Hello has been buzzing around the circuits for quite a while now. Based on Chetan Bhagat’s ‘One Night at a Call Centre’ it stars Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sohail Khan, and Sharman Joshi. With an undermine of comedy and a style statement to the film, Hello has promised to be a thrilling joyride. What we are here to find out – as with all other movies – is if it has lived up to the expectations.

The starting of this film is “bang” on with a shirtless and stylish Salman dancing to a zingy number 'Bang Bang'. As it extends, you start to get a good feeling that hopefully this one will not let you down. Salman Khan character meets a mysterious, beautiful woman, played by Katrina Kaif, who promises him a story on the condition of him continuing it further. Hmmm…interesting. You’re feeling quite good now. You’re actually enjoying it. It isn’t an Abbas-Mustan with a new twist in every fifteen minutes nor is it a Yash Raj with classic fights and dialogues. It is simply an original Atul Agnihotri.

Hello is like a duo-track movie. It’s a story running along within another story. You can’t really come to the main plot because it has many parallel sub-plots.

Shyam's (Sharman Joshi)girlfriend, Priyanka (Gul Panag), is leaving him because of his flailing career. She herself wants to marry an NRI instead. Touché. Vroom (Sohail Khan) is in love with Esha (Eesha Koppikar) who is obsessed with becoming a model. Radhika (Amrita Arora) bares her mother-in-laws antics while her husband, Arbaaz Khan's character, is cheating on her. Sharat Sexana plays the role of Military Uncle and is a melancholic grandfather who can not meet his son.

These six people all work together at the Call Centre and when they get a call to get there on a rainy night, the group heads out. What they don’t know is that the one call they’ll be getting that night is from… wait for it… wait for it… the Almighty himself!

The first half of this movie is quite good actually. It has this dark feel to it with omniscience lurking around all corners of the screenplay. Acting-wise Sohail Khan and Sharman Joshi excel throughout the entire film. They have an equal blend of comedy and style. Eesha Koppikar meets the expectations of her role as does Gul Panag. Seeing Amrita Arora you feel like she is finally coming into her own now. There isn’t much to say about Arbaaz Khan but that he seems like he’s sleepwalking through-out the entire film. Sharat Sexana has a limited role and he does pretty good. Dilip Tahil is funny with a role as the snobby boss. All in all the acting is nice. Direction by Atul Agnihotri may not be an SLB but he certainly manages to get great acting with the mediocre cast.

As the film continues on, the screenplay loosens a bit. You begin to see some incompleteness here and there. Certainly there are patches to be fixed and ends to be tightened but still, Hello maintains a good quo. It is not an earth-shattering drama but it is a see-it-once and have-fun flick. In light of at the recent not-so-good releases, Hello shines very bright. Its music is so-so but it matches the kind of film this is. The title track is catchy despite the nonsensical lyrics. I don’t have much to say about choreography but Sohail’s dancing is enjoyable. Art direction, especially the outdoor scenes, is top notch.

Overall, Hello is a very entertaining film and you can enjoy it with an open mind. I do feel it tries to be funny at points when you don’t really want to laugh. But still, no film is a perfect film. Hello manages to be a gift-wrapped surprise where big budget films like Kidnap and Drona are failing majorly. Hello does adequate justice to Chetan Bhagat's novel. It is enjoyable to see the plots forming and not so tasteful to see the many twists that are left out. Still, the entertainment factor is high and so this movie meets your expectations. Watch it once if you’d like to pass time in a paisa-vasool way!

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