Bits & Bytes

Watched "Hello" recently. I had read the book "One Night @ a Call Center" on which its based long back. Strange that when I think of the book, the first thing that comes to my mind is not the story but our old rented 1BHK at SG Palya, Bangalore where i read the book. Do random things get connected like this in our minds?

That book had depicted the call center life excellently which i had experienced first hand in my first job. The Graveyard Shifts, cranky and stupid customers, attractions, uncertain future and what not. My main grouch with the book was the introduction of God in the climax and fooling the customers with the MS word quirk in the end. Just how justified was increasing the call volume for a night by a hoax which can be found out easily and then they are guaranteed to lose their jobs? And all that for saving the very same jobs which they still leave in the end. Apart from these it was a story which made a good read with all the proper masalas in right place. I disagree with people who try to write off Chetan just because his work is not intellectual enough. He spins a nice story, his writings are easier to absorb and his characters speak normally as we do. These are good enough to make me read his books.

Coming to the movie Hello, I am actually hooked to the title track “Hello Hello.. hello hello hello..” tempted to put that as my ringtone :D. The movie starts with Salman arriving for a show, dancing his usual steps (a must for Salman) and ending up shirtless (another must) at the end of the show. Interestingly, Atul Agnihotri directs the movie, Salman plays himself, Katrina plays God (dess), Sohail Khan acts as Vroom and Arbaaz Khan comes in a cameo as Amrita Arora’s husband. Now only if Malaika Arora Khan also had played an item song it would have been a complete family movie. Gul Panag plays Priyankas character. Taking into account the kind of roles she chooses, it’s hardly surprising that this role was offered to her. Not many choose the kind of role she does. I am not a fan of her acting though. She feels plastic at times. Her eyes seem inert, only her lips emote and not any other facial muscles. Even while looking sad her eyes has this blank expression. But I like her attitude a lot. She’s into a lot many things other than the movies. Which Indian can claim to have driven an F1 car other than Narain? Gul can.

The movie keeps its pace and fortunately doesn’t drag. The song in between the love making scene was an unnecessary one. The climax was bit changed with the introduction of construction workers instead of the dupatta idea. And the virus hoax was introduced in a different way which again brings me to my earlier question. The movie could do with little more polish and minus the family drama. Watch it at your own risk.