Me Learns To Review (MLTR) - Carthik Kalling Carthick

My previous movie review was "Luck By Chance" ages ago, and it is just a mere coincidence that this review is also about a Farhan Akhtar movie. I booked tickets for Karthick calling Karthick around 1 A.M Wednesday morning (when the online ticket counters open up) for three reasons. Deepika Padukone, Deepika Padukone's dimples, and..er...Deepika Padukone.

KCK, as I would like to call it (just for being frugal with typing), sells, or at least tries to sell itself as an intelligent movie. When there are so many movies nowadays totally disregarding logic, it is a welcome relief that the director has tried to make the audience think. The premise of the movie is simple: how a life of a total loser changes when he gets call from "himself." The first half of the movie is intriguing, and the pace is fast. The director doesn't waste too many shots in setting up the profile of Karthick. Karthick Narayan is really someone whom we could see on an everyday basis. He is a shy, honest, and down to earth guy who is bullied by his boss, unappreciated by his colleagues, and unlucky with the opposite sex, all established in the first 15 minutes of the movie. And then the phone starts ringing, the movie begins to heat up. There is a drastic difference in tone between the two halves. First half is pacy, witty, suspensy (cool word huh) and romantic. I really loved the chemistry between Farhan and Deepika. Deepika is always smiling, and you get to see the cute dimples of hers. She is at her rocking best in "uff tere ada" song. She totally epitomizes the lyrics. I reiterate, her cuteness is directly proportional to the amount of dress she wears.

In contrast, the second half is lengthy, moody, melancholy, and sans Deepika for almost the whole of it. Even if she appears, she is not smiling, so I say...whats the point! The second half was supposed to tell us the "missing pieces of the jig-saw." Even though we do come to know who is this "himself", and why "he" does it, the movie extends to another 30 mins for no apparent reason. Trust me, there are some moments where you go "oh!", but I really feel the movie could have been handled in a much more complex way. My reasoning is that if you wanted to make your audience think, why make them think at a kinder garden level? It seems as if the director seemed to run out of time, and chose an easy way to untie the knot.

I am specifically refraining from discussing the story of the movie mainly because it is a suspense movie and I don't want to spoil it. Do check it out, and we could discuss how the movie might have been made in a different way. My main disappointment is that this movie uses the same crux or concept which I am using in my novel (really!! even though I am writing only for time pass), and director or screenplay guy could have invested more time and energy to research about this topic. To compare, he should have known more about this topic than I should know. Honestly, I seem to know more.

Like other Farhan's movies, this movie is definitely not the staple diet of the mass. This movie would strictly appeal to the so called "multiplex" crowd. With Deepika portrayed as a smoker, the movie becomes urban, and with the technical parlance, the movie becomes "corporate" ( the movie) type. Weak screenplay aside, the movie has so many positives. First, the story. It is really refreshing to look at something different for a change. (read as Akshay Kumar's movies) Second, I love the way the romance is handled. It is smooth, charming and very decent. In fact, I actually can't remember the couple even kissing in the movie. When smooching, love making and other libidinous acts seem to have become a staple diet in Hindi movies where you just cringe when you see with your family or friends, this movie sets out an example as to how beautifully you can make the romance look on screen. Third, the music. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy never seem to fail in this genre; urban pop. Each of the tunes are catchy, especially my favorite "Hey Ya." The music doesn't try to stand out; it just melts with the story. Yes, no exotic location songs, no item number, in short, no bull shit.

In short, this movie could have been much much much better, and really could have been a benchmark if the screen play were handled properly. But this is definitely not an average movie by any means.

Movie By Chance

It was a nice cozy Monday evening when men were men and the sky was blue (bluish grey actually! Damn you pollution). I thought enough was enough and decided to grab a movie which was long due. (I haven’t seen a movie in a week. Now that’s bad!). Since the news papers were “slumdog millionaring” about Zoya Akhtar’s “Luck By Chance” movie, I decided to check that out.
To start with, well, we missed the first half hour of the movie. Which means, we missed Aamir Khan’s cameo, and one of my favorite songs of the movie, “Yeh Zindaghi bhi…” Even then, it wasn’t hard to pick up the story line. The story revolves around two protagonists: Farhan and Konkana Sen, who try many things to gain a foot-hold in bollywood. And it is about how their paths collide and diverge. I must give credit to Zoya, it is very rare to find a meaty role for the heroine nowadays where bollywood is making mindless movies such as CC2C.
Hrithik Roshan is at his charming best, giving a memorable performance as the super star Zafar Khan. When you see him, you may even fail to recognize whether he is playing his character or himself. Never thought I would say this, but I guess Sanjay Kapoor could act too!! Of course, how could I fail to mention Isha, the ice cream girl, Sharwani. She looks gorgeous!!!
Of all the people who had made guest appearances in this movie (and trust me, there are loads, including Manish Malhotra and Karan Johar), Shah Rukh Khan remains in your mind forever. His dialogues with Farhan epitomizes what the whole movie is all about, “when you have everything, don’t forget those who were with you when you were nothing.” So true SRK, so damn true!!!
Even though the story is not hard to understand, it is how the story flows which keeps you engrossed. It is not hard to reflect the emotions and feelings which the characters go through; they are very realistic. Although, I feel that the movie is a tad lengthy, a movie connoisseur might tell that the extra scenes are required to provide a concrete screenplay and to establish the characters. I do not want to reveal all the details here; just go to the theatre and watch it. It is worth a try, and trust me, it you had seen CC2C, you might even recommend this move for an Oscar.
It would be wrong if don’t comment about the fantastic music of Shankar, Ehsan and Loy. Even though you may feel like having a “Rock On!!” aftertaste, the songs are excellent nevertheless. I simply can’t get “Pyaar ki Dastaan” out of my head!!


My opinion: Good movie, very much needed at this time of the hour. You can relax, and enjoy the movie without uttering “what the f$%k, how’s that possible!”

My moment of the movie: There would be a scene where Rishi Kapoor will go about asking all the leading actors such as Abhishek, Vivek Oberoi, Akshay Khanna etc to act in his movie. There was this girl behind me who was going, “wowwwwww Abhishekkkkkkkk wowwwwwww Viveekkkkkkkkkkkk wowwwwwww.” Man…chooooo kuteeeeee!!!!!!! She came with her parents, so that ended there :(