Karthik Calling Karthik

Karthik Narayan, a shy and insecure man working at a construction company in Mumbai, struggles with low self-confidence and unresolved childhood trauma. He secretly loves his coworker Shonali Mukherjee, but she barely notices him. Karthik is also undergoing treatment with psychiatrist Dr. Shweta Kapadia because he believes he is responsible for the death of his older brother, Kumar, who died after accidentally falling into a well during a childhood incident.

After being publicly humiliated and fired by his boss, Mr. Kamath, Karthik falls into deep depression and decides to commit suicide. Just before doing so, he receives a mysterious phone call from someone who sounds exactly like him and claims to be another “Karthik.” The caller promises to guide him and begins calling every day at 5:00 a.m., offering advice that gradually transforms Karthik’s life. Following the caller’s instructions, Karthik gains confidence, confronts his boss and becomes a manager, overcomes his guilt, and eventually wins Shonali’s love.

However, the caller warns Karthik never to reveal the calls to anyone. When Karthik eventually tells Shonali and Dr. Kapadia, the caller becomes hostile and begins sabotaging his life. Misunderstandings lead to Karthik losing his job again, Shonali leaving him, and his finances collapsing. Believing the caller is responsible, Karthik flees to Kochi and refuses to have a telephone in order to escape him.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kapadia reveals the truth to Shonali: Karthik suffers from schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder. The brother he remembers never existed, and the mysterious caller is actually Karthik’s own alter ego. Each night, he unknowingly records voice messages for himself on his telephone and schedules them to play at 5:00 a.m., believing they are real calls when he wakes up.

When Karthik unknowingly records a threatening message to himself, he becomes so disturbed that he attempts suicide again. Shonali arrives in time to save him, and together with Dr. Kapadia, helps him begin treatment and recovery. Karthik eventually starts rebuilding his life as he learns to cope with his condition.

• Farhan Akhtar as Karthik "Cheeku" Narayan
• Deepika Padukone as Shonali Mukharjee
• Ram Kapoor as Kamath Sir
• Shefali Shah as Dr. Shweta Kapadia
• Vivan Bhatena as Ashish
• Vipin Sharma as Landlord
• Tarana Raja as Neelu Didi, Karthik's cousin sister
• Vinay Jain as Siddharth "Sid", Neelu's husband
• Yatin Karyekar as Boss at Blue Draft Courier
• Swapnel Desai as Kumar Narayan, Karthik's brother
• Zafar as Mr. Narayan, Karthik's father
• Prachi as Mrs. Narayan, Karthik's mother
• Vidyadhar Karmakar as Old Man at Ticket Collecting Counter
• Brijendra Kala as Staff at Telephone Exchange

In an effort to prepare for his role as the introvert loner Karthik, Farhan Akhtar isolated himself at home and turned off his phone.^[1] He also learned to solve the Rubik's Cube, an activity which his character completes in only one try.^[2]

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Review scores
Source	Rating
Planet Bollywood	[10]
Glamsham	[11]
Starboxoffice	[12]
Yahoo! Movies	[13]
Music Aloud	[14]

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The soundtrack of the film is composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy with lyrics written by Javed Akhtar. The soundtrack album was released on 20 February 2010.^[15]

Though the album did not get favorable critical reviews, the track "Uff Teri Adaa" created waves^[16] and topped the charts numerous times in the following months.^[17] At the box office, the music had an impact in the opening of the film, as it got a bigger opening than its competitor Teen Patti.^[18]

Before the album got released, an online copy was leaked onto the Internet. Farhan Akhtar confirmed this and requested people to not download it illegally.^[19]