajol saying in the second half “Pyaar mujhe kamzor banayega, nafrat ladne ki takaat dega” which could have been written in a better way or simply could have been avoided because the film has been told mostly from Rizwan Khan’s prospective and the audience were made to sympathize for him. On one hand Rizwan traveled so much just because of her despite suffering from the disease, and on the other hand Kajol is made to say that line.

Almost everyone thinks that the Hurricane scene was useless and looked unreal. But I think the scene was used for a purpose and it served the purpose just like the Reservoir scene in Swades or the child delivery scene in 3 Idiots. These scenes were added in the films to make the character heroic in everyone’s mind. While the Reservoir scene worked well in Swades because it was film beautifully, the hurricane scene could have been made better though to make it look more real.

SRK and his chemistry with Kajol was the main strength of the film. While Kajol was very spontaneous in the first half, SRK played his character perfectly. In the second half, I thought Kajol was overacting a bit and the charm in her eyes and face was replaced by tears in the second half. I don’t know if her spitting ladoo in the ‘Sajda’ song was scripted, but her reactions were very spontaneous. SRK was superb in the entire film but the scene where he blushes after Kajol proposes and the church scene where he addresses people stand out as the best scenes in the film. The supporting cast – Jimmy Shergill, Arjun Mathur too played their parts very well. The songs were very well picturized and placed in the film.

Lastly – The use of PINK. Pink is so not my color. So, let’s leave it.

I would say the film was 7.5/10. As I said, the film was good in most of the parts, but it wasn’t a perfect one. It could have been better. But it is definitely Karan Johar’s best effort.