A Review And A Rant

Javed Akhtar must be real proud parent. I know I would be if I had a talented son like Farhaan Akhtar. The guy is so multifaceted - can direct, act and sing! So what brought on this gush fest? The spouse and I saw 'Karthik Calling Karthik' last night. Our collective verdict is that we liked the film.

The story, set in Mumbai, deals with the life of Karthik, a young professional working in a construction company. In the first thirty minutes of the film, he's this loser who gets bullied by all and sundry. He's in love with Shonali (Deepika Padukone), an architect who works in the same company but doesn't notice him. Then his life undergoes a transformation, when, strangely, he receives a telephone call from himself! I'll stop here with the story - don't want to spoil it for you. Its not a thriller or a murder mystery, but the story does have a twist.

Farhaan Akhtar owns this film. I mean the guy is superb. Apart from the fact that he's totally yummylicious, he's a talented actor. I don't know how he does it, but he gets Karthik's body language absolutely right. Look out for this scene where he's dressed in a black suit, saunters confidently into his office and proceeds to get his life back. The sauntering is total perfection!

Deepika Padukone is improving with each film that she does. I love the characterisation of Shonali. For starters, she's an architect. Imagine what a breath of fresh air that is, when all film heroines are expected to do by way of a career, is look breathtakingly beautiful and gaze worshipfully at the leading man. Second, she's a girl about town. Smokes, drinks and frequents pubs (at ease Mr. Muthalik! This is just a movie) and isn't considered a slut for doing so. She's a level headed girl trying to make a career for herself on her own terms. Applause!

Of course there are the occasional googlies and boo-boos. But if you can overlook these, the movie is good and worth seeing.

While on the subject of movie watching, I thought I'd use some space to rant about 'cinema hall etiquette'. Agreed the movie revolved around telephones. And agreed that audience being engaged is good. But does that have to be demonstrated by NOT putting your mobile on silent mode? Also, I'm baffled why someone would spend time on the mobile when you've spent money to come watch a film? Like this PYT that was sitting next to me. She spent some 30 minutes just sending and receiving sms-es-after having arrived late. Then the movie got interesting I suppose coz she stopped. (Way to go Farhaan!).

Before I sign off on this post - do look out for a Shyam Benegal movie called 'Well done Abba'. We saw the trailor during the interval and it looks promising. It has the same feel as 'Welcome to Sajjanpur'. Its set in Hyderabad (my home town) and seems to have captured the local Hyderabadi flavour. So I'm going to watch it for sure.

(Phew! Glad I got this post written. Its been a month since I wrote anything and was getting worried that The Muse had left for good.)

This entry was posted in ,. Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to A Review And A Rant

  1. ani_aset says:

    I will watch KCK on laptop, getting mixed reviews on it. I saw Road Movie recently by Benegal too..loved it. will check out well done abba :)

  2. Deepa says:

    Do watch it and hope you like it. Road Movie is by DEV Benegal. Not Shyam Benegal. :)

  3. Asamanjam says:

    nice write-up...i have seen all the three flicks that the junior Akhtar has acted in and he is really good..

  4. Sandhya says:

    My niece also said that Karthk...is a fun movie. I like Farhan but a 'no no' for Padukone!

    I am also waiting for Benegal's movie.

  5. radha says:

    I did see the movie too, and liked it. And am surprised the reviews are bad. For one, I had no expectations, and the movie did not have too much of the usual bollywood stuff and was easier to watch.

  6. I heard mixed reviews about this one. Don't plan to catch it...

  7. Asamanjam says:

    nice write-up...i have seen all the three flicks that the junior Akhtar has acted in and he is really good..

  8. ani_aset says:

    I will watch KCK on laptop, getting mixed reviews on it. I saw Road Movie recently by Benegal too..loved it. will check out well done abba :)