Karthik Calling Karthik

Karthik works in an engineering office. He is withdrawn, cannot speak up, is pushed around at work and can say nothing to the woman he loves. One night the telephone rings. The caller says he is Karthik, and says he will call every morning at five and tell him what to do. The advice works. Karthik rises, talks to the woman, his life changes. Then what the voice wants begins to change. Vijay Lalwani writes and directs. Farhan Akhtar plays Karthik and Deepika Padukone plays Shonali. The construction is a thriller with a turn revealed at the midpoint, after which the narrative becomes something else entirely. What concerns it is mental health and medication. In mainstream Indian cinema the subject is usually either comic material or an element of melodrama; this film makes it the subject and takes it seriously. Farhan Akhtar was working as both director and actor in those years, and this is among the quietest performances of his career. The music is by Shankar Ehsaan Loy. Its weakness is the ending; the narrative speeds up as it resolves the tension it built and skips some links. Who it is for: viewers who like Indian thrillers and psychological narratives. Who it is not for: the second half drops for a viewer who guesses the turn, and the romantic strand slows the narrative.