Chetan Bhagat’s novel, “One night @ the call centre” was a good read, and proved to be one of the best-sellers in India. The story was about the call centre executives, but the essence of the story was to give the reader a lesson on the key to success. The book looks to charge up the reader, and gear him up on his way to success.
When the news was out that this very book is being turned into a motion picture, all the Chetan Bhagat fans, the readers of the books, including me, were eagerly waiting for it’s release, rubbing their palms. But if you have read the book, then, the movie will disappoint big time. Atul Agnihotri has missed one important ingredient of the story, and that is, it’s Soul.
Cut then to Connexions, a call centre, that is in troubled waters, and planning job-cuts (Co-incidently, the timing of the movie release is at the time of world economy crisis). The movie starts by introducing the six characters, one by one… and defining their characters. Shyam, [Sharman Joshi] is the most significant character, hard-working, and aspiring to start his own web-site company. His close buddy and colleague, Varun [Sohail Khan], is an easy-going guy, who loves bikes, and that’s the reason why he’s fondly called as Vroom by his friends. Priyanka [Gul Panag], one-time girlfriend of Shyam, dumps Shyam and agrees to marry an NRI working in Microsoft. Isha [Isha Khoppikar] is an aspiring Model, who works hard to realize her dreams during the day, and works part-time in the call centre to make some money. Radhika [Amrita Aurora] is a married woman, serving her mother-in-law but still a prey of the tantrums of the mother-in-law. Last but not the least, the Military Uncle [Sharat Saxena], a retired army officer, who is abandoned by his son, and bars him from even sending emails to his grandson.
The lives of all these executives is in total mess, and if that was not worse, they find themselves caught-up in a construction site, with their vehicle hanging on a few iron-bars … living on the edge between life and death. This is when they receive a call from the “GOD”. The call that is supposed to transform them, and teach them the keys to success, and also, make teach them to help themselves to overcome their messed up lives.
But the movie fails big-time in the direction, and portraying of the story. Shyam is supposed to be projected with a low self-esteem, who has lost his self-belief, because of his Boss, Mr. Bakshi [Dilip Tahil], who is always looking down upon him. But neither the characters of Shyam, nor of Mr. Bakshi, are able to fulfill this aspect of the story. Some of the important moments of the stories, like Shyam and Vroom, finding the truth about Ganesh’s appearance, and Priyanka realizing that he had fiddled with his matrimonial snap. This cheating on his part triggers Priyanka to re-think about Shyam. But the story in the movie sees no place for this. The miracle call, is supposed to charge the six executives to help themselves out of the construction site, and later on their messed up lives. But the most defining moment of the story – The Call from the GOD, is done very meekly, and leaves no impact on the audience… The real strength of the story is totally wasted by the director. Atul Agnihotri could have tried to accommodate some of these important parts of the story, instead of cramming the movie with the Item-type songs that comes with no head and tail.
It makes the audience wonder if the director had actually read the Bhagat’s book before working on the script. The narration of the story is done by Katrina Kaif, (the beautiful girl that narrates the story to Chetan Bhagat, in his book). At the end of the story, when this girl just vanishes in the air, it is supposed to keep the reader guessing and wonder if this girl is actually the GOD! The same was expected when Katrina Kaif vanishes. But the aunty sitting besides me said “Oh my God! She is a ghost!!” This perhaps explains the failure on the part of the director. All the best Mr. Director.
My Rating: *
When the news was out that this very book is being turned into a motion picture, all the Chetan Bhagat fans, the readers of the books, including me, were eagerly waiting for it’s release, rubbing their palms. But if you have read the book, then, the movie will disappoint big time. Atul Agnihotri has missed one important ingredient of the story, and that is, it’s Soul.
Cut then to Connexions, a call centre, that is in troubled waters, and planning job-cuts (Co-incidently, the timing of the movie release is at the time of world economy crisis). The movie starts by introducing the six characters, one by one… and defining their characters. Shyam, [Sharman Joshi] is the most significant character, hard-working, and aspiring to start his own web-site company. His close buddy and colleague, Varun [Sohail Khan], is an easy-going guy, who loves bikes, and that’s the reason why he’s fondly called as Vroom by his friends. Priyanka [Gul Panag], one-time girlfriend of Shyam, dumps Shyam and agrees to marry an NRI working in Microsoft. Isha [Isha Khoppikar] is an aspiring Model, who works hard to realize her dreams during the day, and works part-time in the call centre to make some money. Radhika [Amrita Aurora] is a married woman, serving her mother-in-law but still a prey of the tantrums of the mother-in-law. Last but not the least, the Military Uncle [Sharat Saxena], a retired army officer, who is abandoned by his son, and bars him from even sending emails to his grandson.
The lives of all these executives is in total mess, and if that was not worse, they find themselves caught-up in a construction site, with their vehicle hanging on a few iron-bars … living on the edge between life and death. This is when they receive a call from the “GOD”. The call that is supposed to transform them, and teach them the keys to success, and also, make teach them to help themselves to overcome their messed up lives.
But the movie fails big-time in the direction, and portraying of the story. Shyam is supposed to be projected with a low self-esteem, who has lost his self-belief, because of his Boss, Mr. Bakshi [Dilip Tahil], who is always looking down upon him. But neither the characters of Shyam, nor of Mr. Bakshi, are able to fulfill this aspect of the story. Some of the important moments of the stories, like Shyam and Vroom, finding the truth about Ganesh’s appearance, and Priyanka realizing that he had fiddled with his matrimonial snap. This cheating on his part triggers Priyanka to re-think about Shyam. But the story in the movie sees no place for this. The miracle call, is supposed to charge the six executives to help themselves out of the construction site, and later on their messed up lives. But the most defining moment of the story – The Call from the GOD, is done very meekly, and leaves no impact on the audience… The real strength of the story is totally wasted by the director. Atul Agnihotri could have tried to accommodate some of these important parts of the story, instead of cramming the movie with the Item-type songs that comes with no head and tail.
It makes the audience wonder if the director had actually read the Bhagat’s book before working on the script. The narration of the story is done by Katrina Kaif, (the beautiful girl that narrates the story to Chetan Bhagat, in his book). At the end of the story, when this girl just vanishes in the air, it is supposed to keep the reader guessing and wonder if this girl is actually the GOD! The same was expected when Katrina Kaif vanishes. But the aunty sitting besides me said “Oh my God! She is a ghost!!” This perhaps explains the failure on the part of the director. All the best Mr. Director.
My Rating: *
