Hello (2008)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Sorry, this movie sucks

Instant Favorite.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This is an extraordinary film. From the original concept of the novel on which it is based (one night @ the call center), the story by Chetan Bhagat but especially the masterful creation and direction of the film by Atul Agnihotri. From the opening moments until the final scene, the audience was fully engaged. I was completely lost in the world that Atul Agnihotri had created. This is not a story that has been told and retold, hashed and rehashed. It is fresh and engaging - all at once quickly moving, romantic, violent, culturally insightful, desperate and slightly fantastic. There are some comic elements to the film but to describe it as a "comedy" seems inappropriate. I think word of mouth will give it lift off! Too bad it's a limited run. Somebody need to get behind this movie, if for no other reason than it has all the makings of a great, classic feel everything movie.Thank you Atul and all involved. You made magic!

Hello offers an enticingly original presentation of familiar tales by utilizing a flashback system of storytelling that fuses exhilarating adventure with suspenseful drama. Many of the scenarios created are nothing new, but the fantastical delivery and extraordinary setting undoubtedly provide a refreshing take on more traditional themes.Hello's finest accomplishment lies within a unique method of flashback storytelling that perfectly complements the line of questioning presented during the film. Hello presents a recognizably surefire love story between Shyam and Priyanka that has been seen before. But the process in which it is used - the method of storytelling - is wholly original and genuinely entertaining. A rare setting, a coming of age flashback setup, and wonderfully developed characters make Hello a winning fantasy of unyielding love. It knows when to provoke emotions through heartache, musically driven segments and ardent drama, and knows how to keep the viewer captured by the beauty of love's destiny.The acting is sublime. Sohail Khan perform naturally and is outstanding, particularly in the scene where he and Sharman interact. Sharman Joshi is brilliant and confident and holds his own against the more experienced actors. Ditto for Gul penag. It has been more than a decade since I've seen Sharat Saxena do any decent acting in any decent movie. Here, he seems to be back on track and delivers one of his best works . Esha Koppikhar is getting typecast but she is effective and Amrita Arora is good...There is not one boring moment, and you will be moved to tears by the end of it..i would happily state any negative points I could think of, fortunately I cant. Go watch it you will not be disappointed!! :)

Of course. Agree to that fact that, even though you cant judge a book by its movie and movies cant live up to the book at all. (except Godfather and Gone with the Wind). What if you make a movie out of a _________ book (fill in the blanks) that has gained enough popularity un-necessarily. The only good thing about this "one night @ a call Centre" authored by Chetan Bhagat is that i could finish the book straight three hours. No more comments on the book anymore.On top of that you have the author of the book being the scriptwriter, then this got me thinking, why would i purposely spoil my own product?? As the author would be thinking "Dont i love what i am creating, I have already created a book which people have not liked too much, and some people have. Now I will write for the movie too. Make it even worse and look at the box office figures the audience loves it." Clearly, not one of my best movies that i watched, but the experience of watching this movie Hello was good, because I watched for some Rs. 60 /- balcony where people the audience was actually directing Sharman Joshi what exactly to be done in the car with Gul Panag, during a censor board certified sex scene in the movie.Gul Panag is not any more counted as one of my favourite actress. Post Dor, it was her performance that bowled me over. But after this movie, it was just about nothing.

Let's face it. The book is amazing but the film isn't. The film based on bestseller novel by Chetan Bhagat, "One night @ Call center" is also termed as pulp-fiction classic of modern Indian English Writing. The makers deserve an applause for looking beyond conventional Bollywood story lines backed by star-power and instead went for a popular book adaptation depicting a contemporary, burning issue about today's youth. It has everything viz. the conflicts, the love, the breakups, the struggle at various levels, the battle at various fronts and emerging a winner by the end. The basic plot in one line is-six agents working in a call center one night received a call straight from God. Interesting?? The original book though not a masterpiece but has enough material to keep readers glued till the last page and rightly balanced with some concrete message and moral.There are though few things that worked in film adaptation. Firstly, choosing an interesting subject as film premise since here the plot itself has enough Masala that could give any Bollywood potboiler a run for its money. Collaborating with Chetan Bhagat on screenplay helped in covering all the key contents of the novel. Plus it insures a novelty in story telling. Also the basic plot and premise is not tampered with and is kept intact with an exception of including Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif's unnecessary characters instead of original ones, who are out of place but then being "Sutradhaars" they can't really hamper the narrative. Even the book has an over the top Climax when mammoth problems are resolved in a quick fix way making the boy-next-door central characters emerging as super-heroes. This film does not give you a glimpse of working in call center industry even the book also doesn't but book provides necessary backdrop as it was written with some homework. That homework is not done before filming. Therefore, the positive things end here. Rest that follows is completely bizarre. It is quite inevitable not to compare the film with the book. Accepted that it is not an easy task to bring the mental state of characters of a novel so vividly described in novel to be brought out by sheer performances with limited spoken words. Firstly, the casting is gone wrong. Either Actors are not briefed properly or simply they did not get it but apart from two performances- Sharman Joshi (Good) and Gul Panag (Average) others just shuffle between high pitch drama to stupid humor with the drop of a hat. They look like they emerge straight from a street Play, including supporting cast of a Boss, a technical supervisor, heroine's mother etc-ranging from funny to caricatures to simply buffoons. The type of houses the agents live in or the type of attitude they portray is quite contrary to the actual ones who slog for that fifteen K a month living in a Metro. See one instance, a slight provocation from a caller leads to an agent jumping on to his Ma..Behan is … the least you can expect for the actual ones in this profession..The call center appears more like a club, where a bunch of employees fool around and flirt, play jokes or talk so casually that it is hard to believe if it is a work place. The sombre, sober reasonable approach of book is replaced with stupid, loud, over the top humor killing all the seriousness about the essential issues that story addresses. The smart witty Characteristic English one liners are replaced by crass filmy dialogs showing there is lot lost in translation. Production values are shoddy. It is perhaps first time that I can't see any breakthrough in the work of ace cinematographer Sanjay F. Gupta. There are item numbers that hamper the pace and still the music is not great. The brisk and lively pace that one finds in the book is replaced with a sluggish one. The book has a sort of socialist-Marxist point of view, which speak against the increasing materialism and capitalism propagated by rich, western world. Expecting the same in a Hindi film is a bit too much to ask for as at this point we can say that book is the writer's medium and film, the director's. Yes, coming to final point, finger for spoiling the show can be pointed at sloppy direction (Director Atul Agnihotri). The sensibility and maturity to handle the subject is simply missing. A lot more careful and sensitive approach was expected.All in all the film just does not live up to the expectations of an average reader who has munched the book.