Just got back from Karthik Calling Karthik - a prime example of a concept that is kinda unique but suffers due to poor execution. The film was also a tad too long - the second half dragged - they could have wrapped up the movie in 1.5 hours.
The movie is about an average guy, Karthik (played quite well by Farhan Akhtar) who takes a lot of shit from his boss, his co-workers, his landlord and basically everyone in his life and is invisible to the lady he adores from afar Shonali Mukherjee (played by Deepika Padukone). He is almost on the verge of committing suicide one day, when a phone call from himself, changes his life. Karthik starts calling Karthik regularly and changes his life for the better. He commands respect at his workplace, manages to successfully woo his lady love and stands up for himself. Life progresses very smoothly until he lets Shonali in on his secret about getting calls from himself. She persuades him to see a psychiatrist (played by Shefali Shah who has now changed the spelling of her name to Shiffali or something) but the calls start getting nasty as Karthik did not want Karthik to tell anyone about these phone calls. He now wants to wreak havoc in Karthik's life. What happens when things start getting ugly? Will Karthik ever get a break in this lifetime?
The premise of the movie is really unique and could have been really well done if the story moved a bit faster and if the direction was a bit more taut. Music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy is immensely enjoyable (am still humming "Uff teri adaa, I like the way you move" in my head). For once, I liked Ms. Padukone in a movie - she acted and showed a hint of an actress emerging from behind the pretty face (in all her other movies, I never fully believed that she was the character - a bit like Hema Malini - in every movie save a couple, she was Hema Malini). Farhan Akhtar was good - seems like he is fortifying his acting career with yet another solid performance after Rock On and Luck By Chance. However good the lead pair are, they still cannot save the movie from the weak second half and uninspired direction.
All in all, my recommendation is to wait for the DVD and save your movie money for something else.
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