The hallmark of any good mainstream movie is that the audience is able to identify with the protagonist and roots for him. The film Karthik Calling Karthik delivers well on that front.

The acting of the lead pair of Farhan Akhtar and Deepika Padukone is one of the strongest aspects of the film. Farhan shows his class as an actor yet again and proves the old adage that a good director is also a good actor. Farhan portrays all the moods and emotions of a loser to a hero to a despondent man with a lot of charm and panache. He acts as per the requirements of the script and does not go overboard even on a single instance.

Deepika is her usual self – ranging from effervescent to sad as and when needed. The supporting cast also does pretty well with Ram Kapoor carrying off the imposing boss act to almost perfection. Vivaan Bhathena does a neat job as well. Shefali Shah is her usual classy self as a psychologist.

The film’s subject is a schizophrenic person who develops an alter ego as a result of the continuous repression he faces on all fronts – at his home and his office. The fact that the protagonist Karthik’s love for Shonali, played by Deepika, goes unnoticed fuels his alter ego. The film has the audience on the tenterhooks and it is only at the dying moments of the film that people come to know that Karthik has been suffering from schizophrenia since childhood.

The background score of the film is suitable and serves to highlight the different tones and moods of the film. The trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy recreates their magic again with all the songs standing out such as He Ya and Uff Teri Ada high on popularity stakes. The lyrics are hip and contemporary.

The editing of the film is slick and the pace never sags – something that keeps the audiences on the edge of their seats. The costumes are justifiable and not loud or over the top in keeping with the sombre mood of the film. The camera work is commendable as well with the change of filters being exceptional in certain scenes like where Karthik is called for the first time when Deepika is at his residence or when Karthik is trying to install the new phone set at his Cochin residence.

The writer-director Vijay Lalwani does a neat job and follows the typical mainstream tradition of a happy and positive ending even though Karthik’s reaction to the final call could be interpreted as being contradictory. Overall he does a good job in his first film as a director. However, there are a couple of incongruities like the fact that Shonali has never noticed Karthik in spite of working with him for four years. Also it is not clear why an IIM topper, as Karthik is, would be working in a clerical post in a construction company for four long years. The director could have given some attention to the rules of the corporate world whereby an ex-employee cannot walk into an office just because he wants to. Else it is a very touching story where the audience is made to feel for the hapless man who bears the brunt of others’ mistakes and his own demons and submissive nature. The part where Karthik sells off his valuables and heads off to Cochin is brilliantly thought out as the character willingly denies himself the knowledge of that particular location so as to keep his vengeful alter ego at bay.