Karthik Calling Karthik

Watched this movie 'Karthik Calling Karthik' last night on video and wondered what was wrong with these guys. Did the director forget his twist or did he get to the end hoping that something would turn up? I am certain that the director had no clue what happens in the end until he got there.

Anyway, it's about a loser Karthik played by Farhan Akhthar, who dwells in a fine place by any standards, forget losers, and gets bullied by everyone especially his obnoxious boss Ram Kapoor who does everything illegal under the Sun - from selling illegal lands for 80 crores (which dimwit would buy illegal lands for 80 crores I wonder) to having affairs without wife knowing. Karthik also writes countless mails (but does not send them; he only saves them as drafts) to the good looking Ms. Smiley eyes, Deepika Padukone, a big time architect who specializes in having relationships with all the losers in the world. If it is not married men who look like confirmed wife beaters, it is completely deranged characters she falls in love with, proving once agin that good looking women make bad choices especially when it comes to men. But to her credit she is not one to be kept down and she hops merrily from one relationship to another within a few days, open to late night binges at pubs and sleepovers with 'unsafe' boys.

Now, the twist in the tale. Hold your breath. Karthik, who does not own a mobile phone due to scientifically proven reasons, gets calls on his new landline from another Karthik at exactly 5 in the morning telling him how to resurrect his life. This Karthik knows everything about loser Karthik, including the color of his socks and how long he has worn them - almost like he is living under this chap's clothes. Loser Karthik suddenly changes over with his new information - changes clothes, muscles his boss into giving him a promotion (when he actually got sacked just last week), gets the babe, gets the money and gets to sing songs, go to discos, drink wine, sleep with good looking women etc. I have to say this, but the chemistry between the loser Karthik and Shonali urf Shona is colder than a dead fish.

Then something unsavoury happens and the loser Karthik offends winner Karthik who does not like this and loser gets chewed. Job goes, babe goes, money goes, car goes, petrol goes, clothes goes...everything that can go goes.

The audience also gets chewed by the end of it. Dead older brothers, sudden getaways to Cochin, female psychiatrists who pay him visits at 5 in the morning to check his story, a new version of incognito where even he does not know where he is and what he is and who he is thanks to a pair of really really dark glasses, there are more twists here. The only thing in favour of the director is that the end is so obvious that you double think and tell yourself that it can't be so obvious. I mean you can predict the final twist twenty minutes into the story!!

Moral of the story: The director reaffirms one thing - never listen to the woman when things are going well in your life. You'll get chewed! Also, I did not tell you the end because I do want you to see it. I don't want to be part of a small select club that has seen this movie - I'd rather be part of a big club.