And I thought Chetan Bhagat’s One Night @ The Call Center would make a good movie. After all, it had everything packed into it-from love, to deceit, to a gripping storyline-all with a pinch of the spiritual. Coffee-book spirituality, as I put it. But then, out came this movie, and a friend dragged me along for it. And…SHIT!!! This is by far the most atrociously bad movie I have ever seen. The screenplay (by Atul Agnihotri and Chetan Bhagat, himself) is jerkier than a ride on an Agra by-lane, the music by Sajid-Wajid is only melodious to deaf ears, and the acting is just blah…
The story, in a nutshell, revolves around a group of call center employees, each bashed up by life in someway, who one night, get a call from God. So, you have Shyam (a below par Sharman Joshi) and Priyanka (hammy Gul Panag), ex-lovers who are trying to now co-exist in the same office space; Esha (Isha Koppikar, in the worst get up in movie history), a wannabe model and victim of the casting couch (oops, that was a spoiler. Go back, and try not to read that last line); Vroom aka Varun (Sohail Khan, trying and falling on his bum too hard), the cool dude who’s after Esha; Radhika (whiny Amrita Arora), a sati-savitri whose hubby dear (Arbaaz Khan) is cheating on her; and ‘Military Uncle’ (Sharat Saxena, bringing all his ‘acting talent’ to the fore), a grandpa trying to connect with his grandson by sending him pics of apes. Thrown into this is the double-crossing boss, Bakshi (played VERY loudly by Dilip Tahil), some very cheesy songs (one of which, also features, for no apparent reason, the cheating hubby dear) and the Sharman-Gul ‘steamy’ scene, which is actually much ado about nothing. Really, the Censor Board should show much more maturity, and stop creating such a furore about such idiotic things.
Oh, and, how can I forget the cameo-ing couple? Salman Khan, though hogging every hoarding in sight, has a 2 minute bit role, cameo-ing as himself, and looking older than my great grandfather. Katrina Kaif, as the narrator/God, looks divine, but even in the bit role she has, can’t act for nuts.
Overall, this is such forgettable fare, that miss it at any cost. If a friend insists on dragging you along (like was the case with me), say sorry, and kill that ‘friend’. Oh, and, if you ever happen to meet Mr Atul Agnihotri, please, please convince him to give up filmmaking…

I don’t normally watch Hindi films. The song and dance sequences just get on my nerves. But then, once in a while, if the promos look interesting enough, I do break that rule. And boy, am I happy I saw this one! The only thing identifying this one as a Hindi movie, is well, the language (and, to some extent, parts in the second half), but other than that, it really is a special movie. It gets the attitude and spirit just right, and that’s what sets it apart.
The story, though a little clichéd, is well presented, with the contrast between the youthfulness of rock and the hum-dum of a 30-something’s life really well brought out. The characters are well etched and you really start to feel for, and identify with them. They could be just about anybody from today’s youth generation.
The young star cast delivers decent performances, with Arjun Rampal as Joe, a man of few words who lets his guitar do the talking, really stealing the show. He really gets Joe’s on-stage and off-stage personas right. You get goosebumps (atleast I did, and I’m sure, all guitar fans would too) everytime you see him pick up the guitar. His fingers really have ‘Magik’ (that, by the way, is the name of the band in the movie). Farhan Akhtar, as the lead singer, is really good. Though he appears lost in some scenes, his overall act is good. Special mention of his vocals, which are simply amazing! Mr Akhtar, if ever you decide to stop directing films (I hope not!), you could easily become a rocker, and with some work, an amazing actor! Purab Kohli, as K.D. aka Killer Drummer is the typical Sharman Joshi-isque sidekick who provides ample smart-aleck moments. Only disappointment was Luke Kenny, who somehow, manages to make Rob look like a rank A nerd, especially when spouting dialogue (thankfully, he doesn’t have too many of those).
The music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is foot-tapping, though I doubt whether it’ll be able to generate the same hysteria if heard in isloation of the film. What I mean is that, even though Mssrs Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy get their power chords right, there’s something missing in the music. It all appears good onscreen just because the Aktar-Rampal-Kohli-Kenny quartet is so good.
All in all, this is a really good effort, a new-age Dil Chahta Hai, if you want to call it that. You’d have to be a fool, or not understand Hindi, to miss this one.