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List of Karthik Calling Karthik Reviews
Ratings:2/5 Reviewer:Rajeev Masand Site:IBNLive
For a substantial portion of Karthik Calling Karthik, writer-director Vijay Lalwani succeeds in keeping you reasonably intrigued. But this is not an easy film to appreciate. Part-office romance part-psychological study, Karthik Calling Karthik never quite succeeds in striking a consistent tone. Despite its promising premise, the film ultimately fails to work because of a clumsy screenplay that doesn't know which way to go. Despite its snail-like pace, you are hopeful the film will culminate in a thrilling discovery, but the central conceit is a disappointing letdown, not to mention impossibly far-fetched. In the end, Karthik Calling Karthik appears confused and half-baked, and it commits that deadly unforgivable cinematic sin -- it bores you!. I'm going with a generous two out of five for director Vijay Lalwani's Karthik Calling Karthik. Hang up, it's a wrong number.Visit Site for More
Ratings:2.5/5 Reviewer:Taran Adarsh Site:BollywoodHungama
Have you ever received a call from yourself? Is it possible in the first place? There are several theories doing the rounds about the two Karthiks in this movie. KARTHIK CALLING KARTHIK works in parts, but during the penultimate part, when the story shifts from Mumbai to Kerala, the sand castle, so beautifully built by debutante director Vijay Lalwani, gets washed away. One doesn't want to challenge the behavioural patterns of a person with a certain disorder, but when it comes to the big screen, when you are narrating a story on celluloid, you need to do a lot of spoon-feeding and make it look convincing. In this case, unfortunately, the finale is just not convincing and therefore, acts as a spoilsport.On the whole, KARTHIK CALLING KARTHIK is a decent product with an unconvincing conclusion. Watch it for the wonderful performances of Farhan and Deepika, if you have to. Caters to the youth in metros mainly.Visit Site for More
Ratings:3.5/5 Reviewer:Nikhat Kazmi Site:TimesOfIndia
Farhan Akhtar is turning out to be a revelation as an actor. As Karthik, the cube farm animal (read office nobody) who lives a drab life in a drab house doing drab work, he is absolutely stunning. As does his chutzpah, when he metamorphoses into the other, more savvy and socially adept Karthik who may be the nice and safe guy but definitely not the boring guy. At one level. Vijay Lalwani's film is immensely watchable, purely for the class act by Farhan Akhtar in the title role. Where it doesn't work is the entertainment factor. The screenplay does tend to get a bit clunky and the drama somewhat heavy as the director looks for text book resolutions of the teasing problem. But, by and large, there is a thrill factor that keeps the momentum on. In the mood for serious cinema? Watch Karthik Calling Karthik.Visit Site for More
Ratings:2/5 Reviewer:Khalid Mohammed Site:Passionforcinema
Vijay Lalwani’s Karthik Calling Karthik, in principle an enterprise of potential. In fact, you’re all keyed up for a psycho-thriller which seeks to yoke matters of the heart with a disturbed mind. Dilwala meets Cuckoo? Huh, terrific. Sorry to say, your high hopes crashland. The effort to get close to the main protagonist’s mind jungle is a bungle. Okay, so he plays around with a Rubik’s Cube. So what?.To be fair, the screenplay does kick off engrossingly enough, describing the daily beat of meek Karthik The last section of this overly-long 16-reeler, alas, places your teeth at edge. The screenplay becomes ridiculous,. Plus, who-cares-for-the-viewer editing cuts are used to skip over the rank implausibilities of the plot. Although the dialogue is hip, the twists and turns of the dramaturgy are anything but. To elaborate on this aspect would mean too many spoilers. Suffice it say, you can’t understand why there are so many repetitions of, “Are you mad?”, “Are you okay”, “You need help.”Visit Site for More
Ratings:2.5/5 Reviewer:Sukanya Verma Site:Rediff
Lalwani runs out of ideas and till intermission KCK seems to be heading nowhere. Pace is one of the film's recurring problems. It's unnecessarily pensive and long-winded for its genre. Things get dark and creepy in the second half when the Karthik-Karthik pact takes a beating. This is when Lalwani comes in his element and shows a flair for gritty thrillers without resorting to cheesy exaggeration or relying on excessive technique He, to my disappointment, opts for a rather squishy third act as opposed to the threatening climax I had anticipated. While Lalwani deserves a pat for working around an unusual, intriguing plot, he fails to sustain the same with substantial meat or layers. He, to my disappointment, opts for a rather squishy third act as opposed to the threatening climax I had anticipated. While Lalwani deserves a pat for working around an unusual, intriguing plot, he fails to sustain the same with substantial meat or layers.Visit Site for More
Ratings:2.5/5 Reviewer:Anupama Chopra Site:NDTV
Debutant writer-director Vijay Lalwani creates some seriously creepy moments here. He successfully transforms an ordinary telephone into a malevolent instrument. I also enjoyed the romance between Karthik and Shonali, who is far more daring and feisty than him. Deepika Padukone finally seems to be thawing in front of a camera.But sadly Karthik Calling Karthik works neither as a romance nor as a thriller. The drawn-out love track only stalls the suspense as do the unnecessary songs, especially in the second half.The characters don’t engage you emotionally and the mystery isn’t thrilling enough. The pacing is uneven but the fatal flaw is the limp resolution.Karthik Calling Karthik isn’t a bad film but it isn’t very good either.Visit Site for More
Ratings:1/5 Reviewer:Shubhra Gupta Site:IndianExpress
Karthik Calling Karthik' is actually two films. One, an office romance between a colourless drone and a beautiful colleague who notices him only when the boss lashes out at him in public. And the other about a guy who hears voices in his head and gets strange phonecalls from someone who claims to be him. Karthik calling Karthik, geddit? It could have been one film if first time director Vijay Lalwani had kept the writing and the tone consistent as he went about building the plot points. But there’s really no steady progression, just staccato sequences where Karthik ( Akhtar) and Shonali ( Padukone) go from happy to fractious within nanoseconds.Visit Site for More
Ratings:3.5/5 Reviewer:Shweta Parande Site:Buzz18
Writer-director Vijay Lalwani has made KCK with a lot of love. Its Hollywood style treatment is good and so is the editing. It's an old story in a new format, but the humour in the dialogues makes it watchable. The cinematography also does the trick.The film makes you sympathise with Karthik. And yes, you get the jitters every time the phone rings. Even the shrink (played by Shefali Chhaya) runs away from it!The director has effectively been able to make a thriller out of a story about the games our mind plays. The treatment is edge of the seat and smooth.Even though it's pretty clear by the interval what the film is about, the suspense remains till the end. You don't know till the end if it's about something supernatural or not. Watch the film to know the truth.Visit Site for More
