Hello

When I heard they were a making a movie on the book "One Night at the Call Centre", I knew I had to watch this movie. Come on, isn't it about time our Bollywood looked other than foreign movies for inspiration?Moreover, it is one of my fav books.Honestly, I had mixed expectations from the movie.On one hand Atul Agnihotri ( A not so great director with acting skills best left unsaid)was on the helm of things and on the other hand the screenplay and dialogues were being written by Chetan Bhagat( the author of the original book). Hello... is a tale about the events that happen one night at a call center. Told through the views of the protagonist, Shyam, it is a story of almost lost love, thwarted ambitions, absence of family affection, pressures of a patriarchal set up, and the work environment of a globalized office.Shyam is losing his girl friend because his career is going nowhere as he trudges his way around in a call center. His girl friend, Priyanka, is also an agent like him at the call canter who is about to be snatched by an NRI techno geek.There is also the aspiring model, Esha, who is hopping for the break that seems to be always already eluding her and the man about town, Vroom, who is into well, things. The housewife, Radhika, who is constantly at the receiving end of her mother-in-law and a beleaguered grandfather, Military Uncle, who has been barred from interacting with his grandchild make up the rest of the call agents who see their worlds crumbling around them as the decisions of right sizing are conveyed by Bakshi, the boss.It is a night when dreams will finally crumble. Or will it? For there is that call from God. Narrated as a tale within a tale as a beautiful woman meets the auteur narrator and promises him a story on the condition that he has to narrate it further. And boy did the movie disappoint. In fact, it sucks from first 10 minutes itself. The way Salman and Katrina interact makes you wonder ?yeh kya ho raha hai??.The whole thing seems so farce and forced. And that?s the problem, often things seem so in the movie. Hardly anything seemed real or you could relate with(one of the main plus points of the book).The problem seemed in both direction and writing.(I expected better from Mr.Bhagat) In fact there are one corny dialogues after the other. Just check this ? When Priyanka reveals her marriage plans and Shyam walks away disappointed, Esha exclaims ?Great news.?.To which Vroom responds ?Great news aur breaking news mein fark hota hai.?Man! When Katrina switches on her laptop, Sallu asks( without checking the laptop)?You are checking your mails, huh??(err ? is that the only purpose people use their laptops for?)She looks up,smiles and after few seconds says ?emails?(Wow, the most intelligent answer I have ever heard). The movies gets better in the latter portions as the story catches up and things begin to happen. But still direction leaves a lot desired in these parts too. Quite a few scenes could have been handle better. Shyam?s evil conscience, revealing boss? real plans, Esha takling about her life, etc either don?t convince or seem too sudden. Comong to performances, Sohail,Sharmaan and Esha do a decent job. Gul doesn?t convince and could have given a little more life in her potrayal(or maybe it was just bad direction). And seriously I cant believe anyone actually thought of Amrita as an ideal Indian bahu.The sets with red and orange walls look quite out of place. This movie is a perfect example of a good story handled amatuerishly.