Movie name: Hello

Directed by: Atul Agnihotri

Cast: Katrina Kaif, Arbaaz Khan, Isha Koppikar, Amrita Arora, Sharman Joshi

Showing at: City Pride Satara Road, Fame Akurdi, Mangala, Inox, Gold Adlabs,

E-Square, City Pride Kothrud One night in a call centre, there comes a phone call. Really, a phone call in a call centre, cries Salman Khan (playing himself), in mock amazement. Pretty laptop-toting story-teller (Katrina Kaif) smiles mysteriously, and begins her yarn. And as yarns go, it isn't too bad. The trouble with Hello, based on Chetan Bhagat's mega-seller, is that isn't too good either.

It's a dark rainy night, and Shyam aka Sam (Sharman Joshi) is hurting because the love of his life Priyanka (Gul Panag) has said yes to a rich NRI. Varun aka Vrroom (Sohail Khan) has his eye on Esha (Isha Koppikar), but all she wants is to become a model. Radhika (Amrita Arora) tries to please her horrible mom-in-law by day, and pops anti-depressants by night because her husband is a two-timing cad. And Military Uncle (Sharat Saxena) is upset because his US-based son wants to have nothing to do with him.

These sad sack call-centre agents rattle around in a large room with work stations placed miles apart. That's a total wrong number. Except for a barmy systems guy, and smarmy boss (Dalip Tahil), there doesn't seem to be a soul else in Atul Agnihotri's scheme of things: He's clearly not aware of all those rows and rows of super-busy souls-sitting elbow-to-elbow, nattering the night away on their headphones and mikes-that seem to be more the norm in these nocturnal work hives echoing with faux American accents.

... contd.