Call Centre - Review

Kanmani, who had directed Chinnodu, for Lokesh again joined hands with the same producer for Call Centre. This time, the subject he was given was a youthful entertainer which revolves around the lifestyle of the present day youth who work in call centres in metro cities. The entire subject is mostly based on screenplay which was handled by the director himself. However, the film has failed to impress either the youth or the general audiences due to the haphazard movement of the subject dealt in an amateurish way.

Krishna (Vamsikrishna) and Swati (Priyanka) complete their graduation and hail from a village. Their common friend Srinivas helps them to get a job in a call centre with a monthly salary of Rs 15,000. They go to the city and join for a job. Krishna stays with his friend Srinivas and Munna, Window and Mangal are their roommates. Before joining the job, Krishna promises to send money to his parents. But Krishna's roommates make him to taste the night life in a city. So Krishna gets addicted to drinking and smoking. As almost all the employees of the call centre work for American companies, they adopt the western culture and it is very common among them to move freely. At times, the girls and boys get involved in romance also. On watching all this, Krishna to wants to romance with a girl. As he did not have much acquaintance with other girls, he takes Swati to a pub. After having drunk Vodka, he advances towards Swati and being a village belle, she refuses him and slaps him. Irked by this, Krishna befriends another girl Puja (Puja) and this trick further widens the gap between Krishna and Swati. Once he is on the way to a pub with Puja and the bike gives him much trouble. Another boyfriend of Puja takes her away. After going to his place to pick up Puja, Krishna finds Puja sharing bed with that boyfriend and Krishna could not digest it. This makes him realise how foolishly he behaved with Swati. However, he could not convince Swati that he had had no affair with Puja. He decides to convince Swati through Puja. However, the trick boomerangs as the doctors find that she is pregnant. Later, Puja's parents chide her for her behaviour and she in a bad mood decides to commit suicide. Both Puja and Krishna meet with an accident. The film ends on a happy note with Swati being convinced that Krishna is a gentleman.

PLUS:
The director's intention is to explain that all those who work in a call centre are not morally weak, but only a handful of people are bad. At the same time, the director's attempt to prove how the youth are getting spoiled due the western culture is also good. As far as performance, none of the artistes could put up a nice acting. Immaturity is very widely visible in their faces. Puja has to a certain extent did well. In fact, it is not the hero but his friends who have given a nice performance all through the film with good comedy timing. Cinematography by Anji is a saving grace for the movie. He was able to capture the pub culture and the city life well with his camera.

MINUS:
Vamsikrishna, who did not have so impressive a role in Happy Days played the solo hero in this film and he needs to improve his body language and histrionics further. Priyanka is not glamorous and has no scope to perform. Especially she has a very flat face and could not emote well in any scene. Music by Sai Karthik, a protege of Manisharma, is good in parts and a couple of songs are foot-tapping. Re-recording is improper and it could not elevate the mood in any of the scenes, especially in serious scenes.

REMARKS:
Director Kanmani has failed to learn from the past mistakes. Though the storyline and the message the director wants to give to the society is good but their presentation on the screen is not impressive. Despite the fact that the film is mostly based on screenplay, it was not written in a tight manner and there are many loose ends to it. Especially, the director could not establish the love / friendship thread between the hero and heroine. Even the climax is very unconvincing and it is not properly explained how the heroine realises that the hero is innocent and good. Moreover, the lengthy speech of Kota Srinivasa Rao on the call centre bores the audiences, though the entire crux and storyline of the film was embedded in it.

Cast: Vamsi Krishna, Puja, Priyanka, Vijayanand and others

Credits: Story and dialogues : Yalamanchi Sridhar, Music : Sai Karthik, Lyrics :Bhaskarabhatla, Kandikonda, Bandaru Danayya, Cinematography : Anji, Editing : Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao, Presents : Spark Animations Pvt Ltd., Producers : Katragadda Lokesh Dutt and Yarlagadda Venkata Ratnakumar (Yarlee), Screenplay and direction : Kanmani.

Banner: Sri Sai Balaji Arts

Released on: September 11, 2008