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Sunday, May 28, 2023
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BOLLYWOOD KARTHIK CALLING KARTHIK
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: ***
Desolation is a distant cousin to suburban seclusion. And
"Karthik Calling Karthik" is an interesting if flawed fable of the
damned.
The protagonist is Karthik (Farhan Akhtar), so timid he could merge into the
woodwork of his office if only the decor was not so much glass.
Karthik is bullied by his boss (Ram Kumar), sniggered at by his smarter
colleagues and absent-mindedly ignored by the beauty in the workplace whom
Karthik gazes at sideways and writes scores of unsent e-mailS to. She`s the
unattainable beauty.
This is the world of `Rocket Singh` without the turban and the placidity. While
Shimit Amin`s "Rocket Singh - Salesman Of The Year" was about an
office-goer who craved for acceptance, Karthik just wants to be less unhappy in
his space. It`s not too much to ask for. But who`s listening? Except a voice on
the phone that sounds suspiciously like Karthik`s to his own ear.
The build-up of Karthik`s dreary world captures the claustrophobia of suburban
existence without forgetting to add humour to the proceedings. The moments
between Karthik and the gregarious Shonali (Deepika) have that touch of lively
realism taken from lives we`ve known, lived and somewhere tried to reject.
However, the dialogues between the couple try too hard to be `cool`.
The relationship that Karthik develops with Shonali is far outdistanced in
intensity by the one that he develops with the Chinese phone set. And after a
while the `extended monologues` begin to lose their credibility.
But hold on. Debutant director Vijay Lalwani, self-assured and apparently fully
conscious of where he`s taking his story, gives us a second-half that is
gut-wrenching in its portrayal of the individual as an island.
To escape the dictatorial and tyrannical voice on the phone, Karthik buys a
ticket to an unknown city which to our visual delight, turns out to be Kochi.
Karthik rents a modest near-dingy room and begins life anew as a battered man
seeking supreme anonymity with no telephone lines to break his self-imposed
deathly stillness of existence.
The second movement of the quietly simmering plot comes to a poignant if
faltering halt in a city whose tranquility the cinematographer Sanu Verghese
embraces by a rejection of the urban chaos. However, the revelation on Karthik`s
psychological condition surprises no one except Karthik himself, and least of
all his shrink Shefali Shah.
"Karthik Calling Karthik" is a gripping jigsaw, piecing together a
mind that plays games with itself. The winner is destiny. The pace is
consciously sluggish suggesting the deep-rooted association of a vigour-less
existence with the quality of life that cities offer you in exchange for a
comfortable flat in a techno-suffused surrounding.
Farhan, the life and breath of the proceedings, epitomizes urban anonymity in
his body language, speech and hesitant attempts to reach out to a world that has
no patience with the over-sensitive.
Farhan`s is indeed a super-confident performance as a man lacking
self-confidence. The film itself doesn`t lack self-assurance. But the absence of
what one may call an energetic exterior could well be mistaken by some viewers
as ingrained inertia, a malaise that the film`s protagonist suffers from.
Do not mistake the man for the plot.
Farhan Akhtar and Deepika Padukone's promotional tour for "Karthik Calling Karthik" in Surat turned ugly Sunday after mediapersonsRead More
Does Farhan have a double role in 'Karthik...'?If you are wondering whether Farhan Akhtar has a double role in "Karthik Calling Karthik", continue speculating for some time.Read More
Meet Karthik: an introvert by nature and shy by choice. Karthik suffers with huge confidence issues and is miserable at his just average job that yields less than average results.
His boss treats him like dirt. Shonali, his colleague who he secretly loves doesn’t even know he exists. Karthik is a loser, knows it, and accepts it.
Karthik believes his life cant get any worse and then suddenly one night, it happens; The phone rings. And Karthik speaks to someone he never though he would - He speaks to a man who also claims to be Karthik. The man on the phone says that he is here to change Karthik’s life.
Karthik accepts the phone in his life and soon it becomes his guide, his mentor, friend and guardian. And most importantly it becomes the ticket to the love of his life, Shonali and Karthik’s life changes in ways that he hadn’t imagined.
